President Donald Trump gives Sean Hannity a ring after his nightly show on Fox News a source close to the White House said, according to a recent report.
“The president has started to call people more on the weekends, from the cellphone, which he didn’t used to do,” a source told The Los Angeles Times on Tuesday.
As tensions rise between Trump and his chief of staff John Kelly, who has attempted to rein in the chaos in the White House, Trump is reportedly making more private calls from his cellphone.
“Every time it says on MSNBC or CNN, which you know he watches, ‘This is the adult. … Thank God they stopped him,’ it all gets to him,” the source said.
Hannity has been an ally to the president and will interview him on his show Wednesday night. The White House denies that Hannity advises Trump.
Trump “always had a robust list of outside advisers in business and politics because he is open-minded and ultimately wants to do the right thing for the country,” the White House told The Times.
Kirstjen Nielsen, the new head of Homeland Security, was retired Marine Corps General John Kelly’s chief of staff when he was secretary of homeland security during the opening months of Trump’s presidency. Kelly brought her to the White House as his deputy when Trump named him chief of staff in July to replace Reince Priebus after only six months on the job.
The nomination requires Senate confirmation.
Nielsen’s departure from the White House would mark the latest upheaval in Trump’s White House team. She was responsible for carrying out some of Kelly’s orders on who gets access to the president. As a result, she has irritated some White House officials who now have limited contact with Trump, according to sources familiar with the situation.
Kelly has sought to bring more order to the chaotic West Wing since replacing Priebus. Trump has welcomed the changes to some extent, although he has privately confided to friends that the limitations on access to the Oval Office sometimes go too far.
Putting Nielsen into the Homeland Security post will allow Trump and Kelly to keep a close eye on the department, but getting her out of the White House could permit some of Kelly’s strictness to be relaxed.
The department has been led by an acting secretary, Elaine Duke, since Kelly took the White House post.
Reuters contributed to this report.
