December 14, 2018

Trump Announces Mick Mulvaney as New Acting Chief of Staff

The OMB head replaces John Kelly, who has been rumored to have a tumultuous relationship with the president for months.

/AP Photo

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President Donald Trump announced via Twitter on Friday that Mick Mulvaney will replace John Kelly as acting chief of staff.

Mulvaney, a former Republican congressman from South Carolina, has been serving as the director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Trump administration. Recently, he had taken on a position as interim head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, “diluting a number of tools aimed at robust supervision of the financial industry.”

The White House announced earlier this week that Kelly would be departing the White House, which came as no surprise—rumors of tension between Trump and Kelly have been swirling for months. Still, in the tweet, Trump called Kelly a “great patriot.”

Since the chief of staff vacancy was announced, Trump has struggled to fill the position—Nick Ayers, Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff and Trump’s rumored top choice, declined the job.

In a tweet, Mulvaney called the appointment “a tremendous honor.”

It’s unclear how long this appointment will last and who will be named permanently to the position.

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