Mulvaney poised to become permanent White House chief of staff: report

The White House intends to make acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney’s role permanent, according to a Tuesday report.

Politico, citing four current and former senior administration officials, reports that the change to drop “acting” from Mulvaney’s title is forthcoming. The officials warn that President Trump will ultimately make the final decision and he could change his mind.

{mosads}The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill, but asked at a press briefing last week about the chances of removing “acting” from Mulvaney’s title, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said there’s “certainly a lot of possibility there.”

“Some of the reason that we have ‘actings’ is because we’re waiting on the confirmation process, at least for a couple of those folks,” Sanders said. “And we hope that that moves forward quickly.”

Politico reported that Mulvaney meets at least twice a day with the president and has hired roughly eight staffers at the White House.

Mulvaney would be the third permanent chief of staff in the Trump presidency, following Reince Priebus and John Kelly. Both men clashed with the president at times as they sought to implement their management style.

The former South Carolina congressman has held the title of acting chief of staff for three months. Trump tapped him for the role following the announced departure of Kelly, and a search for a replacement that saw top candidates turn down the job, including Nick Ayers, the former chief of staff to Vice President Pence, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R).

Mulvaney has concurrently held the title of director of the Office of Management and Budget, though he has ceded day-to-day leadership to Russ Vought. 

The president has stocked his Cabinet with leaders serving in an “acting” capacity in recent months.

He named Andrew Wheeler as the acting head of the Environmental Protection Agency and David Bernhardt as acting secretary of the Interior before nominating both men for their respective role permanently.

Patrick Shanahan has served as acting Defense secretary since December, and Trump has yet to name a nominee for the full-time job.

“I sort of like acting,” Trump said in January. “It gives me more flexibility.”