WASHINGTON – An ally to President Trump said the White House chief of staff is “in way over his head” and should be dumped.
Christopher Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax Media and a member of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, said Sunday that Reince Priebus is the “problem.”
“I think there’s a lot of weakness coming out of chief of staff,” Ruddy told CNN’s “Reliable Sources.” “I think Reince Priebus [is a] good guy, well-intentioned, but he clearly doesn’t know how the federal agencies work.”
In a follow-up interview with the Washington Post, Ruddy said he’s not speaking for Trump but believes his longtime friend needs to “make some changes.”
“It’s my view that Reince is the problem,” he told the newspaper. “I think on paper Reince looked good as the chief of staff — and Donald trusted him — but it’s pretty clear the guy is in way over his head.”
Priebus is the former chairman of the Republican National Committee. The White House did not immediately respond for a request for comment.
Ruddy said he spoke to Trump for 30 minutes Friday over drinks at the president’s Palm Beach, Fla., resort.
The media executive blamed Priebus – not other aides Stephen Bannon or Stephen Miller – for the botched implementation of the Trump’s immigration executive order.
“He’s not knowledgeable of how federal agencies work, how the communications operations work,” Ruddy said. “He botched this whole immigration rollout. This should’ve been a win for Donald, not two or three weeks of negative publicity.”
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
