Tensions inside the White House have reportedly boiled over, with John Kelly and John Bolton getting into an “explosive” and profane shouting match about Donald Trump’s approach to immigration and the performance of a top cabinet member.
As Bloomberg News reported, the argument took place in the Oval Office on Thursday over immigration and border crossings. The report claimed that John Kelly, Donald Trump’s chief of staff, fought with John Bolton, Trump’s national security adviser, over the performance of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.
As White House sources reported, Bolton had criticized Nielsen’s performance and Trump sided with Bolton. The argument, which was described as explosive and profane, also touched on the idea of border crossings and Donald Trump’s vow to deploy the U.S. military to shut down the Mexican border to stop a caravan of asylum seekers traveling from Honduras.
It was not immediately clear which side of the immigrant argument Bolton and Kelly fell, but Donald Trump has sought to make it a major midterm campaign issue. As CNN reported, Trump has also threatened to withhold foreign aid to Mexico if it does not take efforts to stop the migrant caravan from traveling to the United States. He has also tried to blame Democrats for the border crossing, claiming that they are advocating for open borders.
This is not the first time that tensions in the White House have boiled over. There have been reports of other fights within the Trump administration, including reports that Trump and former top adviser Stephen Bannon grew heated at each other.
Some of the tension has become public after members of the administration take their departure, including Trump’s former favorite Apprentice villain Omarosa Manigault Newman, who spilled a number of embarrassing details after her departure from the White House. Omarosa wrote a tell-all book that shared a number of unflattering details, including accusations that Donald Trump harbored racist beliefs.
This week’s fight has fed into the rumors that Kelly is on his way out at the White House sooner than expected — and some worried he might be leaving immediately.
“The shouting match was so intense that other White House aides worried one of the two men might immediately resign,” the Bloomberg report noted. “Neither of the men is resigning, the people said.”
Trump is aware of the shouting match between just outside the Oval between two of his closest advisers, I’m told. https://t.co/CRCMfbRgLy
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) October 18, 2018
Donald Trump told reporters that he knew nothing about the argument between John Kelly and John Bolton, though the Bloomberg report noted that Trump was indeed aware of the incident.
