Trump replaces Reince Priebus with Gen. John Kelly as chief of staff

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly is the new White House chief of staff, President Donald Trump has announced via Twitter.

Trump tweeted Friday that retired Marine Corps general Kelly had "done a spectacular job at Homeland Security."

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Trump also tweeted a thanks to Priebus, saying, "We accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him!"

Rumors had circulated that Priebus would be ousted since last week's appointment of Anthony Scaramucci to the position of White House communications director. Scaramucci has all but accused Priebus of leaking inner-circle secrets to the press.

Following the shakeup, Priebus spoke with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, who asked whether Trump formally requested his resignation.

"No, I resigned and he accepted it," Priebus answered.

When Blitzer pressed Priebus on if Trump tried to talk him out of quitting, Priebus said, “No, we talked about it.”

“We talk all the time about this subject,” he continued. “Anytime we want to go in a different direction, either one of us, we talk about it.”

Blitzer sought clarification, asking, "You spoke often about possibly resigning with the president?"

“No,” Priebus said, “we just talk about the fact that both of us have to be happy with where we’re at, and he obviously wanted to make a change and I offered my resignation and he agreed and we moved on.” 

Priebus' departure follows the resignation of Sean Spicer, who had been White House press secretary. Both had worked closely together at the Republican National Committee before joining the Trump administration.

Priebus had worked with the GOP in Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare, but those efforts have so far ended in failure.