Speaking at a conference Saturday, former White House official John Kelly said that he warned President Trump before his departure as chief of staff that Trump would be impeached if he hired a “yes man” to replace him. The White House apparently didn’t take kindly to the remarks, as press secretary Stephanie Grisham responded by saying that Kelly was "totally unequipped to handle" the president's "genius."

Kelly was appearing at the Washington Examiner’s Sea Island Summit conference Saturday when he made the comments about the ongoing impeachment inquiry. “We were still in the process of trying to find someone to take my place,” said Kelly, “I said, ‘Whatever you do, don't hire a 'yes man,' someone who won't tell you the truth—don't do that. Because if you do, I believe you will be impeached.'”

Kelly was referring to his successor, current acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who last week said that Trump had “held up” military aid to Ukraine in an attempt to secure investigations into his political rivals, before backtracking and denying that he’d admitted to a quid pro quo.

The retired four-star general added that he "felt bad" about leaving the White House. "It pains me to see what's going on because I believe if I was still there or someone like me was there, he would not be kind of, all over the place.”

The White House responded in a statement to CNN. "John Kelly never said that, he never said anything like that,” said Trump, according to the news outlet. "If he would have said that I would have thrown him out of the office. He just wants to come back into the action like everybody else does."

"I worked with John Kelly, and he was totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great President,” press secretary Stephanie Grisham told CNN.

Kelly served as chief of staff for nearly a year and a half, leaving his initial administration post as Secretary of Homeland Security to take over for Reince Priebus. He resigned the White House in December, amid reports that he and Trump were no longer on speaking terms. Trump has reportedly recently considered firing Mulvaney, though the acting chief of staff may be enjoying renewed job security. The Atlantic reports that those close to the president have urged him to keep Mulvaney on, in part because Mulvaney is less likely to be legally compelled to testify before the impeachment inquiry while he remains on staff.

Gabrielle Bruney Gabrielle Bruney is a writer and editor for Esquire, where she focuses on politics and culture.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io