Donald Trump lashed out at two of his own former staffers, calling them dumb and stupid.
In an interview with Shawn Ryan, a former Navy Seal and CIA contractor, Trump called General Mark Milley a “stupid person” and then said that his former chief of staff John Kelly was “one of the dumbest people” he’s ever met.
When discussing the U.S.’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, Trump went on to criticize Milley and then Kelly and said, “Guys like John Kelly, he’s one of the dumbest people I’ve ever met. A bully, but a weak bully. You know, we just have some stupid people. Kelly wasn’t so involved in that, but we have some really stupid people at the top.”
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Milley served as the 39th chief of staff of the army from 2015 to 2019 and was appointed by Trump as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2019 to 2023.
Kelly, a former political advisor and veteran, also served as the first Secretary of Homeland Security during Trump’s presidency.
This is not the first time Trump has clashed with his former staffers.
In a statement to CNN last year, Kelly corroborated many alleged statements by Trump which disparaged veterans that were reported in a 2020 story by The Atlantic.
In a response interview with CNN, Trump said, “John Kelly has an axe to grind, and he made up a story. Nobody would say what he said. I wouldn’t be the last person to say that he’s a liar, he’s a proven liar and he’s lied on other occasions.”
He continued, “I didn’t respect him, once I lost my respect for him because I saw that he couldn’t do the job, I fired him, and when you fire people, they tend to say negative things.”
In a post on Truth Social last year, Trump also disparaged Milley and accused him of treason for his role in the Afghanistan withdrawal and his communications with China in 2020.
Ryan, who introduced himself as a veteran, said he was conducting the interview on behalf of the combat veteran population and wanted to discuss topics that they feel are priorities.
Trump and Ryan discussed Trump’s rhetoric regarding veterans, trade deals with China, the Afghanistan withdrawal, the Russia-Ukraine war, climate change, and more in the interview.
During his presidency, Trump spent $2.2 trillion on defense and increased civilian casualties in Afghanistan by approximately 95 percent according to a report by Mother Jones.
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s campaign and the United States Department of Defense to contact Milley and Kelly for comment via email.
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