https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/08/us/politics/john-kelly-chief-staff-trump.html

The departure of Kelly, who had been brought in last year to impose order on the West Wing but found managing Trump an impossible task, had been rumored for months, and Trump announced it to reporters before departing for the Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia. He said a replacement would be named in the next day or two.

“John Kelly will be leaving — I don’t know if I can say ‘retiring,'” the president said. “But he’s a great guy. John Kelly will be leaving at the end of the year.”

Trump has settled on Nick Ayers, a youthful but experienced political operative who serves as chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, as his top choice to replace Kelly, people familiar with the matter said. In Ayers, Trump sees what Kelly, a career military officer, was not: a wily political operative whose focus would be on politics and campaigning as the president looks toward his re-election bid.

But Ayers, 36, who has young children and wants to return home to Georgia with his family, has so far agreed to serve only on an interim basis through the spring. Trump, who does not want more turnover, is pressing Ayers to agree to a more permanent stay, those familiar with the discussions said.

If the president ultimately turns to another candidate, potential choices include Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin; his budget director, Mick Mulvaney; and the U.S. trade representative, Robert Lighthizer.

The announcement of Kelly’s departure comes as the White House braces for the final stages of the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller, including a report detailing his findings on questions of collusion and obstruction of justice. The president also faces a string of oversight investigations into his administration from Democrats after they take control of the House next month.

As he confronts this reality, Trump is finally carrying out the staff shake-up that he had been considering for months. On Friday, he announced his pick for attorney general, William Barr, an advocate of strong presidential powers, and told reporters he had settled on Heather Nauert, a former “Fox &amp; Friends” host and most recently the State Department spokeswoman, as his nominee for U.N. ambassador.

While Trump is eager for Ayers to join that list, it is unclear whether the aide, who lacks experience in government beyond his stint with Pence, is what the president needs in the top West Wing post as he heads into what allies expect will be the most tumultuous year yet of his presidency. Some former administration officials said they feared that Ayers would feed Trump’s predisposition to focus more on politics, imperiling any chance of advancing bipartisan legislation.

But other advisers said the move would be helpful to the president, exactly because Ayers would play to his instincts. “Every president at natural inflection points makes significant changes in their administration,” said Corey Lewandowski, an informal adviser to Trump. “The president relied on information and people he didn’t know to staff the administration. Now, he’s gone back to people he knows. They’re on his team, and that’s what is needed.”

But Ayers is a divisive figure in the Trump orbit. When it became clear that Trump, who has an unusual affinity for Ayers, was leaning toward him to replace Kelly, several top aides told the president that they took issue with it and that it could lead to a staff exodus.

If Ayers accepts the job, his appointment would be seen inside the White House as a coup for Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, and her husband, Jared Kushner, who clashed with Kelly and are seen as close to Ayers. The view inside is that they are now “running the building,” one of the president’s allies said.

Kelly had long complained that Ivanka Trump and Kushner, both top advisers to the president, were “playing government.” He had repeatedly tried to limit their influence amid complaints from others in the West Wing that they did not operate within the system.

When Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general, entered the White House in July 2017 with the goal of instilling order in a disorderly West Wing, he lent a patina of respectability to a White House that at the time was staffed almost entirely by people who had never served in government.

Despite his imposing military credentials, however, Kelly slowly realized the futility of trying to control the president, and ultimately resigned himself to a stalemate of coexistence, simply letting Trump be Trump and complaining to his colleagues about how miserable he was in the job. In the past year, he has often come to work late and left early, telling colleagues, “I’m leaving and I’m not coming back.”

His overt dissatisfaction meant that no one in the White House ever expected him to stand by a statement he issued this year to quell the constant rumors of his impending departure. While he said at the time that he would remain in the job through the re-election campaign in 2020, Trump himself told allies that he expected Kelly to be around only through the midterm elections.

Kelly, who did not show up for work Friday, met with Trump that evening in the White House residence, just before a senior staff dinner, to hash out the details of his departure, according to people familiar with the meeting. Pence and Ayers also attended.

In the residence Friday night, the president and Kelly agreed that the departing chief would break his own news Monday, announcing his exit to senior White House staff members. But Trump ultimately broke the news himself Saturday afternoon.

(STORY CAN END HERE. OPTIONAL MATERIAL FOLLOWS.)

Kelly’s departure is expected to have a ripple effect across the upper echelons of the West Wing staff, as well as in Trump’s Cabinet. One of the biggest question marks is the fate of Kirstjen Nielsen, secretary of homeland security. Nielsen has clashed repeatedly with Trump, and at times relied on Kelly, who was previously her boss at the agency, to defend her.

