Donald Trump has condemned former chief of staff John Kelly as “corrupt” and “low-life” after the former US Marine Corps general won the support of Kamala Harris for calling his former boss a fascist.

Mr Kelly’s intervention pushed the debate over fascism firmly into the center of the US presidential election, while the Republican candidate turned his fire on his Democratic rival. He accused Ms. Harris of falsely calling him Adolf Hitler after the vice president amplified Mr. Kelly’s comments in a televised speech before endorsing them at a CNN town hall meeting.

Mr Trump’s angry barrage came in social media posts amid the fallout from Mr Kelly’s comments in an interview with the New York Times, in which he recalled that the former US president had repeatedly praised Hitler’s achievements while in the White House.

In a separate interview with the Atlantic, Mr. Kelly described Mr. Trump complaining that German military commanders did not have generals as loyal as he believed were loyal to Hitler.

Mr. Trump responded on the Truth Social platform, calling Mr. Kelly, who was the White House chief of staff for 18 months, a “corrupt person making up a story out of pure Trump Imbalance Syndrome Hate.”

“This man had two traits that didn’t quite work together,” he wrote. “He was tough and stupid. John Kelly is a vile life.”

Mr. Kelly told the New York Times that Mr. Trump “fits the general description of a fascist” and would rule the country as a dictator if re-elected.

In her statement on Wednesday, Ms. Harris, who has issued increasingly harsh warnings about Mr. Trump’s authoritarian outlook in the face of his increasingly threatening rhetoric during the campaign, said the interview showed that Trump wants “unchecked power.”

He added that his “invocation” of Hitler was “deeply disturbing and incredibly dangerous.” He later told CNN moderator Anderson Cooper that he acknowledged that Mr. Trump was a fascist and praised Mr. Kelly for sending a “911 call” to the country.

Mr. Trump responded with a post on The polls showed he was losing.

Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign’s communications director, accused Ms. Harris of “dangerous rhetoric” and said she was “directly responsible for multiple assassination attempts against President Trump.”

However, Mr. Kelly’s characterization of Mr. Trump as an undemocratic authoritarian was also supported by Elizabeth Neumann, a former deputy chief of staff in his administration’s homeland security department, who told Politico that he “did not act in accordance with the rule of law.”

“Do they have authoritarian tendencies? “Yes,” he said. “Does it tend towards some element of extreme nationalism? Definitely.”

( Harris celebrates birthday with church visit after Trump’s rude rhetoric at rallyOpens in new window )

Mr. Trump’s Republican supporters downplayed Mr. Kelly’s intervention. New Hampshire’s Republican governor, Chris Sununu, called his portrayal of the former president an “outrageous statement” and said Mr. Trump’s own extreme statements were “based on” voters’ judgment.

“I have a lot of respect for John Kelly, but frankly everyone knows there is a huge gulf in personal relationships,” Mr. Sununu told NewsNation.

The controversy overshadowed other developments on the campaign trail, when the Republican candidate expanded his latest catalog of threats against Jack Smith, a special counsel appointed by the justice department to investigate allegations that he tried to overturn the 2020 election and conceal classified documents.

Asked by conservative broadcaster Hugh Hewitt whether he would grant himself a presidential pardon or fire Mr. Smith if elected, Mr. Trump said: “That’s easy. I would fire him in two seconds.

He also said “we received immunity from the supreme court,” referring to the court’s conservative majority ruling last June that presidents were immune from prosecution for official acts taken in the course of office.

– Guard

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