John Kelly, White House chief of staff during the administration of former President Donald Trump, says the Republican presidential candidate prefers a "dictator approach" to governing.
Kelly, a retired U.S. Marines general who was Trump's longest-serving chief of staff, told The New York Times in an interview published on Tuesday that he believes his old boss is a "fascist" and likely aspires to be a dictator.
"Looking at the definition of fascism: It's a far-right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy," Kelly said.
"So certainly, in my experience, those are the kinds of things that [Trump] thinks would work better in terms of running America ... He certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure," he continued. "He certainly prefers the dictator approach to government."
Kelly also said that it was "a very dangerous thing to have the wrong person elected to high office," while declining to endorse either Trump or Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in next month's presidential election.
This is a developing story and will be updated with further information.
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