Others who know Mr. Trump hinted that the president dislikes being embarrassed, and that the abruptness of Mr. Ayers’s rejection might not have worn off. After all, aides to Mr. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence had been preparing as recently as Sunday morning for Mr. Ayers to take the job, and for another aide, Jarrod Agen, to temporarily assume Mr. Ayers’s current duties as Mr. Pence’s chief of staff.
To make room for Mr. Ayers, Mr. Trump, who famously avoids one-on-one interpersonal conflict, had been trying for awhile to pull the trigger on firing Mr. Kelly. Famous for the “You’re fired!” catchphrase and also for hating confrontation, Mr. Trump had looked for others to do the work for him last week — even attempting to arrange for Mr. Ayers to fire Mr. Kelly — according to three people familiar with the events.
Finally, Mr. Trump persuaded Mr. Pence and Mr. Ayers to join him in hashing things out with Mr. Kelly in the presidential residence on Friday night. But instead of sticking to the plan to let Mr. Kelly leave with dignity, which Mr. Ayers and others in the White House had urged the president to do, Mr. Trump decided to announce it himself on Saturday.
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