Kelly tells black Republicans he’s hiring talent for White House regardless of race

by Jordan Fabian - 12/19/17 2:30 PM ET

White House chief of staff John Kelly on Monday told a group of black Republicans that he wants to hire “talented young men and women” to work at the White House following the departure of Omarosa Manigault Newman, one of President Trump’s few top black aides.

Kelly told reporters Tuesday he met with the group and told them he is looking to hire the best and the brightest Americans to serve the country — regardless of race.

“I didn’t say African-Americans, I didn’t say Hispanics, I said talented young men and women,” Kelly said, stressing he wants to hire qualified people regardless of race or ethnicity.

The chief of staff told the group that he would welcome recommendations for possible White House staff openings.

Manigault Newman’s exit last week spurred questions about the level of diversity in the upper rungs of the West Wing.

The former communications chief at the Office of Public Liaison was the only African-American collecting the top salary available for a White House staffer.

“We have a really diverse team across the board at the White House,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters last week. “We always want to continue to grow the diversity here.”

The former star of Trump’s NBC reality show “The Apprentice” reportedly wore out her welcome with the White House staff, however, and clashed with Kelly over her role.

Manigault Newman said in an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America” that she saw things in the White House “that I was very uncomfortable with.”

“I’m not going to expand on it because I still have to go back and work with these individuals,” she said. “But when I have a chance to tell my story … quite a story to tell as the only African-American woman in this White House as a senior staff and assistant to the president, I have seen things that made me uncomfortable, that have upset me, that have affected me deeply and emotionally, that has affected my community and my people. And when I can tell my story, it is a profound story that I know the world will want to hear.”