Former White House Trump chief of staff John Kelly supports the use of the 25th amendment to oust the president

Former White House Trump chief of staff John Kelly supports the use of the 25th amendment to oust the president

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“Yes, I would,” Kelly told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead” when asked if he would support invoking the amendment if he had a vote.

Comments from Kelly, who left the White House under contentious circumstances in January 2019, come as a growing list of Democratic and Republican members of Congress calling for Trump to be removed from office via impeachment or the 25th Amendment after a violent crowd of Trump Supporters stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday.

They also represent one of Trump’s strongest rebukes by a former member of his White House amid the aftermath of Wednesday’s riot. Invoking the 25th Amendment would require Vice President Mike Pence and a majority of the Cabinet to vote to remove Trump from office due to his inability to “fulfill his office’s powers and duties” – an unprecedented step.

“I think the Cabinet should meet and discuss. I don’t think that will happen, but I think the Cabinet should meet and discuss this because the behavior of yesterday and the weeks and months before was outrageous to the President,” said Kelly, who has occasionally criticized Trump since leaving his post.

“What happened yesterday at the Capitol is a direct result of its poisoning the minds of people with lies and fraud,” he added.

Kelly, who has always kept a low profile since leaving the White House, told Tapper that he was “horrified” by the violent scene.

“Just an unbelievable scene on the Capitol. Frankly, the president’s actions and words didn’t surprise me at all, but I was very, very surprised that those people were going to rob people’s homes, cause the damage they did and embarrass us all,” he said, referring to the pro-Trump crowd.

Kelly also rejected comments made by his successor, Mick Mulvaney, who resigned on Wednesday from a diplomatic post he held in the government, saying that Trump is not the same as several months ago.

“I don’t think he’s changed at all,” said Kelly when asked about the comments. “Of course he is furious because he lost an election. He is a laughing stock now and is causing it. But then again, someone needs to help, you know, manage him.”

In addition to Mulvaney, several other officials resigned from the government in protest against Wednesday’s riot and Trump’s reaction to him, including transport secretary Elaine Chao, one of the oldest members of Trump’s cabinet who will officially leave his post at Monday.

Trump’s deputy national security adviser, Matt Pottinger, is also among those who left the government, as well as the first lady’s chief of staff, Stephanie Grisham, press officer and social secretary of the White House.

This story was updated with more information from the interview.

Kevin Liptak, Kaitlan Collins and Jeremy Diamond of CNN contributed to this report.

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