White House Chief of Staff John Kelly blew up during a meeting with President Donald Trump last month and threatened to quit, Axios reported Saturday.
The report cited "sources," who said the dust-up occurred on March 28 in the Oval Office — and Kelly, "while walking back to his office, muttered he was going to quit."
"He was fired up enough that colleagues got allies to call in to calm him down," Axios reported, saying that Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen "came over to talk him off the ledge."
Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin was fired that day, but the Kelly incident was not related to that.
However, a top Trump administration official told Axios Kelly's resignation comment as a "threat" was "probably too strong.
"It was more venting frustration."
In January, The New York Times reported that Kelly, who preceded Nielsen at Homeland Security, has repeatedly threatened to walk to get Trump to listen to him — though Kelly has denied doing so.
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