Remarks made days after former chief of staff confirmed reports about Trump’s derogatory attitude to members of US army

Donald Trump called his former chief of staff John Kelly a “lowlife with a very small brain and a very big mouth” after the former marines general confirmed reports about the ex-president’s derogatory attitude to members of the US armed forces.

In posts to his Truth Social platform, days after Kelly spoke to CNN, Trump said his former aide was “by far the dumbest of my military people … incapable of doing a good job” as chief of staff or, before that, homeland security secretary.