US President Donald Trump has picked US Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney to be his acting chief of staff, ending a chaotic search in which several top contenders took themselves out of the running.
“Mick has done an outstanding job while in the Administration,” Trump tweeted on Friday. “I look forward to working with him in this new capacity as we continue to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Current chief of staff John Kelly is to be staying until the end of the year, Trump added.
Photo: Reuters
Trump’s first pick for the job, US Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff Nick Ayers, took himself out of the running last weekend and decided to leave the White House instead.
The decision caught the president and many senior staffers by surprise, and Trump soon found that others he considered front-runners were not interested in the job.
It was not immediately clear why Trump decided to make Mulvaney’s appointment temporary. One senior White House official said there was no time limit on the appointment and Mulvaney would fill the role indefinitely, regardless of the “acting” title.
Mulvaney and Trump reportedly get along, and the president likes him personally.
Additionally, Trump prized the former congressman’s knowledge of Capitol Hill and political instincts as the White House prepares for a Democratic-controlled House of Representatives and an upcoming re-election campaign.
Trump had grown frustrated with the length of the search and the growing perception that no one of stature wanted the job, according to one person familiar with his thinking.
Mulvaney received the news before Trump tweeted his announcement.
They spoke face-to-face on Friday afternoon at a meeting that was supposed to be about the budget and spoke by telephone later in the evening, according to a second White House official.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.
“This is a tremendous honor,” Mulvaney tweeted. “I look forward to working with the President and the entire team. It’s going to be a great 2019!”
The White House originally said that Russell Vought, Mulvaney’s deputy, would be taking over at the budget office, but White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that Mulvaney would not resign that job, even though he “will spend all of his time devoted to his role as the acting chief of staff for the president.”
Mulvaney had signaled that he was not interested in being chief of staff, with a person close to him telling reporters that he would made clear that he would be more interested in taking over as secretary of the treasury or commerce.
Trump’s pick generated little immediate reaction on Capitol Hill, where most of Mulvaney’s allies are part of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, but his knowledge of Congress and how government works is likely to be an asset in the coming months.
The appointment came just hours after another candidate for the post, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, took himself out of contention citing family reasons.
He had met with Trump on Thursday to discuss the job, according to a person familiar with the meeting, who was not authorized to discuss it publicly.
As the search dragged on after Ayers bowed out, with no backup at the ready, the void had been filled with Trump’s specialty: drama.
British journalist Piers Morgan in an op-ed for the Daily Mail said that he would be a good fit, while former MLB slugger Jose Canseco tweeted his interest.
Speculation swirled around an array of Trump associates, prompting some to distance themselves from the job.
In past administrations, the position was a sought-after job, typically awarded after a careful process. Now, many view the job as a risky proposition, given Trump’s propensity for disorder and his resistance to being managed.
Author Chris Whipple, an expert on chiefs of staff, had called the search process “sad to watch.”
“In his first two years, Trump devalued the position by failing to empower anyone to perform the job, and now he’s turned the search for a replacement into a reality show,” Whipple said. “The only thing more broken and dysfunctional than the White House itself seems to be the search for the new White House chief of staff.”
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