White House shake-up looms
Following midterms, top administration officials could be gone
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is bracing for a massive staff shake-up in the weeks following the midterm elections, as the fates of a number of Cabinet secretaries and top White House aides are increasingly uncertain heading into a potentially perilous time for President Donald Trump.
Some embattled officials, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions, are expected to be fired or actively pushed out by Trump after months of bitter recriminations. Others, like Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, may leave amid a mutual recognition that their relationship with the president has become too strained. And more still plan to take top roles on Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign or seek lucrative jobs in the private sector after nearly two years in government.
Trump’s allies note that some turnover at the two-year mark is normal in any administration. They also say that any departures would give the president a chance to reshape the White House more fully in his own image.
“I don’t think he likes people leaving him,” said Marc Short, the former White House director of legislative affairs. But, he added, “It does provide the president with an opportunity to reset. When he came in during the transition, Washington was new to him. I think he has a better idea of the talent he wants around him.”
Short added that, more than previous Oval Office occupants, Trump “does function as his own chief of staff in a lot ways” and might welcome the chance to bring in a new crop of aides more aligned with his vision.
This portrait of the White House preparing for post-midterm staff changes comes from interviews with 14 senior White House officials, administration aides and Republican operatives, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly discuss internal deliberations.
Among those most vulnerable to being dismissed are Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation after Sessions recused himself. Trump has routinely berated Sessions, whom he faults for the Russia investigation, but he and Rosenstein have forged an improved rapport in recent months.
Allies of Sessions and some in the Justice Department believe the attorney general could be fired in humiliating fashion in the days immediately following Tuesday’s elections. The White House has already begun considering replacements, while Trump aides and confidants have cautioned the president he would face a backlash if he fired either of the top two Justice officials, particularly before the midterms.
Other Cabinet officials — including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Nielsen — also face uncertain futures.
But Trump is unlikely to fire Mattis, and Mattis— who has backed Trump on his controversial deployment of troops to the U.S. border — is unlikely to resign, according to people familiar with the dynamic.
Nielsen’s primary protector has been White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, another potential departure who has at times clashed with the president but has been asked by Trump to stay through 2020. If Kelly does leave, however, many say Nielsen is likely to follow.
On Zinke, the president started complaining in recent days to aides about news reports that the Justice Department is scrutinizing the interior secretary’s real estate dealings in Montana. Trump has apparently asked how problematic Zinke’s conduct has become.
Other top figures, including Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and press secretary Sarah Sanders, also have been mentioned as possible departures in the coming months, though if they leave, they seem likely to do so of their own accord.