Priebus out, Kelly in as chief of staff
President’s shake-up catches some off-guard
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump ousted his beleaguered chief of staff, Reince Priebus, naming Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to replace him Friday in the latest White House shake-up as the administration struggles to emerge from bitter staff infighting and a stalled legislative agenda.
Trump announced the reshuffle in three posts on Twitter hours after the Senate killed his latest plans to rewrite President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, dealing another harsh blow to the White House.
The tweets, sent as Trump was landing near Washington on Air Force One with Priebus after a speech on gang violence in New York, caught Capitol Hill and others off-guard even though Priebus’ stature in Trump’s inner circle has been in sharp decline for some time.
In naming Kelly’s appointment, Trump called the retired Marine Corps general “a Great American” who has “done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration.”
“I would like to thank Reince Priebus for his service and dedication to his country. We accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him!” Trump said in his third tweet.
Priebus submitted his resignation Thursday but Trump waited a day to make the switch, according to a person close to the White House familiar with the fast-moving events.
Trump did not say who he will nominate to replace Kelly to head the Department of Homeland Security, one of the federal government’s largest departments. Its agencies are responsible for immigration, border security, counterterrorism and other areas that are administration priorities.
Priebus was an odd fit in the Trump White House from the beginning. He chaired the Republican National Committee before joining the administration of a divisive political leader who campaigned as an outsider and drew broad skepticism from within the GOP establishment.
Trump never forgot how Priebus tried to get him to drop out of the presidential race after the release of the Access Hollywood tape, in which Trump is heard bragging that celebrities could get away with grabbing and kissing women against their will, according to a longtime Republican fundraiser with close ties to the White House.
Trump’s unconventional management style made Priebus’ job running the White House especially difficult. The president allowed multiple aides and others to gain direct access to the Oval Office, diminishing his authority and cutting out the chief of staff’s usual role as a gatekeeper and chief counselor.
Priebus was further undermined this week when Trump’s incoming communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, openly feuded with him.
In a profanity-laced phone call to a reporter with the New Yorker, Scaramucci suggested that Priebus had leaked publicly available information about him. He also called the then-chief of staff a “paranoid schizophrenic.”
Priebus had resisted hiring Scaramucci, a former Wall Street financier, for prior White House positions and tried to prevent him from being named communications director. When Trump did so anyway last Friday, Priebus’ closest ally, Sean Spicer, resigned in protest as press secretary.
“I would like to thank Reince Priebus for his service and dedication to his country. We accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him!” President Trump on Twitter
Trump is hoping his new team can help calm a White House beset by infighting and leaks while Trump is consumed with multiple investigations by a special counsel and on Capitol Hill into whether his campaign cooperated with Russian meddling in the election.
The distractions have contributed, and been compounded, by Trump’s inability to pass major legislation in Congress.
Trump’s standing in polls has steadily fallen as the crises have mounted. Several surveys that track his job approval hit new lows this week, including the Rasmussen poll which Trump used to cite because it showed him doing better than others.
Trump tends to trust and respect generals and business people who have demonstrated great financial success, which could give Kelly a leg up.
Scaramucci’s rise and Priebus’ fall could empower Trump’s anti-establishment advisers, headed by White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who had called for a purge of former Republican National Committee staffers in the White House.
Many of those staffers were Priebus loyalists and some of Trump’s advisers believed Priebus was working to stall White House initiatives, leak to the press about their rivals and seed agencies with establishment Republicans who opposed aspects of Trump’s agenda.
Kelly comes to the job with little experience navigating Congress or electoral politics. Washington Bureau’s David Lauter and Chicago Tribune’s Katherine Skiba contributed. noah.bierman@latimes.com