TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE:

Mr. Kelly defended the utility of the NATO alliance, which Mr. Trump has often criticized as an unfair financial drain on the United States.

On a wall at the border with Mexico, Mr. Kelly said that there were specific areas where it could be effective but constructing one "from sea to shining sea" was a "waste of money."

The issuance of the zero-tolerance policy for border crossings that resulted in family separations "came as a surprise" to him and to other officials, Mr. Kelly said, defending his replacement as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen, from criticism. He appeared to place most of the blame on the former attorney general, Jeff Sessions, who announced the policy.

Of people crossing the border who are apprehended, Mr. Kelly contradicted the president. "They're overwhelmingly not criminals -- they're people coming up here for economic" purposes. Mr. Trump has regularly portrayed immigrants crossing at the southern border as dangerous lawbreakers.

He also joked wryly about the advice he gave his successor, Mick Mulvaney: "Run for it," Mr. Kelly said, to laughter. 

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