Pence aide out of running to be next chief of staff
Length of service dispute soured Ayers on role
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s top pick to replace chief of staff John Kelly, Nick Ayers, is no longer expected to fill the role.
Mr. Ayers, who is chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, was seen as the favorite for the job when Mr. Trump announced Saturday that Mr. Kelly would leave around year’s end. But a White House official said Sunday that Mr. Trump and Mr. Ayers could not reach agreement on Mr. Ayers’ length of service and that he instead would assist the president from outside the administration.
Mr. Ayers confirmed the decision in a tweet Sunday, thanking Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence for giving him the opportunity to work in the White House.
It was not immediately clear whether Mr. Trump had a new favorite for the post.
Mr. Ayers and Mr. Trump had discussed the job for months. The new hire was to be key to a West Wing reshuffling to shift focus toward the 2020 re-election campaign and the challenge of governing with Democrats in control of the House.
Mr. Trump wants his next chief of staff to hold the job through the 2020 election, the official said. Mr. Ayers, who has young triplets, had long planned to leave the administration at the end of the year, and had only agreed to serve in an interim basis through next spring.
Mr. Ayers was also skeptical of taking the job based on the challenges that Mr. Kelly and his predecessor, Reince Priebus, faced in the position, and talks between the two sides broke down, according to an administration official with direct knowledge of the negotiations.
Mr. Ayers will run a pro-Trump
super PAC, according to a person familiar with his plans who was not authorized to discuss them by name.
Mr. Trump said Saturday that he expected to announce a replacement for Mr. Kelly in a day or two.
With Mr. Ayers out of the running, Mr. Trump is considering four candidates for the post, including Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney, according to a person familiar with the president’s thinking. Also emerging as a candidate is Rep. Mark Meadows, a North Carolina Republican and the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. Others seen as possible choices for chief of staff include Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and the United States trade representative, Robert Lighthizer.
Mr. Trump is to make a decision by the end of the year, said the person, who was not authorized to discuss the personnel issue by name.
Mr. Kelly, whose last day on the job is set to be Jan. 2, had been credited with imposing order on a chaotic West Wing after his arrival in June 2017 from his post as homeland security secretary. But his iron fist also alienated some longtime Trump allies, and over time he grew increasingly isolated, with an increasingly diminished role.
After initially agreeing that Mr. Kelly would announce his departure Monday, Mr. Trump abruptly shifted course and announced Saturday that Mr. Kelly would leave the White House by the end of the year. The position might be filled on an interim basis, he added then.
That announcement closed out Mr. Kelly’s rocky tenure and ushered in a second straight messy chief-of-staff handover for the president. Last year, Mr. Trump took to Twitter to announce Mr. Priebus’ departure and Mr. Kelly’s arrival while aboard Air Force One, his outgoing top administrator having just left the plane.
As news broke Sunday night that Mr. Ayers would not take the position, prompting renewed attention on the tumult in the White House, Mr. Trump made no mention of his chief-of-staff search and instead sought to shift the focus to his administration’s successes.