On Friday, US President Donald Trump announced that the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Mick Mulvaney, would be taking over from John Kelly as his acting chief of staff, finally halting week-long speculation about who would be appointed.
As has become the norm with the commander in chief, Trump tweeted the news, CNN Politics reported.
“I look forward to working with him in this new capacity as we continue to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! John will be staying until the end of the year. He is a GREAT PATRIOT and I want to personally thank him for his service!”
The announcement that Kelly would be leaving the White House came over the weekend, and for the past week plenty of suggestions have been made as to who could be offered the job as his replacement. Shortly after the announcement of his departure, Trump reportedly offered the job to VP Mike Pence’s chief of staff, Nick Ayers, but the vice president’s assistant declined the job. His apparent reason was that he did not want to agree to the two-year term Trump was insisting he sign up for if he agreed to take the job.
Mark Meadows was also considered for the job, according to a previous report by the Inquisitr , but Trump decided the North Carolina congressman was more needed on Capitol Hill than in the White House. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had also been on the shortlist.
Trump names Mick Mulvaney acting chief of staff, replacing John Kelly https://t.co/7o3ui8kfg7 pic.twitter.com/qqkoqjhw6k
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) December 14, 2018
The White House has confirmed that Mulvaney will be stepping down from his post as director of the Office of Management and Budget in order to take on the new role as the president’s chief of staff.
Mulvaney was selected for the job after candidates who had previously been considered were either dropped by Trump or took themselves out of the running for the position. The announcement is also contrary to other information that circulated earlier in the week, in which Mulvaney indicated he was “not inclined” to accept the position, and a source close to him confirming that the now-former director of the Office of Management and Budget was instead eyeing a move to either Treasury secretary or secretary of Commerce.
Mulvaney is a hard-line conservative, and the former congressman from South Carolina. He has been most successful in his role since Trump took office, overseeing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, with previous years seeing his budget cuts ignored by both congressional Republicans and Democrats.