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White House chief of staff John Kelly dismissed Thursday rumors of discord between him and President Donald Trump, saying that he is neither planning to resign nor frustrated in his job.
"Although I read it all the time pretty consistently, I am not quitting today," Kelly told reporters in his first public appearance at a White House briefing.
"I don't believe -- and I just talked to the President -- I don't think I'm being fired today," said Kelly. "I'm not so frustrated in this job that I'm thinking of leaving."
Trump praised Kelly's job performance in tweets on Tuesday, while refuting stories that Kelly, who reportedly clashed with Trump over White House operations, would be fired soon.
The former four-star Marine general took the job late July after his predecessor Reince Priebus was pushed out for a free-wheeling White House and failure to push forward Trump's legislative agenda.
Kelly served about six months as secretary of Homeland Security and was praised several times by Trump for strengthening border security and implementing the president's hard-line immigration policies.
Pundits said Trump anchored his hope in Kelly to instill order and discipline into a chaotic White House.
Though Kelly insisted that he's staying in the post, the chief of staff admitted that this is not only the most important but the hardest job he has ever had.
"Unless things change," Kelly said. "I'm not quitting. I'm not getting fired and I don't think I'll fire anyone tomorrow."
When asked about whether the president's use of social media has made his job more difficult, Kelly said "No. No."
"The job of the chief of staff is to staff the president, give him the best advice or go get the best advice I can give him, help him consume advice, help him work through the decision-making process in an informed way," he said.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
