WASHINGTON \u2014 John F. Kelly, President Trump\u2019s\u00a0new chief of staff<\/a>, firmly asserted his authority on his first day in the White House on Monday, telling aides he will impose military discipline on a free-for-all West Wing, and he underscored his intent by firing Anthony Scaramucci, the bombastic communications director, 10 days after he was hired.<\/p>\n Mr. Scaramucci was forced out of his post, with the blessing of the president and his family, just days after unloading a crude\u00a0verbal tirade<\/a>\u00a0against other members of the president\u2019s staff, including Reince Priebus, Mr. Kelly\u2019s beleaguered predecessor, and Stephen K. Bannon, the chief White House strategist, in a conversation with a reporter for The New Yorker.<\/p>\n Mr. Trump recruited Mr. Scaramucci as a tough-talking alter ego who would ferociously fight for him the way others had not. But \u201cthe Mooch,\u201d as he likes to be known,\u00a0quickly went too far<\/a>, even in the eyes of a president who delights in pushing the boundaries of political and social decorum. As Mr. Kelly, a former four-star Marine general, began his first day on the job, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, announced that Mr. Scaramucci was out.<\/p>\n \u201cThe president certainly felt that Anthony\u2019s comments were inappropriate for a person in that position,\u201d Ms. Sanders said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t want to burden General Kelly, also, with that line of succession.\u201d<\/p>\n In a\u00a0post to Twitter<\/a>\u00a0just hours before the announcement,\u00a0Mr. Trump insisted<\/a>\u00a0that there had been \u201cNo WH chaos!\u201d Yet even as he sought to reassure supporters that all was well, several administration aides fretted that the impetuous president and the disciplined Marine were already on a collision course that could ultimately doom the unlikely partnership.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Mr. Kelly, the first former general to occupy the gatekeeper\u2019s post since Alexander Haig played that role for President Richard M. Nixon during Watergate, is charged with quelling the chaos that has defined, distracted and often derailed Mr. Trump\u2019s White House. But the president gave Mr. Priebus many of the same assurances of control, and then proceeded to undercut and ignore him \u2014 to the point where Mr. Priebus often positioned himself at the door of the Oval Office to find out whom the president was talking to.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In his brief time at the White House, Mr. Scaramucci seemed to epitomize its chaos. A wealthy New York financier, he burst onto the political scene with a memorable performance in the White House briefing room, where he portrayed himself as a major, new player who had been assured he would report directly to the president, without the interference of intermediaries like Mr. Priebus or Sean Spicer, the president\u2019s first press secretary.<\/p>\n It was soon clear that Mr. Scaramucci would not be a fixture of the administration, but a transitory figure who created an opportunity for Mr. Trump, with his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, to undertake the far-reaching shake-up intended to purge the White House staff of leakers and aides viewed as not sufficiently loyal to his cause.<\/p>\n Mr. Spicer quit the day Mr. Scaramucci was hired; Mr. Priebus left shortly after the rant in which Mr. Scaramucci accused him of undermining the president through leaks of information to reporters.<\/p>\n Mr. Kelly, who was Mr. Trump\u2019s first secretary of homeland security, arrives at a critical juncture, when the president is confronted with North Korea\u2019s growing nuclear ambitions, Russia\u2019s aggressive diplomatic moves and continuing fighting in Iraq and Syria. The new chief of staff will also be charged with reviving a stalled legislative agenda. Mr. Trump\u2019s campaign promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act\u00a0ended in failure<\/a>\u00a0last week, and there has been little progress on other major goals like overhauling taxes or rebuilding the nation\u2019s infrastructure.<\/p>\n And despite his desire for discipline, it took only hours on Monday for Mr. Kelly to face his first White House leak, and it was about him. CNN reported that Mr. Kelly had been so upset about the president\u2019s firing of James B. Comey as F.B.I. director in May that he called Mr. Comey to say he was considering resigning, an account that was confirmed by a former law enforcement official who was told of the conversation.<\/p>\n Mr. Kelly resisted the president\u2019s entreaties to take over for Mr. Priebus during the past several weeks. After his appointment was announced on Friday, he met with Mr. Trump and demanded assurances that he would wield the usual sweeping authority over personnel, the flow of information and access to the Oval Office that chiefs of staff have traditionally been given.<\/p>\n In early morning staff meetings at the White House on Monday, Mr. Kelly made it clear that the president had agreed to let him impose more discipline over what had been an unruly and inefficient decision-making and communications process under Mr. Priebus, who had none of Mr. Kelly\u2019s experience in government or the military.<\/p>\n Mr. Kelly also made it clear that everyone in the staff \u2014 including Mr. Bannon, Ms. Trump and Mr. Kushner \u2014 would clear policy proposals, personnel recommendations and advice from outsiders through him.<\/p>\n \u201cGeneral Kelly has the full authority to operate within the White House, and all staff will report to him,\u201d Ms. Sanders told reporters later. But she added that Mr. Trump would decide how that would work.<\/p>\n Mr. Scaramucci\u2019s fall and Mr. Kelly\u2019s rise highlighted the diminished but still important role in shaping the West Wing played by Ms. Trump and Mr. Kushner, both of whom serve in the White House as senior advisers to the president.<\/p>\n Ms. Trump and Mr. Kushner had hoped to persuade Mr. Trump to appoint Dina Powell, the deputy national security adviser, as chief of staff. Mr. Trump, who likes Ms. Powell, considered doing so, but later \u2014 when it became apparent that Mr. Trump had settled on hiring Mr. Kelly \u2014 the pair supported the choice of the general, according to people involved in the White House\u2019s internal discussions.<\/p>\n While Mr. Kelly\u2019s concerns were the decisive factor in Mr. Scaramucci\u2019s departure, they said, it was clear that Mr. Trump had quickly soured on the wisecracking, Long Island-bred former hedge fund manager, and so had his family.<\/p>\n<\/h5>\n
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<\/a>President Trump meeting with members of his cabinet at the White House on Monday.<\/p><\/div>\n
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