Trump names Mulvaney chief of staff
Selection of budget director and former tea party congressman ends chaotic search to replace Kelly
WASHINGTON >> President Donald Trump on Friday picked budget director Mick Mulvaney to be his acting chief of staff, ending a chaotic search in which several top contenders took themselves out of contention for the job.
“Mick has done an outstanding job while in the Administration,” Trump tweeted. “I look forward to working with him in this new capacity as we continue to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Trump added that his current chief of staff, John Kelly, “will be staying until the end of the year. He is a GREAT PATRIOT and I want to personally thank him for his service!”
One senior White House official said there was no time limit on the appointment and that Mulvaney would fill the role of chief of staff indefinitely, regardless of the “acting” title.
Key to his selection: Mulvaney and the president get along and Trump has appreciated how the budget director briefs him, according to the official. Additionally, Trump prized the former congressman’s knowledge of Capitol Hill and political instincts as the White House prepares for both a Democratic-controlled House and the president’s upcoming re-election campaign.
Unlike with Kelly’s appointment, Mulvaney received the news before the president tweeted his announcement. Trump and Mulvaney met face to face Friday afternoon and spoke by phone in the evening, according to a second White House official. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the personnel matter on the record.
Mulvaney, who will be Trump’s third chief of staff, will now take on his third job in the administration. He is head of the Office of Management and Budget, and for a time had simultaneously led the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The first senior official disputed reports that Mulvaney wasn’t interested in the chief of staff job and said the president didn’t need to change Mulvaney’s mind, though the budget director had previously signaled disinterest. A person close to him had told reporters that Mulvaney had made clear in recent months that he would be more interested in taking over at the Treasury or Commerce Department.
It was unclear why Mulvaney’s appointment was announced as temporary — but that decision was made by the president, the first official said. A former tea party congressman, Mulvaney was among a faction on the hard right that pushed GOP leaders into a 2013 government shutdown confrontation by insisting on lacing a must-pass spending bill with provisions designed to cripple President Barack Obama’s signature health care law.