For weeks, Trump has been offering her position to other people. At one point, Trump even broached the possibility that Thomas Bossert, a former homeland security adviser, would return and run the agency. But Bossert, who was forced out of the administration after John Bolton became national security adviser, made it clear he would not accept the position.

The ceaseless West Wing backbiting that captures headlines has belied the reality of working there, which is that aides form tight cliques and burrow into those friendships to endure the chaos of the work environment.

Other protégés of Kelly like Zachary D. Fuentes, the deputy chief of staff, are also seen as particularly vulnerable without Kelly in the top job. Fuentes, who has earned ridiculing nicknames, including “Zotus” (a play on Potus, short for president of the United States) and “prime minister,” for his large ego, has already approached other departments in the administration for a position but has cultivated few allies. Trump continues to blame him and Kelly for letting him miss a World War I battlefield commemoration outside Paris because of bad weather.

The White House communications office, which Trump has complained about for two years, is also set to undergo a restructuring. The overlap in officials has bred chronic confusion. But those who are expected to stay include Bill Shine, the newly hired communications director, who has tried to foster a relationship with Ivanka Trump by helping her with her news media strategy.

On Saturday, Kelly did not attend the Army-Navy game with the president, who stood on the field for the singing of the national anthem with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis by his side. Watching the first half of the game from the Army stands, the president was then joined by Gen. Mark A. Milley, whom he had announced on Twitter on Saturday morning as his nominee to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/08/us/politics/john-kelly-chief-staff-trump.html" id="b8bdd96f-166a-3984-aa9a-7893b1242256">The New York Times</a>.

John Kelly, Trump's Chief of Staff, to Leave White House

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Saturday that his chief of staff, John Kelly, would step down by the end of the year, the latest move in a long-planned staff shake-up as the president heads into the 2020 campaign facing growing peril from the special counsel and newly empowered Democrats.

Trump, speaking with reporters on the White House lawn before departing for the Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia, said that he would announce a replacement for Kelly in the next day or two.

“John Kelly will be leaving — I don’t know if I can say ‘retiring,'” Trump said. “But he’s a great guy. John Kelly will be leaving at the end of the year.”

The leading candidate to replace Kelly is Nick Ayers, Vice President Mike Pence’s 36-year-old chief of staff and a Republican political operative, who possesses the kind of savvy about campaigns that Trump has craved. Kelly, a career military officer before becoming Trump’s first homeland security secretary, lacked such experience.

Kelly’s coming departure leaves Trump with an ever-shrinking team of close advisers as he begins to navigate the new power structure on Capitol Hill that will be ushered in next month when Democrats assume control of the House.

Although the president had made a display of saying that Kelly, 68, would stay through the 2020 re-election effort, the chief of staff was blunt with several people in the White House that he planned to make it only through the midterms.

Presidents typically make changes in staffing after midterm elections. During a wide-ranging news conference the day after the vote, the president deflected questions about the job security of Kelly and Jeff Sessions, the attorney general at the time. Sessions was forced out later in the day in a Twitter post.

“People leave,” Trump said at the time, adding that he had not heard anything about Kelly leaving.

“It’s a very exhausting job — although I love doing it, I must tell you — but it’s exhausting for a lot of people,” Trump said. “I’m surprised that a lot of people, they start off, they’re young people. They’re there for two years, and they’re old by the time they leave.”

Kelly’s departure adds another prominent name to the list of core advisers who have left after trying to manage the president through his nearly two years in office, often finding themselves shunned and sidelined for their efforts.

Kelly’s resignation had long been rumored, amid signs that he and Trump had grown irritated with each other. The president — as freewheeling as Kelly is methodical — privately fumed that he thought his chief was hiding things from him, and frequently upbraided him in the West Wing on matters large and small.

The chief of staff, who often said privately that he did not believe that Trump appreciated or understood his own job, had taken to telling colleagues “I don’t need this” after such criticism from the president.

Yet for months, the dysfunctional dynamic continued without a firing or a resignation.

WASHINGTON — John Kelly, the retired Marine general tapped as chief of staff by President Donald Trump last year to bring order to his chaotic White House, will leave the job by the end of the year, Trump said Saturday, the latest departure from the president’s inner circle after a bruising midterm election for his party.

But Ayers, 36, who has young children and wants to return home to Georgia with his family, has so far agreed to serve only through the spring. Trump, who does not want more turnover, is pressing Ayers to agree to a more permanent stay, those familiar with the discussions said.

If Ayers accepts the job, his appointment would be seen inside the White House as a coup for Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, and her husband, Jared Kushner, who clashed with Kelly and are seen as close to Ayers.

Trump, who made the announcement to reporters on the White House lawn before departing for the Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia on Saturday, said he would name a replacement for Kelly, perhaps on an interim basis, in the next day or two.

