Retired General John Kelly served as President Donald Trump's Chief of Staff until late 2018, and now he's siding against Trump on a crucial point.
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton's allegations in his upcoming memoir have rocked the impeachment trial in the Senate. Bolton claims Trump sought to withhold aid from Ukraine until it acquiesced to performing politically beneficial investigations for Trump's reelection bid.
The allegations have led to calls from Democrats to have Bolton testify before the Senate.
For his part, Trump denied ever having such a discussion with Bolton.
When speaking to a crowd as part of a lecture series for the Ringling College Library Association, Kelly sided with Bolton over Trump:
"If John Bolton says that in the book, I believe John Bolton."
Kelly and Bolton's tenures overlapped in the administration for about nine months, with Bolton leaving in January of 2019—just before Trump's Ukraine scheme began getting carried out by officials.
He then echoed the desires of 75% of Americans by calling for additional witnesses in the Senate trial:
"I mean half of Americans think this process is purely political and shouldn't be happening but since it is happening the majority of Americans would like to hear the whole story. So I think if there are people that could contribute to this, either innocence or guilt...I think they should be heard."
It spoke volumes that Kelly sided with Bolton over his former boss.
Something John Kelly and I can agree on. Bring Bolton in. https://t.co/GgKy343dHb— Sean Patrick Maloney (@Sean Patrick Maloney) 1580235924.0
John Kelly just said he believes John Bolton. Which means Kelly just essentially called Trump a liar. The fmr Chief… https://t.co/W4mWqF81Ok— Scott Dworkin (@Scott Dworkin) 1580234747.0
John Kelly, former Chief of Staff, siding with John Bolton and publicly commenting that he believes the allegation… https://t.co/S2heBJNEvo— Publius (@Publius) 1580234651.0
John Kelly warned Trump he’d be impeached. Bolton knows his testimony furthers impeachment. Thus, these 2 men — ha… https://t.co/2lw1kOPXy0— Michelangelo Signorile (@Michelangelo Signorile) 1580233836.0
This should be a warning to anyone ever thinking of working for Trump. You leave/get fired and immediately become "… https://t.co/CLfxGfbkWe— Michael McFaul (@Michael McFaul) 1580106841.0
@thehill Seems like this may be a game changer...@SenateGOP @SenateDems https://t.co/cw94mWL2n9— Terri Hudler-Hull (@Terri Hudler-Hull) 1580236992.0
Even General Kelly thinks #JohnBoltonMustTestify. Worse for Trump, his old babysitter pretty much called him a lia… https://t.co/TLY5xHq3O3— Democratic Coalition (@Democratic Coalition) 1580244907.0
A growing number of Senate Republicans have signaled a willingness to hear from Bolton.