What did John Kelly say about Donald Trump? Former Chief of Staff tears into former US President with series of explosive claims 

American political advisor John Kelly, better known as the White House Chief of Staff for former President Donald Trump between 2017 and 2019, had a conversation with CNN’s lead Washington presenter Jake Tapper on Monday, October 2. As part of the interview, Kelly made a series of explosive claims against Trump, reportedly confirming year-long speculations that the ex-President often denigrated war veterans.

“What can I add that has not already been said?” he stated after being asked if the rumors that his former boss often disregarded servicemen were true.

He then went on to say how Donald Trump called the retired and wounded military personnel “suckers” and “losers” and often refused to attend events where they were present. John Kelly further continued by saying that Trump was not only ignorant about war veterans but was also,

“A person who is not truthful regarding his position on the protection of unborn life, on women, on minorities, on evangelical Christians, on Jews, on working men and women.”

Kelly wrapped up his remarks, saying that nothing more was left to say and that it was only the almighty who could now save the Americans.

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John Kelly claims that Donald Trump has no idea what America stands for

On Monday, John Kelly, the former White House Chief of Staff serving Donald Trump during his presidency from 2017 to 2019, gave a blistering statement about the ex-president’s character and behavior, as per his own experience during their time together.

Just like many other Trump administration officials, John Kelly has earlier criticized the former president. However, the recent comments were on a whole new level. He began by saying that there was nothing more to add to what has already been said about Trump for years.

“A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down, or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs [Prisoners of War] are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.”

The POWs (Prisoners of War) comment may be in reference to the late Senator John McCain, whose war hero status was openly disregarded by Donald Trump, who said during the 2016 presidential campaign that he liked people who “weren’t captured.”

As for the terms “sucker” and “there is nothing in it for them,” The Washington Post states that the former term was used by Trump to refer to 1800 Marines who became martyrs at Belleau Wood in France during the First World War. The latter expression, on the other hand, was something that the former President used in the presence of John Kelly while they both stood in front of Kelly’s son’s grave, who died in a war in Afghanistan on Memorial Day 2017.

Back when Trump was rumored to have said such statements, Kelly refused to comment, but now years later he confirmed the same. Regardless, John Kelly’s bombshell statements about Donald Trump on Monday also included the following:

“A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family — for all Gold Star families — on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.”

As per The Washington Post, similar comments from Trump’s mouth can be traced back to 2017, when he said to Kelly that he didn’t want “any wounded guys” during his first big Independence Day parade.

Likewise, during the 2016 Democratic National Convention, Trump stood on stage and called out a Gold Star family that had previously condemned him. While Kelly defended his boss back then, now he has laid out the truths in the open and even told CNN that such remarks were not a rare occurrence and happened frequently.

In fact, according to Media Ite, Trump not only refused to visit the cemetery of American martyrs buried in France and called them losers, but also allegedly told the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, in 2019 that nobody wanted to see the injured and even instructed Milley that Army Captain Luis Avila, the veteran who sang God Bless America during an event that was live telecasted on TV, should not be allowed to speak in public again.

John Kelly’s remarks about Donald Trump went further than war veterans. He added how the former President had no proper regard for working-class Americans, abortion rights, minorities, women, and Jews, among others.

“A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about…A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law…God help us.” he concluded.

Earlier, John Kelly slammed Donald Trump for his comments and regarded them as unsuitable and often insensitive. But those have mostly been reported by indirect sources. In fact, this was the first time he spoke so freely about the former President.

So far, every time, Donald Trump has denied making any controversial comments, especially with regard to the fallen heroes and war veterans.

It is important to note that most of Kelly’s latest comments were previously mentioned in a September 2020 article published by The Atlantic and written by revered political journalist Jeffrey Goldberg. After the article’s publication, Donald Trump took to Twitter and said it spewed fake news and hate while calling out Goldberg and the owner of the journal, who happens to be late tech mogul Steve Jobs’ widow, Laurene Powell.