The leading candidate to replace Kelly is Nick Ayers, Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff and a Republican political operative, who possesses the kind of savvy about campaigns that Trump has craved. Kelly, a career military officer before becoming Trump’s first homeland security secretary, lacked such experience.

Ayers, 36, has told Trump he would serve on an interim basis through the spring, when his family will return to Georgia, according to people familiar with the discussions. But Trump, who frets about the image of a White House in constant chaos, wants a full-time replacement and is eager for Ayers to stay for the duration.

Kelly’s coming departure leaves Trump with an ever-shrinking team of close advisers as he faces increasing peril from federal investigations into his conduct in the 2016 election.

Trump must also begin to navigate a new power structure on Capitol Hill that will be ushered in next month when Democrats assume control of the House.

Kelly did not show up to work Friday. But Trump and Kelly met in the White House residence Friday night and hashed out the details of a departure that had been anticipated for months, according to people familiar with the meeting. Pence and Ayers also attended the meeting.

WASHINGTON — John Kelly, the retired Marine general tapped as chief of staff by President Donald Trump last year to bring order to his chaotic White House, will leave the job by the end of the year, the latest departure from the president’s inner circle after a bruising midterm election for his party.

Kelly’s coming departure leaves Trump with an ever-shrinking team of close advisers as he faces increasing peril from federal investigations into his conduct in the 2016 election. On Friday, prosecutors in New York said Trump had directed illegal payments during that campaign, and prosecutors for the special counsel said his campaign had had contact with Russians as early as November 2015.

Trump must also begin to navigate a new power structure on Capitol Hill that will be ushered in next month when Democrats assume control of the House. The midterm election, in which Democrats gained 40 seats in the House, laid bare the challenges Trump faces in his 2020 re-election campaign.

The chief of staff’s exit adds another prominent name to the list of core advisers who have left after trying to manage the president through his nearly two years in office, often finding themselves shunned and sidelined for their efforts.

Kelly had planned to announce his departure to senior staff members Monday, but Trump pre-empted him Saturday afternoon.

Ayers has had a rapid ascent in the Republican Party since he dropped out of Kennesaw State University to help lead Sonny Perdue’s successful 2002 bid for Georgia governor.

He has also accumulated significant wealth, reporting a net worth last year of $12.2 million to $54.8 million, partly through a complicated web of political and consulting companies in which he has held ownership stakes. Along the way, he has drawn a number of detractors who have found him focused more on promoting himself than on tackling the job at hand.

Although the president had previously made a display of saying that Kelly, 68, would stay through the 2020 re-election effort, the chief of staff had been blunt with several people in the White House that he planned to make it only through the midterms.

Kelly’s resignation had long been rumored amid signs that he and Trump had grown irritated with each other. The president — as freewheeling as Kelly is methodical — privately fumed that he believed his chief was hiding things from him, and frequently upbraided him in the West Wing on matters large and small.

“People leave,” Trump said at the time. “It’s a very exhausting job — although I love doing it, I must tell you — but it’s exhausting for a lot of people. I’m surprised that a lot of people, they start off, they’re young people. They’re there for two years, and they’re old by the time they leave.”

In early October, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said she was resigning. Trump on Friday named Heather Nauert, the State Department spokeswoman, as her replacement. He also said he would nominate William Barr, an attorney general during the first Bush administration, to that post in his administration.

Trump, speaking with reporters on the White House lawn before departing for the Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia, said he would announce a replacement for Kelly, perhaps on an interim basis, in the next day or two.

Kelly had planned to announce his departure to senior staff members Monday, but Trump pre-empted him on the South Lawn on Saturday afternoon.

Kelly’s coming departure leaves Trump with an ever-shrinking team of close advisers as he begins to navigate the new power structure on Capitol Hill that will be ushered in next month when Democrats assume control of the House. That election laid bare the challenges Trump faces in his 2020 re-election bid, a campaign that will be shadowed by a special counsel investigation that has now been going on for more than a year and a half.

The chief of staff’s exit also adds another prominent name to the list of core advisers who have left after trying to manage the president through his nearly two years in office, often finding themselves shunned and sidelined for their efforts.

Presidents typically make changes in staffing after midterm elections.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/08/us/politics/john-kelly-chief-staff-trump.html

Articles written by the author

John Kelly, Trump's Chief of Staff, to Leave White House

John Kelly, Trump's Chief of Staff, to Leave White House

John Kelly, Trump's Chief of Staff, to Leave White House

John Kelly, Trump's Chief of Staff, to Leave White House

John Kelly, Trump's Chief of Staff, to Leave White House

John Kelly, Trump's Chief of Staff, to Leave White House

John Kelly, Trump's Chief of Staff, to Leave White House

John Kelly, Trump's Chief of Staff, to Leave White House