Donald Trump's campaign is pushing back against claims the former president spoke positively of Adolf Hitler.
John Kelly, who served as Trump's chief of staff in the White House, told The New York Times that his former boss said, "Hitler did some good things."
Kelly said he decided to speak out on the record after hearing Trump suggest he would use the military to go after Americans he considers "enemies from within."
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Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general, told The New York Times that Trump "prefers the dictator approach to government" and meets the definition
of a fascist.
“Certainly the former president is in the far-right area, he’s certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators — he has said that. So he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure,” Kelly told The New York Times.
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A campaign spokesperson told the publication that Kelly is spreading "debunked stories."
The Atlantic also published an article on Tuesday that said Trump once told people in the White House that he needed "the kind of generals Hitler had." The article cited two people who apparently heard the comments.
A different Trump spokesperson also refuted those comments, calling them "absolutely false."
Vice President Kamala Harris spoke about the reports on Wednesday.
"Donald Trump is increasingly unhinged and unstable. And in a second term, people like John Kelly would not be there to be the guard rails against his propensities and his actions," she said. "Those who once tried to stop him from pursuing his worst impulses would no longer be there and no longer be there to rein him in. So the bottom line is this, we know what Donald Trump wants. He wants unchecked power."
