Mulvaney had called Trump a ‘terrible human being’ in 2016

WASHINGTON:MICK Mulvaney, US President Donald Trump’s pick to be acting White House chief of staff, described Trump in 2016 as a “terrible human being” who had said “disgusting and indefensible” things about women on the infamous “Access Hollywood” recording.

Mulvaney, a former Republican Congressman, made the comments in a debate with his Democratic challenger in South Carolina, and offered similar remarks in a post on his campaign Facebook page.

The post was deleted shortly before he was chosen by Trump as director of the Office of Management and Budget at the beginning of his term.

On Friday, Trump abruptly named Mulvaney as acting chief of staff a few hours after Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, dropped out of the running. An administration official told reporters that Trump and Mulvaney, who have become golfing partners, get along.

But the surfacing of a video from the 2016 campaign debate, first reported by The Daily Beast, may present a complication.

“Do I like Donald Trump? No,” Mulvaney said in the video. He added that Trump was not a role model for his children, but he was better than Hillary Clinton.

“We have perhaps two of the most flawed human beings running for president,” Mulvaney said. “So I have to step back and look and say, ‘Okay, what do you all, the majority of the folks who vote for me, want me to do?’ In order to accomplish that, I have to support Donald Trump, and he has to win.”