Page:CTRL0000034610 - Deposition of Keith Kellogg, Jr., (Dec. 14, 2021).pdf/13

13 So we were the first two on there that were really, for lack of a better term, the go-to guys, you know, in the campaign.

Okay. And when Mr. Trump assumed the Presidency, what was your role, at least initially?

Well, what happened in -- before he took office, in early December, they came to me and they said, "Would you become the Chief of Staff to the National Security Council?" And he had already nominated Mike Flynn to be the National Security Advisor and K.T. McFarland to be the Deputy National Security Advisor. And they said, "Would you become the Chief of Staff to the National Security Council?"

And the guy -- the individual who told me that was Steve Bannon, and Reince Priebus at the time said, "Would you do that?"

Then I was also part of the transition team. So I moved down on the transition team where I was running the Defense Department, Homeland Security, the intelligence beachhead teams, veterans beachhead teams, to move down to national security team, and started acting as the Chief of Staff of the national security team.

And then when I came into the White House, I was one of -- I think the number was 20, I can't be sure -- was one of those designated as APs, Assistants to the President. There's three levels of commissioned officers in the White House. There's an Assistant to the President, the Deputy Assistant to the President, and then the Special Assistant to the President. The most highest level commission is the Assistant to the President.

So I was an AP and Chief of Staff to the National Security Council. Also, at the same time, the Executive Secretary of the National Security Council, which is under the National Security Act of 1947, I was the primary officer on the National Security Council.

Even though they have an NSA, I was kind of the guy responsible for running the -- basically the National Security Council, all the meetings, all the events. And