Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Trump’s New Chief John Kelly Reaches Out to Top Dems to Save White House’s Agenda


By Lachlan Markay, Asawin Suebsaeng, Andrew Desidiero and Sam Stein

The new White House boss is trying to find someone who will work with the president, even if it means crossing the aisle. 

Fresh off a stinging health-care defeat and with internal chaos embroiling the Trump administration, White House aides are signaling newfound openness to working with congressional Democrats—or, at least, to alleviating some of the toxic partisan differences that have marked their tenure.

Sources in the administration say an outreach campaign by newly minted Chief of Staff John Kelly is in the works to rebuild some bridges and, potentially, chip away at the unified Democratic opposition to President Donald Trump’s agenda. Even before he formally started the job, Kelly was reaching out to top Capitol Hill Democrats in hopes of regaining political capital ahead of what is expected to be a bruising fight over tax reform and other administration priorities.

“Tax reform is gonna be a heavy lift,” a senior White House official told The Daily Beast. “No reason to write off/alienate [Democrats] any more than we already have.”

A spokeswoman for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told The Daily Beast that Kelly reached out her over the weekend with the two holding a phone conversation Sunday. A spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) confirmed that Kelly reached out to him as well. 

Click here for the full article. 

Source: The Daily Beast 

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