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New York Times’ Maggie Haberman: Oval Office Incident Speaks To ‘John Kelly’s Temper’

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Nick Givas Media And Politics Reporter
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New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman on Tuesday described a White House altercation between Chief of Staff John Kelly and former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, saying it speaks to Kelly’s flaring “temper.”

“We started hearing about this last week because of this fight between Kelly and Bolton,” Haberman said on CNN’s “New Day” Tuesday. (RELATED: NYT Reporter Maggie Haberman Hammers Trump For Extending Invite To Putin)

“It really speaks to a couple things, one of which is, you know, repeated flares of John Kelly’s temper, which we have heard over quite some time,” she declared.

Haberman broke down the outburst step by step and said Kelly’s actions call his stability into question.

“In February, Corey Lewandowski and John Kelly were — it was the day that the families from the kids who were killed in the high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, were coming for an event in the East Room. And as that was taking place Kelly and Corey Lewandowski were in the Oval Office with the president arguing with each other,” Haberman continued.

WATCH:

“John Kelly was very angry that Corey Lewandowski had been criticizing him about his handling of the controversy surrounding staff secretary Rob Porter. And this was a real personal issue for Kelly for some reason. They ended up leaving when the president took a phone call. Kelly yelled that he wanted Corey taken out of the White House.”

Haberman said Lewandowski yelled back at Kelly and Kelly proceeded to put his hands on Lewandowski and tried to throw him up against the wall.

“John Kelly grabbed his collar and tried to push him up against the wall. Lewandowski to my understanding did not do anything back, and I’m pretty sure that’s true considering John Kelly is a Secret Service protectee … Secret Service had to intervene. They ended up working it out between them behind closed doors for a few minutes and then returned to the Oval Office agreeing to deal with each other,” she added.

“It’s really rare to hear of a physical altercation in the White House and don’t forget the president has continued to keep Lewandowski by his side in an informal advisory capacity for a long time. So not only is there no punishment for that kind of behavior, there’s sort of a reward.”

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