VP’s chief of staff: No thanks
Doesn’t want Kelly job
Nick Ayers, the 36-year-old chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence who had been considered the heir apparent to John Kelly in the White House, has decided not to take the post, according to reports Sunday.
Ayers, the father of 6-year-old triplets, had planned to leave the administration by the end of the year, according to The Wall Street Journal, and couldn’t settle on a time frame with President Trump to be his next chief off staff. Ayers hoped to stay for just a few months, while the president wanted him to stick around longer.
When Trump’s new chief of staff does come on board, it will mark the third individual to have the job in less than two years. Former RNC chair Reince Priebus was Trump’s first chief of staff.
Despite news that Ayers had turned down the position, Trump insisted the search was going fine on Sunday.
“I am in the process off iinterviewing some really great people for the position of White House Chief of Staff,” Trump tweeted. “Fake News has been saying with certainty it was Nick Ayers, a spectacular person who will always be with our #MAGA agenda. I will be making a decision soon!”
That leaves Trump possibly looking at five candidates. Among them are Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Budget Director Mick Mulvaney and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, according to The New York Times.
The fourth is Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), head of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, Axios reported Sunday. And Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker is also on the short list, according to Newsweek.
Lighthizer brushed off such talk.
“I haven’t spoken to anyone,” he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “I’m entirely focused on what I’m trying to do and ... it’s difficult enough.”
Meanwhile, Kelly was praised by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle as a stabilizing force in an often cchaotic White House.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) called Kelly “a pprofessional who works hard and gets things done.”
The Senate’s top Democrat, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), fears what looms wwithout the retired Marine Corps general at the helm. “I am greatly worried that the new chief of staff will serve as no restraint on the president, and that could create trouble for everybody,” Schumer said.
Trump announced Kelly’s longrumored departure Saturday morning as he left the White House to attend the Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia.