WATCH: John Kelly says 'God punished me' when he made me Trump's chief of staff

White House chief of staff on Thursday jokingly said that "God punished me" when He made him leave the Department of Homeland Security to become President Donald Trump's chief of staff.

"The last thing I wanted to do was walk away from one of the great honors of my life, being the secretary of Homeland Security, but I did something wrong and God punished me, I guess," Kelly said to laughter during a Thursday morning event.

Kelly also said that he missed "everyone" at DHS "every day" before he rolled his eyes, seemingly a nod to his current job.

Kelly has reportedly been in a bitter fight with Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner over his security clearance, which was downgraded last week to prevent Kushner from viewing top-secret classified information.

Watch the video of Kelly below.

Chief of Staff John Kelly: "The last thing I wanted to do was walk away from one of the great honors of my life, being the secretary of Homeland Security, but I did something wrong and God punished me, I guess." pic.twitter.com/RfFWCIENXF

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) March 1, 2018