President Donald Trump says his Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney will lead the West Wing until he can find a permanent replacement for John Kelly.
Trump effectively let Kelly off the hook on Friday, saying in a tweet that Mulvaney would serve as ‘acting chief of staff’ once the retired general leaves the administration.
A senior official indicated that Mulvaney’s tenure will be indefinite however, telling reporters at the White House minutes after the announcement, ‘There’s no time limit.’
Just this morning, the White House was claiming that Kelly could stay longer than planned, having already agreed to extend his tenure longer than Trump initially said to ensure a smooth transition.
Trump said in an early evening tweet that he had changed his mind and Kelly would be departing at the end of the year.
‘I am pleased to announce that Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management & Budget, will be named Acting White House Chief of Staff, replacing General John Kelly, who has served our Country with distinction. Mick has done an outstanding job while in the Administration,’ he announced.
President Donald Trump says his Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney will lead the West Wing until he can find a permanent replacement for John Kelly
Trump effectively let Kelly off the hook on Friday, saying in a tweet that Mulvaney would serve as ‘acting chief of staff’ once the retired general leaves the administration
Mulvaney has a lot on his plate as Office of Management and Budget head. A White House official said Friday that his job at OMB will be filled by his deputy Russ Vought
Mulvaney is seen here chatting up Mark Meadows, a Republican congressman that Trump denied the job this week
‘I look forward to working with him in this new capacity as we continue to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! John will be staying until the end of the year. He is a GREAT PATRIOT and I want to personally thank him for his service!’
Mulvany heads the Office of Management and Budget within the White House and earlier this year wore two hats as he filled the top job at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
OMB would oversee a partial government shutdown in the case that Congress and the president are unable to resolve their differences ahead of a Dec. 21 deadline to pass legislation to pull unfunded areas of the government out of limbo.
Trump was said on Friday to be shopping a two-week delay in hostilities after declaring on Tuesday that he would ‘absolutely’ preside over a shutdown until Congress approves $5 billion for his border wall.
That would push the fight that could furlough federal workers over the Christmas holiday into early next year. Trump will have lost much of his leverage by then, as Democrats take the majority in the House, but as he made clear in a Thursday tweet he now sees the value of avoiding an expensive and potentially toxic government closure.
‘Let’s not do a shutdown, Democrats – do what’s right for the American people!’ Trump had tweeted.
His appointment of Mulvaney to Kelly’s post on Friday evening suggests that Trump, whose White House is already stretched thin, is seriously considering his options.
A senior official told reporters on Friday evening that the OMB job will be filled for now by Mulvaney’s deputy Russ Vought.
The person stressed Mulvaney’s credentials for chief of staff as a former Member of Congress, representing South Carolina as a Republican from 2010 until the president appointed him OMB head.
‘He knows Congress. He knows Capitol Hill,’ the official said.
Mulvaney and Trump met at the White House on Thursday afternoon prior to the announcement to discuss the impending fiscal cliff. Trump said in a tweet hours later that Mulvaney would be his interim chief of staff.
Hours prior to the president’s announcement that Kelly would be succeeded by Mick Mulvaney, the White House said Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner was not under consideration. Kushner is Ivanka Trump’s husband and a senior adviser to the president like she is
Trump promoted the job as a temporary assignment, but White House officials signaled that Mulvaney could fill the position for an extended period of time.
‘He’s the acting chief of staff, which means he’s the chief of staff,’ a senior official who requested anonymity said. ‘He got picked because the president liked him they get along.’
The person said that Mulvaney was named ‘acting’ chief instead of permanent chief, ‘because that’s what the president wants.’
‘We’ll see,’ a second official said of the appointment. ‘It’s what the president wants right now.’
Ivanka Trump quickly blasted a a congratulatory note to her new boss on Twitter, telling Mulvaney, ‘You will undoubtedly continue to inspire and impress in this new role just as you have at OMB.
Ivanka’s husband Jared Kushner, a senior adviser to the president, had been a dark horse for the job. The couple routinely clashed with Kelly, and the president’s daughter eagerly welcomed his exit.
‘Thank you General Kelly for almost 2 years of leadership in this Administration and for a lifetime of service to our great nation!’ she said in her tweet.
Prior to holding federal office, Mulvaney served as a state representative and state senator in South Carolina. Before that, he practiced law and worked for his family real estate business.
Mulvaney and his wife Pamela have three children.
In Congress, he was known as a fiscal-hawk and social conservative who ran with the right-wing Freedom Caucus and was willing to shut the government down to trim down the federal deficit.
Since joining the Trump administration he has taken flack for claiming that there is such a thing as a ‘good shutdown’ that could permanently fix the appropriations process. He has also been dogged by a claim that he says was meant to be a joke that he would only meet with lobbyists as a congressman who’d contributed to his campaigns.
Chris Christie became the latest contender for chief of staff to take himself out of the running on Friday, saying in a statement that it is an honor to have been considered, but it’s not the right time in his life for the assignment
Mulvaney was the obvious choice for acting White House chief of staff after having been one of two rumored picks for the position for close to six months.
