US President Donald Trump ousted his beleaguered chief of staff Reince Priebus on Friday, replacing him with Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly.

It comes after vicious White House infighting spilled into the open.

Only hours after a humiliating defeat on health care reforms had underlined his tenuous control over his party in Congress, Trump announced a second shakeup of his inner circle in barely a week. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Kelly would start in his new post Monday.

Priebus has been under fire for weeks, seeing one White House ally after another resign or leave, culminating in the departure of press secretary Sean Spicer a week ago.

His exit appeared inevitable when Trump did not intervene as his new communications director Anthony Scaramucci publicly described Priebus as a “paranoid schizophrenic” in a foul-mouthed tirade that also saw him savage another top Trump aide.

Trump announced the switch on Twitter after a trip to New York, on which he was accompanied by both Priebus and Scaramucci.

“I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff,” Trump said.

“He is a Great American… and a Great Leader. John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration.”

Kelly’s Department of Homeland Security is responsible for enforcing border security and has taken a tough line on immigrants inside the United States.

AFP