NATION
Saturday, July 29, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 11A
Trump pushes out Priebus, names John Kelly chief of staff
WASHINGTON (AP) — His
White House in turmoil, President
Donald Trump abruptly announced
late Friday he was appointing
Homeland Security Secretary John
Kelly to be his chief of staff, ending
the tumultuous six-month tenure of
Reince Priebus.
After months of speculation
about Priebus’ fate, Trump tweeted
his decision as he landed in Wash-
ington after a speech in New York
in which he lavishly praised Kelly’s
performance at Homeland Security.
Priebus, the former Republican
National Committee head, had been
a frequent target of rumors about
his job security amid infighting and
confusion within the White House
and a long whisper campaign by
Trump allies. Then, on Thursday,
he was assailed in a remarkable and
profane public rebuke by Trump’s
newly appointed White House
communications director, Anthony
Scaramucci.
Priebus said he had offered his
resignation on Thursday and the
president accepted.
“I think the president wanted to
go a different direction,” Priebus
told CNN just hours after his exit
was announced. He added that he
agreed the White House might well
benefit from “a reset,” and he said,
“I’m always going to be a Trump
fan. I’m on Team Trump.”
Trump’s announcement on
Twitter said, “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 ... and a Great Leader.
John has also done a spectacular job
at Homeland Security. He has been
a true star of my Administration.”
He also saluted Priebus, the chief
of staff he had just pushed out.
“I would like to thank Reince
Priebus for his service and dedi-
cation to his country. We accom-
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
White House Director of Social Media Dan Scavino, left, walks
with former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus Friday at
Andrews Air Force Base, Md. Trump says Homeland Secretary
John Kelly is his new White House chief of staff.
plished a lot together and I am
proud of him!”
Kelly is a retired Marine four-
star general. Trump had focused
on him in recent days, telling those
close to him that he loved the gener-
al’s star power and that he believed
military discipline was what his
administration needed.
Priebus never could bring a
semblance of order to the team
of in-fighting rivals that populate
Trump’s West Wing, and questions
about his future have long swirled
around the office. Those questions
sharply escalated this week with
the arrival of Scaramucci, the hard-
charging communications director
who was hired over Priebus’ objec-
tions.
Priebus’ already tense rela-
tionship with Scaramucci took a
darker turn over the past two days
when the communications chief
suggested in a late-night tweet that
Priebus was one of the “leakers”
that Trump has railed against. The
New Yorker magazine published
an interview Thursday in which
Scaramucci called Priebus, amid an
avalanche of vulgarity, a “paranoid
schizophrenic.”
Priebus, who hails from
Wisconsin and has deep ties to
House Speaker Paul Ryan, had
grown increasingly isolated in the
White House, as past Republican
National Committee colleagues and
other allies have left or been pushed
out.
Those who have departed
include former deputy chief of
staff Katie Walsh, former commu-
nications chief Mike Dubke, press
secretary Sean Spicer and press
aide Michael Short.
Another early departure from the
Trump White House was National
Security Adviser Michael Flynn,
and Trump ousted FBI Director
James Comey early on. He has
lobbed Twitter insults at Attorney
General Jeff Sessions recently
though Sessions is still in place.
Ryan, in a statement, said
Priebus “has left it all out on the
field, for our party and our country.”
Ryan added that he looked forward
to working with Kelly.
Both Scaramucci and Priebus
traveled to New York’s Long Island
with Trump on Friday for a speech
in which the president highlighted
efforts to crack down on the gang
MS-13. The chief of staff took the
return flight to Washington, his
fate sealed in the tweets that were
sent by the president just as Priebus
stepped off the plane.
Shortly before the president
deplaned, Priebus’ black SUV
pulled away, leaving the rest of
the motorcade, including the
president’s vehicle, in the distance.
The president eventually emerged,
umbrella in hand, and delivered a
brief statement on the runway as
driving rain poured.
Rep. Peter King of New York
sat across from the outgoing chief
of staff on Air Force One’s return
flight to Washington and said
Priebus “kept a poker face.”
Priebus’ term ends in fewer
than 200 days, the shortest tenure
for any president’s first White
House chief of staff since the post
was formally established in 1946.
From day one, his power has been
limited compared with past officials
with his title. In a highly unusual
arrangement, Trump said at the
outset that Priebus and chief strat-
egist Steve Bannon would serve as
“equal partners” in implementing
his agenda.
Scaramucci was the latest top
aide to be granted a direct line to
Trump, and it became increasingly
unclear who actually reported to
Priebus. Though Priebus forged
an uneasy truce with his former
foe Bannon, powerful White
House aides Ivanka Trump and her
husband, Jared Kushner, were both
supportive of Kelly’s hire.
Priebus, who told CNN he
frequently addressed his job status
with Trump, also was blamed by
some within the White House for
the failure of the Republican health
care plan, with some Trump allies
believing that Priebus’ longtime
relationships with Republicans on
Capitol Hill should have ensured
the bill’s passage.
His exit had quietly been in the
works for weeks.
The final go-ahead came during
a meeting Thursday night in
which Trump finalized that Kelly
was his pick to replace Priebus,
according to two people familiar
with the discussion The president
had considered others, including
political operatives David Urban
and Wayne Berman, for the job. But
he decided on Kelly because he was
impressed by the job he had done
leading DHS and trusted him not to
leak.
Priebus, a political operative and
attorney, is expected to look for a
corporate job or possibly write a
book about his experience in the
center of the Trump storm.
One of the final establishment
Republicans in the White House,
he was a frequent target of barbs
from Trump over not being an early
backer of the celebrity business-
man’s candidacy.