The other contender, Nick Ayers, turned the job down over the weekend.
Chris Christie also took himself out of the running, saying in a Friday afternoon statement that it is an honor to have been considered, but it’s not the right time in his life for the assignment.
He told the New York Times that he had asked Trump ‘to no longer keep me in considerations for this post’ following a meeting on Thursday to discuss the position.
Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway meanwhile confirmed that Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner was not under consideration.
‘I haven’t heard either Jared or the president mention Jared on the list,’ she asserted. ‘But I think he’s doing a great job at what he’s doing.’
Asked whether the president spoke to Christie and what exactly happened she said: ‘I do know the answer, but I can’t comment. They had a great meeting last night.’
She smiled and said nothing as DailyMail.com asked if she is interested in doing the job that no one else seems to want.
Conway suggested to reporters that the president does have a ‘front-runner’ in mind for the job he’s been openly trying to fill for the last week.
‘I’m not saying, although I know. I know the answer, not telling you,’ she teased.
Reporters, throwing names out and hoping that someone sticks, queried the potential appointment of senior communications aide Bill Shine, who joined the administration earlier this year after working as an executive for many years at Fox.
‘I love that Bill Shine is the communications director,’ she said, ‘and it’s added a lot to our press and coms shop.’
It was unclear on Friday night whether Trump told Christie that he wouldn’t be getting the job and that’s why he abruptly pulled out.
Christie sent Kushner’s father to jail when he served as U.S. attorney for illegal campaign contributions.
Kushner was reported Thursday to have lobbied to become his father-in-law Donald Trump’s chief of staff.
The first son-in-law, already an adviser to the president with an office next to the Oval Office, was reported by the Huffington Post to have pushed his own candidacy and been rewarded with a meeting Wednesday about the role.
He apparently claimed he could work with Democrats – a claim ridiculed by one of the sources for the report who said: ‘I don’t know why he thinks that, when the Democrats are mainly going to be coming after Trump.’
Kushner’s potential candidacy emerged shortly after the president claimed he had five candidates who actually want the job fighting it out.
‘Five people. Really good ones. Terrific people. Mostly well known, but terrific people,’ Trump told reporters on Thursday.
The claim was met with skepticism in wider Washington D.C. given that Trump pushed out John Kelly without a successor in place and was turned down by his first choice.
White House Chief of Staff John Kelly attends a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and Governors-elects in the Cabinet Room at the White House on Thursday
Trump told the only Republican openly expressing interest in the job that he wants him to stay in Congress yesterday afternoon.
A White House statement on Wednesday said that Trump ruled out North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows for the top White House position.
‘Congressman Mark Meadows is a great friend to President Trump and is doing an incredible job in Congress. The President told him we need him in Congress so he can continue the great work he is doing there,’ White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said.
Trump’s plans were turned upside down when Trump’s first pick for the position, Nick Ayes, unexpectedly turned the president’s proposition down.
The White House subsequently said that Kelly would be staying on until early January ‘at least’ to the manage the West Wing while the president conducts his search for a replacement.
Politico reported on Monday that Meadows, a leading pro-Trump Republican congressman, was interested in the gig that nobody else seemed to want.
‘Serving as Chief of Staff would be an incredible honor. The President has a long list of qualified candidates and I know he’ll make the best selection for his administration and for the country,’ he told the publication.
The White House told the publication Wednesday that the president asked the congressman who had a double-digit victory in November to remain his position in the House. Meadows is the House Freedom Caucus chairman.
The president claimed Tuesday that more than 10 people were competing for the chief of staff job but none appeared to be in the lead and it was unclear how much any of them actually wants to do it.
‘We are in no rush. Over a period of a week or two or maybe less we’ll announce who it’s going to be, but we have a lot of people who want the position,’ Trump said in a Oval Office meeting with Democratic leaders on Tuesday morning that Kelly attended.
He said, ‘A lot of friends of mine want it. A lot of people that Chuck and Nancy know very well want it, I think people you’d like,’ Trump said, talking up the post. ‘We have a lot of people that want the job of chief of staff. So we’ll be seeing what happens. We’re in no rush.’
Kellyanne Conway told reporters this week that Kelly will stay on as chief of staff ‘at least’ through the beginning of the year
The reason, Trump said: ‘Because we have a wonderful chief of staff right here.’
Conway had said during an appearance on ‘Fox & Friends’ on Tuesday morning – just days after the White House said Kelly’s tenure was nearly over – that he wouldn’t be leaving at the end of the year as planned.
‘He will stay on the job through January 2nd at least, and I think there were will be a very peaceful and pragmatic transition to the next chief of staff,’ Conway said. ‘But the president has many people who want to serve here.’
Later in the day, the president held a bill signing in the Oval Office that Mulvaney and Meadows were a part of. The two men allegedly competing for the same job who worked closely together in Congress stood side by side as the president talked.
By Wednesday afternoon, the White House had announced that Meadows, at least, was out of the running, and on Friday, ex-congressman Mulvaney was the last one standing.
Nick Ayers (L), chief of staff to U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, announced he is leaving the White House rather than succeeding White House Chief of Staff John Kelly