Former White House chief of staff John Kelly took a pass on Wednesday on the question of whether President Trump is a “stable genius.”
The president has labeled himself as a “stable genius” on multiple occasions, and during an event in Las Vegas, former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci asked his former boss what his opinion was on the matter.
“I wouldn’t pass judgment on either one of those. I mean he’s a — ” he said as some laughter broke out in the audience.
“He’s a smart guy,” he said, followed by a chuckle and a wave to the crowd. “He’s a smart man. He’s an accomplished man. He feels very very strongly that he ran on an agenda and he’s trying to follow through on the agenda, which is kind of unique for a politician.”
Scaramucci added that he “used to get a kick” out of Trump making the claim about himself. “That was like a Molotov cocktail he was throwing at the press, just to get them upset,” he said.
— SALT (@SALTConference) May 8, 2019
The exchange took place near the end of a rather friendly discussion at the SALT conference, where other big names such as former Attorney General Jeff Sessions spoke.
As one of his first acts after making the jump from leading the Department of Homeland Security to the West Wing in the summer of 2017, Kelly fired Scaramucci after he made sometimes vulgar remarks about people and the inner workings of the White House to reporter Ryan Lizza. Scaramucci spent only 11 days on the job.
Kelly resigned as chief of staff and left his post at the end of 2018, after which Trump named Mick Mulvaney as the acting White House chief of staff.
“Some people would be surprised he would accept the invitation,” Scaramucci, who served as the moderator, quipped.
“I couldn’t be prouder than I am right now to share the stage with you,” Kelly said in reply.
The wide-ranging discussion touched on Kelly’s military service and working in the Trump administration. Kelly largely declined to discuss his thoughts about special counsel Robert Mueller’s report and touched on Trump’s Twitter habits.
