Axios: Trump offered FBI director job to John Kelly if he pledged loyalty
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump offered then-Homeland Security secretary John Kelly the position of FBI director one day after he fired James Comey in 2017, but demanded that he be loyal, according to an Axios report citing New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt's forthcoming book.
Trump, Schmidt writes according to Axios, said, "Kelly needed to be loyal to him, and only him."
Kelly, who went on to serve as White House chief of staff, "immediately realized the problem with Trump's request for loyalty, and he pushed back on the President's demand," Schmidt's book states, according to Axios.
Instead, Kelly said that he would be "loyal to the Constitution and the rule of law, but he refused to pledge his loyalty to Trump."
The job offer's condition of loyalty helps to explain Trump's thinking when he became just the second president in US history to fire his FBI director when he dismissed Comey in May 2017.
At the time, Comey was leading the investigation into whether Trump campaign members colluded with Russians who hacked the 2016 election. The Trump administration said it was getting rid of Comey because of the way he handled the Hillary Clinton email probe.
more:
http://www.cnn.com/2020/08/30/politics/john-kelly-fbi-director-trump/index.html
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