New Poll Shows Kari Lake with Small Lead, Blake Masters Down Three Percent

A new poll released by the Trafalgar Group shows Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake with a 0.7 percent lead over Democrat Katie Hobbs and GOP U.S. Senate nominee Blake Masters facing a 3.3 percent deficit to incumbent Democrat U.S. Senator John Kelly (D-AZ).

The poll was conducted from August 24 through August 27, had 1074 respondents that were likely general election voters, had a confidence rating of 95 percent, and had a margin of error of 2.9 percent.

Read the full story

Trump Names Mulvaney Acting Chief of Staff

President Donald Trump is announcing that budget director Mick Mulvaney will be his next chief of staff. Trump tweeted Friday that Mulvaney “has done an outstanding job” in his administration and would take over next year. I am pleased to announce that Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management & Budget, will be named Acting White House Chief of Staff, replacing General John Kelly, who has served our Country with distinction. Mick has done an outstanding job while in the Administration…. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2018 Trump deemed Mulvaney his “acting chief of staff” but it was not immediately clear what that meant for the length of his tenure. He will replace John Kelly. Trump praised Kelly’s service and called him a “great patriot” in the tweet. Trump announced last week that Kelly, who served in the post for more than a year, would soon be departing. The president’s first choice was Nick Ayers, the vice president’s chief of staff, who bowed out after being unable to come to an agreement on how long he would serve in the post. – – –                          …

Read the full story

President Trump: John Kelly Will Be Leaving at the End of the Year

Saturday, President Trump told reporters Chief of Staff John Kelly and he would be parting ways at the end of the year. President Trump added the White House would be making an announcement “in the next day or two” with who would replace the retired Marine general – but added that replacement may be temporary. The staff announcement comes on the heels of other high-profile personnel changes as the president faces a new Democrat majority in the House of Representatives in January, while also gearing up for what political experts promise will be an all-out politial war for the Senate and the Presidency in 2020. News broke last week that Army General Mark Milley will replace Marine General Joseph Dunford as President Trump’s top military advisor. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert is set to replace outgoing United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, while former Bush 41 Attorney General William Barr will be nominated to serve as the nation’s ‘top cop’ once again. President Trump’s remarks were made on the White House lawn at an informal press gaggle as he was leaving to attend the annual Army-Navy football game being held in Philadelphia. A short time later Trump – an avid sports…

Read the full story

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly Commits to Stay Through 2020

Donald Trump, John Kelly

by Steve Herman   Providing some stability amid a high rate of turnover of key personnel, the White House chief of staff has agreed to stick around for at least a couple of more years. Retired Marine Corps General John Kelly, at the request of President Donald Trump, has committed to staying in his post until the 2020 election, according to a White House official. There had been numerous mainstream media reports that Kelly, frustrated with West Wing disorder and isolated from critical decision-making, would soon depart. Kelly marked one year as chief of staff on Monday, and Trump tweeted congratulations after making note of the anniversary in remarks during a swearing-in ceremony for the new Secretary of Veteran Affairs, Robert Wilkie. “He’s only there because he thinks he can serve the country and he would only stay if he actually thought he was accomplishing something,” said James Jay Carafano, vice president of national security and foreign policy at the Heritage Foundation. Kelly, who previously was in Trump’s cabinet as homeland security secretary, was installed as chief of staff to replace Reince Priebus at a time when the West Wing was beset by internal divisions. “There’s no question it’s infinitely…

Read the full story

Maxine Waters Demands That Kelly Apologize For Defending ‘Moron’ Trump

Kelly Trump Waters

Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California called on White House Chief of Staff John Kelly to apologize Saturday for defending President Donald Trump’s conversation with a Gold Star family. Waters wants Kelly to apologize for his remarks toward Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson of Florida about the president’s phone call with the pregnant widow of Army Sgt.…

Read the full story

Commentary: Will President Trump Cave to McMaster, Tillerson and Mattis on Obamabomb Deal?

Tennessee Star

by George Rasley CHQ readers will recall that during the campaign then-candidate Donald Trump regularly excoriated the Obama – Iran nuclear weapons deal (JCPOA) saying, “My number one priority is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran. I have been in business a long time. I know deal-making and let me tell you, this deal is catastrophic – for America, for Israel, and for the whole Middle East.” And we’ve explained in any number of articles, most recently in Countdown To Get Us Out Of The Obamabomb Deal With Iran and, Even UN Says Iran Not Complying With Obama Nuclear Weapons Deal, Conservative National Security Experts Urge President Trump to Withdraw From Obama’s Nuclear Deal With Iran, President Trump’s UN Speech vs. Action On Iran And North Korea and If North Korea Has Miniature Nukes, So Does Iran,  the inevitable result of continuing to falsely certify that Iran is in compliance with the nuclear weapons deal, and allowing their continued nuclear weapons and missile development cooperation, is an anti-American world dominated by two nuclear-armed rogue states; North Korea and Iran. The message that the United States must stop falsely certifying that Iran is in compliance with the JCPOA seems to be getting through to the President, but the next…

Read the full story

Commentary: Can General John Kelly Put An End to the White House Staff Soap Opera?

by Jeffrey A. Rendall   For the sheer amount of soap-opera quality media coverage the White House staff has prompted since President Trump was sworn-in on Inauguration Day, the most recent personnel moves in the executive mansion have created surprisingly little controversy by comparison. In a nutshell you could characterize the changes as establishment-out, outsiders-in. By all appearances the switches have worked to squelch a lot of the media’s paranoid hyperventilating over the internal workings of this unique-in-history administration. Nancy Cook of Politico reported, “Under former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, there was no formal policymaking process in the West Wing: no set protocol for meeting with the president, giving him information, or presenting various options with which to make decisions. Sometimes, multiple staffers said, disagreements broke out in the Oval Office in front of the president. “That disorganization ultimately led to a string of policy failures, including the collapse of health care reform, even though Republicans control both the White House and Congress. “Now, as President Donald Trump looks to embark on an ambitious fall policy drive that includes tax reform, an infrastructure package and maybe health care – again – his new chief of staff John Kelly is…

Read the full story

Reince Priebus Out as President Trump’s Chief of Staff

  President Trump announced via Twitter Friday afternoon that Reince Priebus is no longer his Chief of Staff, effective immediately. I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff. He is a Great American…. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2017 …and a Great Leader. John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2017 I would like to thank Reince Priebus for his service and dedication to his country. We accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2017 Speculation is that a pattern of leaks combined with the second failure to pass Obamacare repeal was enough for the President to lose confidence in Priebus. Developing…

Read the full story

DHS Secretary John Kelly Pushes Back on Obama’s Comments: ‘We’re Not Hiding Behind a Wall’

Department of Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly pushed back Friday against comments made by former President Barack Obama about constructing a border wall. “We’re not hiding behind a wall. We’re constructing physical barriers backed up by technology, and of course the great men and women of customs and border protection, to simply safeguard our Southern…

Read the full story