WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump made clear that he isn’t satisfied with the performance of two top officials, saying he wants Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to be “much tougher” and that Nielsen’s biggest defender in the West Wing, chief of staff John Kelly, lacks certain job skills.
Trump has been discussing possible successors for both, White House officials said last week, amid broader changes in the administration as it heads into its third year. This month, Trump fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions amid long-running acrimony between the two and ousted deputy national-security adviser Mira Ricardel, who had clashed with first lady Melania Trump’s staff.
Trump has been particularly unhappy over immigration, one of his signature campaign issues, and has privately criticized Nielsen for what he sees as a failure to sufficiently reduce the number of migrants seeking asylum from violence in Central America. Kelly, who has sought to save Nielsen’s job, is seen as potentially exiting if Nielsen does.
“I respect her a lot. She’s very smart,” Trump said of Nielsen in an interview that aired on Fox on Sunday. “I want her to get much tougher and we’ll see what happens there. But I want to be extremely tough.” Trump also hedged on his chief of staff. “He’s doing an excellent job in many ways. There are a couple of things where it’s just not his strength. It’s not his fault, it’s not his strength.” Trump added: “John, at some point, is going to want to move on. John will move on.”
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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