As Homeland Security secretary,
Kelly has taken the lead on some of
Trump’s most controversial poli-
cies, including his executive orders
suspending the admission of refu-
gees and temporarily barring visi-
tors from several Muslim-majority
nations. Those orders have been
stripped down by courts pending a
Supreme Court review this fall.
18-year-old bouncing to music
while in the driver’s seat and taking
her hands from the steering wheel,
will be a key piece of evidence in
the case.
Sanchez has pleaded not guilty
to six felony counts that include
gross vehicular manslaughter
and drunken driving resulting in
injuries. She could spend more
than 13 years in state prison if
convicted of all the charges.
American Civil Liberties Union,
which brought the lawsuit on the
behalf of three former detainees
and argued the psychologists were
the architects of what became the
CIA’s torture program following
the Sept. 11 attacks. The men were
subjected to physical assaults and
sleep deprivation, forced to stand
for days in diapers with their arms
chained overhead, doused with icy
water and stuffed into boxes.
Quackenbush said the evidence
warrants a trial on the issues.
The case will move forward for
the representatives of the estate of
Gul Rahman, who was “starved,
sleepless and freezing” before he
died of hypothermia while chained
in a prison cell following extended
interrogation.
The judge said he would review
the case and soon issue a written
ruling.
He also granted the ACLU’s
request to use at trial the Senate
Intelligence Committee Study
on the CIA Detention and
Interrogation Program, completed
in 2012 and made public in 2014.
BRIEFLY
Trump appears to
advocate rough police
treatment of suspects
BRENTWOOD, N.Y.
(AP) — Talking tough on illegal
immigration and violent crime,
President Donald Trump appeared
Friday to advocate rougher
treatment of people in police
custody, speaking dismissively of
the police practice of shielding the
heads of handcuffed suspects as
they are being placed in patrol cars.
“Don’t be too nice,” said
Trump. He visited Suffolk
County, New York, to highlight
administration efforts to crack
down on illegal immigration and
violent crime, and in particular
the street gang known as MS-13,
which has terrorized communities
on Long Island and in other parts
of the country.
The president urged Congress
to find money to pay for 10,000
Immigration and Customs
Enforcement officers “so that we
can eliminate MS-13.”
Trump said the administration
is removing these gang members
from the United States “but we’d
like to get them out a lot faster and
when you see ... these thugs being
thrown into the back of the paddy
wagon, you just see them thrown
in, rough, I said, ‘Please don’t be
too nice.’”
Trump then spoke dismissively
of the practice by which arresting
officers shield the heads of
handcuffed suspects as they are
placed in police cars.
“I said, ‘You could take the
hand away, OK,’” he said. The
audience included federal and
law enforcement personnel from
the New York-New Jersey area,
some of whom applauded Trump’s
remarks. The president offered
no details on when and where he
would have made those comments.
The Suffolk County Police
Department said in a statement
after Trump’s speech that it has
strict rules and procedures about
how prisoners should be handled.
“Violations of those rules and
procedures are treated extremely
seriously. As a department, we do
not and will not tolerate roughing
up of prisoners.”
No bail reduction
in California crash
recorded on Instagram
LOS BANOS, Calif. (AP) — A
teenage driver accused of causing a
crash that killed her younger sister
while livestreaming on Instagram
will remain in jail after a California
judge on Friday refused to lower
bail.
Obdulia Sanchez, wearing
yellow jail garb, sobbed as she
entered the Merced County
courtroom, and a bailiff handed her
tissues.
Bail remains set at $560,000.
Merced County Superior Court
Judge David Moranda said
it was on probation officers’
recommendations, and that
Sanchez had a prior reckless
driving case as a juvenile.
Prosecutors say the video,
which includes images of the
Judge denies request
to dismiss case against
psychologists
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — A
federal judge ruled Friday that a
jury should decide whether two
psychologists who helped design
the CIA’s harsh interrogation
methods used in the war on terror
should be held accountable for the
suffering that at least one detainee
suffered under the program.
U.S. District Judge Justin
Quackenbush refused to
immediately rule in favor of the
Please join us!
AUGUST 8-12, 2017
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Tues. Aug. 8 • 9pm
COMMUNITY RECEPTION
LOCASH
Wed. Aug. 9 • 9pm
Thur. Aug. 10 • 9pm
Lawrence
LOCASH
The Marshall
Tucker Band
Tues. Tracy
Aug. 8 • 9pm
Tuesday, August 1
4:30 - 6:00 p.m.
Pendleton Center for the Arts
214 N Main | Pendleton
Connect with EOU’s governing
board about partnerships in
Umatilla County and the region.
Serving light hors d’oeuvres
and beverages.
Please R.S.V.P.
541.962.3740 or ua@eou.edu
Fri. Aug. 11 • 7pm
La Marca de Tierra
Caliente
Sat. Aug. 12 • 9pm
Domador de la Sierra
Los Canarios de MichoAcan
Great White
Reserved Tickets
ON SALE NOW!
ONLY $12
PREMIUM
SEATING $20
(does not include admission)
(does not
include fair
admission)
CARNIVAL
WRISTBANDS $25
(thru August 7) $30 after fair starts
Available at: Fair Offi ce • Fiesta Foods • Ranch & Home
Hermiston Chamber • Pendleton Chamber
Columbia Bank • Banner Bank • Columbia Harvest Foods
SAVE $5
when you
purchase early!
TITLE SPONSOR
Meet us at the
BARLEY BARN
for music &
dancing!
Call 541.567.6121 or stop by the Fair offi ce
1705 E. Airport Rd, Hermiston
www.umatillacounty.net/fair
Order your
concert tickets
and admission
tickets online.