Vos on Priebus' final days at the White House: 'More calm than the guy I've known'
Reince Priebus
UNION GROVE -- Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said that Kenosha's Reince Priebus was unusually calm when the two met met for beers in Washington last week, a day before Priebus resigned as President Donald Trump's top aide.
"He was more calm than the guy I've know for the past five years. He did not share with me what his plans were, but probably in the back of his mind, this was all germinating to say, 'You know what? Perhaps I need to do something else with my life,'" Vos said. "I think that's good."
Vos and Priebus go back years; the two were involved in College Republicans while enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Vos was at the White House last week for the announcement that Taiwanese electronics company Foxconn would build a plant in southeastern Wisconsin.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Reince Priebus
President Trump tweeted on Friday that he had chosen Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly as his next chief of staff. Priebus said he had resigned his role the previous day after discussing his future with the president last week.
Vos said on Sunday that Priebus hadn't gotten more than six hours of sleep a night in two or three years, a period that coincides with President Trump's rise to power.
Reince Priebus
Priebus, who was chairman of the Republican National Committee for five years, watched as then-candidate Trump took on the party infrastructure in 2015 as he quickly shot past GOP rivals to the top of the presidential polls.
On the eve of the presidential inauguration this year, Priebus explained to fellow Wisconsin Republicans how it happened.
"I think that Donald Trump won because he was real," Priebus said that night, as one Wisconsinite shouted that Priebus was her hero. "I think Donald Trump won because people wanted an antidote. He provided it."
With Priebus's departure, President Trump loses his best connection with House Speaker Paul Ryan and other longtime Republicans on Capitol Hill. Kelly has none of Priebus's political experience.
Chaos has dogged the White House for much of the first six months of the Trump administration. Last week, Anthony Scaramucci, the president's new communications director, accused Priebus of being the source of leaks that has dogged the White House. The GOP effort to replace the Affordable Care Act met failure in the U.S. Senate.
Reince Priebus
Chief of Staff General John Kelly
Reince Priebus
Vos said his friend did a good job for President Trump.
"I think Reince was the best choice he possibly could have made. I think he dealt with a very difficult situation -- somebody who believes in the chaos theory of politics, where, just when it seems like everything's heading in one direction, they go in a different direction," Vos said.
Priebus took the high road on Friday, when he told CNN that he would always be a fan of President Trump.
"I think the president wanted to go a different direction. I support him in that," Priebus said in the interview. "I think he was right to hit the reset button, and I think it was something that I think the White House needs."