Mick Mulvaney (Photo courtesy of The White House)
President Donald Trump revealed Friday that he has appointed budget director Mick Mulvaney to be the acting White House chief of staff.
Mulvaney will temporarily replace John Kelly, who is set to leave by the end of the year. Trump announced the news in a pair of tweets in which he thanked Kelly for his service and called him a “great patriot.”
Very few people appear to have been enticed by serving as Trump’s chief of staff. Earlier Friday, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie took himself out of the running for the job, saying this was not the right moment for him personally to serve in the role.
Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter!
A week of political news in your in-box.
We find the news you need to know, so you don't have to.
“It’s an honor to have the President consider me as he looks to choose a new White House chief-of-staff,” Christie wrote in a statement shared by Maggie Haberman of The New York Times on Friday. “However, I’ve told the President that now is not the right time for me or my family to undertake this serious assignment. As a result, I have asked not to be considered for this post.”
SLIDESHOW: DONALD TRUMP’S 30 CRAZIEST TWEETS
Among the other candidates Trump has reportedly considered for the chief of staff position are North Carolina Republican Rep. Mark Meadows — the outgoing House Freedom Caucus chairman — Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, although all have reportedly said they prefer to continue serving in their current jobs. Vice President Mike Pence‘s outgoing chief of staff Nick Ayers also rejected the offer for the role earlier this week.
The Daily Beast revealed this week that Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner was interested in being White House chief of staff early in the administration’s tenure.
On Tuesday, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) banned noncompete agreements in a 3-2 vote. The…
A proposed bill in California would prohibit security screening company CLEAR from skipping the general…
On Monday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments over a challenge to a law allowing…
The Arizona House of Representatives failed to advance a repeal of the state's 160-year-old abortion…
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek (D) signed a bill restoring criminal charges in cases of hard drug possession.…
President Joe Biden's administration announced the first-ever national limits on toxic "forever chemicals" in drinking water. This…