Trump picks budget expert Mick Mulvaney as chief of staff

mickmulvaney-chiefofstaff-reuters (File) White House budget director Mick Mulvaney gestures as he holds a press briefing at the White House in Washington, US | Reuters

US President Donald Trump has announced that Mick Mulvaney, the Director of Office of Management and Budget, will be the acting White House Chief of Staff.

Trump took to twitter to announce the appointment and said that he looks forward to working with him in this new capacity.

Mulvaney will be succeeding John Kelly, who would be departing the White House at the end of the year.

Trump made it a point to thank Kelly in his tweet saying, "He is a GREAT PATRIOT and I want to personally thank him for his service!"

Media reports suggested that Kelly and Trump had stopped speaking to each other in the recent years. Kelly had taken over the chief of staff post after leaving his US Homeland Security secretary position in July last year. He has reportedly shared a "tense relationship" with Trump since then.

Kelly, who reportedly fell out with other close Trump aides, is only the latest in a long string of high-ranking officials to quit the embattled White House.

There were indications that Trump was finding it difficult to fill the key post of chief of staff. Reports said several of the potential candidates for this powerful White House position had turned down the offer. But White House denied such reports, with Trump insisting that several candidates are under consideration.

"For the record, there were many people who wanted to be the White House Chief of Staff. Mick M will do a great job!" he said.

His widely reported first choice, Nick Ayres, announced last weekend that he did not want the post.

Ayres, a 36-year-old Republican consultant currently serving as chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, was seen as a good fit for Trump's plan to start focusing on his 2020 re-election.

With Democrats taking over the House of Representatives in January and special prosecutor Robert Mueller near the end of an explosive probe into the Trump campaign's contacts with Russia during the 2016 election, the president is believed to be seeking a sharp political operator.

A major Republican figure, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, announced Friday that he too was pulling out from consideration.

It was not immediately clear where Mulvaney fits into those longer-term plans.

Mulvaney, a conservative Republican former congressman, is currently head of the White House budget management office, which oversees federal spending and administers the federal budget.

He was also previously acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects consumers when they take loans and use credit cards.

While in the job, Mulvaney provoked anger in the Democratic Party with his campaign to downgrade the agency.

His new appointment appears to give Trump some breathing space ahead of the holidays, which the president will spend mostly at his Florida resort.

But a question still hangs on who can do the difficult job in the long term. Kelly was often described as "the adult in the room" during the turbulent period since his appointment in July 2017.

Meanwhile, the White House said Mulvaney will not resign as the Director of Office of Management of Budget.

"Mick Mulvaney will not resign from the Office Of Management and Budget, but will spend all of his time devoted to his role as the acting Chief Of Staff for the President. Russ Vought will handle day to day operations and run OMB," the White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said.

Later a senior administration official told reporters at the White House that Mulvaney being named acting chief of staff has no time limit. "There's no time limit. He's the acting chief of staff, which means he's the chief of staff. He got picked because the president liked him they get along," the official said.

Speaking on condition of anonymity the official cited Mulvaney's experience as a former member of Congress.

"He knows Congress. He knows Capitol Hill," the official said of Mulvaney. The official also said Mulvaney is "fiscally responsible."

According to the official Kelly was pleased with his successor. "The current chief is happy. The current chief is fine. The current chief will stay till the end of the year," the official said.

The official said Ross Vought will be Mulvaney's replacement as director of OMB. Mulvaney's replacement leading the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection had already been sworn in. Mulvaney was at the White House earlier today and met with Trump.

"Mick was over here today working on budget stuff. ... They met face to face this afternoon," the official said.

The official was questioned about why Mulvaney was named the acting chief of staff rather than simply chief of staff. "Because that's what the president wants," the official said.

Another senior administration official argued the same.

"We'll see," the other official said. "It's what the president wants right now and, if we have anything else we'll let you know."

(With inputs from PTI)