Donald Trump is said to be freezing out his White House chief of staff John Kelly, excluding him from meetings and important discussions.
Mr Kelly, who was tasked with bringing order to the chaotic West Wing last July, has now receded from view, the Associated Press reported.
For months, Mr Kelly made it a practice to listen in on many of the president's calls, especially with world leaders. But he reportedly was not on the line when Mr Trump acted against his advice by congratulating Vladimir Putin on the Russian’s leader’s re-election.
Additionally, the retired four-star Marine general reportedly opposed Mr Trump’s hiring of John Bolton, a neo-conservative diplomat, as National Security Adviser. But rather than listening to his chief of staff, Mr Trump tapped Mr Bolton for the role anyway and told Mr Kelly about it later, the AP said.
In recent weeks, Mr Trump is said to have made an array of decisions without consulting Mr Kelly, apparently preferring to govern alone with breakneck speed.
Mr Trump recently told one confidante that he was “tired of being told no” by his chief of staff, a source told the AP.
Mr Kelly last year had made moves to control what information Mr Trump saw and who had access to the president. But the US leader is now said to be rebelling against those restrictions.
In March, NBC News reported that Mr Trump had considered firing Mr Kelly and not naming a successor.
Citing three people familiar with the discussions, the news outlet said Mr Trump threw out the idea to his close associates that he could run the West Wing by serving as his own chief of staff, similar to how he ran his own business empire.
The President appears to have tabled the proposal for now, NBC said.
Mr Kelly is Mr Trump’s second chief of staff in the year and four months that the real estate mogul has been president.
There have been multiple reports that Mr Kelly has considered resigning from his gatekeeper role - but he has debunked those rumours.
