Updated July 29, 2017 15:50:36

US President Donald Trump has named Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly as his next White House chief of staff, replacing Reince Priebus in a major shake-up of his top team.

Mr Trump made the announcement on Twitter, saying General Kelly was "a great American and a great leader".

The move came a day after new communications director Anthony Scaramucci, in a profanity-laced tirade, accused Mr Priebus of leaking information to reporters.

In a brief statement to reporters on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington, Mr Trump said General Kelly would "do a fantastic job" as chief of staff.

"General Kelly has been a star, done an incredible job thus far. Respected by everybody. A great, great American," he said.

Mr Trump thanked Mr Priebus for his service, saying he was "a good man".

Mr Priebus told CNN he was not asked to resign, but rather offered his resignation on Thursday.

"The President has a right to hit a reset button. I think it's time to hit the reset button," he said.

"He intuitively determined that it was time to do something different, and I think he's right."

"I will continue to serve as a strong supporter of the President's agenda and policies," Mr Priebus said in a statement a short while earlier.

"I can't think of a better person than General John Kelly to succeed me."

General Kelly said in a statement he was "honoured" to be asked to serve in the new position, and thanked the "tremendous men and women of the Department of Homeland Security".

Conflict boils over with Scaramucci's appointment

Mr Priebus arrived at the White House as a key player in the Tea Party movement, and was the first chairman of the Republican Party to win three consecutive terms.

Meet retired the four-star general tapped to take control of Trump's West Wing.

In the year before Mr Trump's nomination to the presidential ticket, he had also been a critic of the then-candidate's rhetoric about Muslims and immigration.

By all appearances, Mr Trump and Mr Priebus had mended their relationship by the time of the election, and Mr Priebus became chief of staff in the White House.

But there were rumblings Mr Trump had structured the White House in a way that seemed to undermine Mr Priebus's authority from day one.

Several administration positions that were usually managed by the chief of staff now reported directly to Mr Trump.

Mr Priebus and chief strategist Steve Bannon also served as "equal partners" under the President, but speaking at a conservative gathering the pair denied there was ongoing tension between the them.

There was a vulgar rant from the White House director of communications, a few zingers from the President and a speech to a bunch of Scouts that wasn't supposed to be about politics, writes Washington correspondent Zoe Daniel.

Behind the scenes conflicts at the White House boiled over with the selection of Mr Scaramucci as communications director.

His selection, opposed by Mr Priebus, was followed immediately by the resignation of press secretary Sean Spicer.

Several days later, Mr Scaramucci tweeted that someone had illegally leaked financial information about him, conspicuously mentioning Mr Priebus's twitter handle.

Mr Scaramucci later deleted that tweet and said he had only mentioned Mr Priebus to show that all senior leaders were taking the leak crackdown seriously.

ABC/wires

Topics: donald-trump, world-politics, government-and-politics, united-states

First posted July 29, 2017 07:09:26