Priebus out at White House
Reince Priebus, a longtime Republican loyalist shown here in June, is replaced as President Trump’s chief of staff.
WASHINGTON — His White House in turmoil, President Trump abruptly announced late Friday he is appointing Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to be his chief of staff, ending the tumultuous six-month tenure of Reince Priebus.
After months of speculation about Priebus’ fate, Trump tweeted his decision as he landed in Washington after a speech in New York in which he lavishly praised Kelly’s performance at Homeland Security.
Priebus, the former Republican National Committee head, had been a frequent target of rumors about his job security amid infighting and confusion within the White House and a long whisper campaign by Trump allies. Then, on Thursday, he was assailed in a profane public rebuke by Trump’s newly appointed White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci.
Priebus said he had offered his resignation Thursday and the president accepted.
“I think the president wanted to go a different direction,” Priebus told CNN just hours after his exit was announced. “I’m always going to be a Trump fan. I’m on Team Trump.”
Kelly is a retired Marine four-star general. Trump had focused on him in recent days, telling those close to him that he admired the general’s star power and that he believed military discipline was what his administration needed.
Priebus never could bring a semblance of order to the team of infighting rivals that populate Trump’s West Wing, and questions about his future have long swirled around the office. Those questions sharply escalated this week with the arrival of Scaramucci, the hardcharging communications director who was hired over Priebus’ objections.
Priebus’ already tense relationship with Scaramucci took a darker turn over the past two days when the communications chief suggested in a late-night tweet that Priebus was one of the “leakers” that Trump has railed against. The New Yorker magazine published an interview Thursday in which Scaramucci called Priebus, amid an avalanche of vulgarity, a “paranoid schizophrenic.”
Priebus’ term ends in fewer than 200 days, the shortest tenure for any president’s first White House chief of staff since the post was formally established in 1946.