Tipsheet

Getting The Troops in Line: All White House Staff Will Report to General John Kelly

Speaking from the briefing room Monday afternoon, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed all White House staff will report to newly minted Chief-of-Staff General John Kelly. 

"General Kelly has the full authority to operate inside the White House and all staff will report to him," Sanders said. "General Kelly has full authority to carry out business as he sees fit."

"General Kelly will bring new structure to the White House and discipline, strength and we're all really excited to work with him," she continued. 

According to Sanders, there will be no exceptions. Senior White House advisors Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, Kellyanne Conway and Steven Bannon will report to Kelly. 

Since the ousting of Reince Priebus on Friday and the hiring of Kelly, questions have swirled about whether he would be able to establish a chain of command and restore order in the West Wing. He appears to be doing just that with the abrupt firing of Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci Monday afternoon, just 10-days after he was hired. 

During the briefing, Sanders also said Scaramucci's profane comments to The New Yorker last week were "inappropriate for someone in his position." It is the first condemnation of the comments from the President. 

"The President certainly felt that Anthony's comments were inappropriate for a person in that position," Sanders said. "Anthony wants General Kelly to be able to operate full with a clean slate, build his own team, while at the same time the President felt his [Scaramucci's] comments were inappropriate."