Trump staffer returns as Pence’s Chief of Staff
Vice President WASHINGTON — Mike Pence has chosen Marc Short, who served as President Donald Trump’s legislative affairs director for most of his first two years in office, to be his chief of staff, a person familiar with the announcement said Tuesday.
In returning to the administration he left in June, Short will fill the role that was left vacant by Nick Ayers when he resigned earlier this year. Short, who has a long relationship with Pence, served as his chief of staff when the vice president served in the House and was on his staff during the 2016 campaign.
Short’s new job was announced at the vice president’s staff meeting Tuesday morning. He could not immediately be reached for comment.
With Short’s return, the White House will deepen its roster of seasoned veterans as the president heads into what is expected to be a grueling re-election campaign. Short also has extensive experience dealing with a divided Congress and was seen as an establishment voice in the West Wing. Before he left last year, he had been among the bluntest voices in the president’s circle warning about the grim prospects for House Republicans in the midterm elections.
As the legislative affairs director, he was involved in the White House efforts to pass the tax bill that the president backed in 2017, as well as the confirmation of Justice Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
Short, in the past, has also been a useful asset to the president on television, often making appearances on Sunday shows to promote the administration’s policies. When aides depart the White House, Trump often likes to tell people that they will return. But Short is the first senior administration official who has actually done it.
After leaving the White House, Short became emblematic of the controversy some former aides have faced over working for Trump. He was hired as a fellow by the University of Virginia, which had been the site of the infamous Charlottesville white nationalist rally that left one woman dead in 2017. Short’s hire by the university drew criticism.
Short, a veteran of Virginia politics, spent several years working for the sprawling political apparatus created by the brothers Charles G. and David H. Koch before joining the administration.
The hire comes as the Trump re-election campaign organization announced a series of new positions.
Mark Lotter, Pence’s former press secretary, will serve as the campaign’s director of strategic communications, the campaign said Tuesday. Kayleigh McEnany, the former spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee and a former CNN contributor, will serve as the campaign’s national press secretary. And Tim Murtaugh, who most recently worked in communications for Sonny Perdue, the agriculture secretary, will be director of communications.
In her first day on the job, McEnany put out a statement about Sen. Bernie Sanders’ announcement that he was running for president again, saying that “every candidate is embracing his brand of socialism.”
The campaign also announced that Cole Blocker will serve as its finance director, after serving in the East Wing as a deputy director of the White House visitor’s office. And Megan Powers, who most recently served as a press secretary for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, will join as director of administrative operations.