Tag: Trump Chief of Staff

Meadows Pressed Justice Dept. to Investigate Election Fraud Claims

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Emails show the increasingly urgent efforts by President Trump and his allies during his last days in office to find some way to undermine, or even nullify, the election results.

WASHINGTON — In Donald J. Trump’s final weeks in office, Mark Meadows, his chief of staff, repeatedly pushed the Justice Department to investigate unfounded conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election, according to newly uncovered emails provided to Congress, portions of which were reviewed by The New York Times.

In five emails sent during the last week of December and early January, Mr. Meadows asked Jeffrey A. Rosen, then the acting attorney general, to examine debunked claims of election fraud in New Mexico and an array of baseless conspiracies that held that Mr. Trump had been the actual victor. That included a fantastical theory that people in Italy had used military technology and satellites to remotely tamper with voting machines in the United States and switch votes for Mr. Trump to votes for Joseph R. Biden Jr.

None of the emails show Mr. Rosen agreeing to open the investigations suggested by Mr. Meadows, and former officials and people close to him said that he did not do so. An email to another Justice Department official indicated that Mr. Rosen had refused to broker a meeting between the F.B.I. and a man who had posted videos online promoting the Italy conspiracy theory, known as Italygate. Continue reading.

Live updates: WH chief of staff says Trump’s vitals over past 24 hours are ‘very concerning’

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NOTE: This article about COVID-19 is provided free of charge by The Washington Post.

The White House on Saturday created a startling amount of confusion on the timing of President Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis and the status of his health through a series of conflicting statements, injecting an extraordinary degree of uncertainty into the nation’s understanding of the president’s condition and who may have been exposed to the deadly virus.

At a Saturday morning news conference, members of Trump’s medical team at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center said the president is fever-free and that they are “extremely happy” with the progress he has made. But Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, said Trump went through a “very concerning” period over the last day.

“The president’s vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning, and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care,” Meadows said. “We’re still not on a clear path to a full recovery.” Continue reading.

For Mark Meadows, Transition From Trump Confidant to Chief of Staff Is a Hard One

New York Times logoWeeks into the job, Mr. Meadows has confronted the same problems that frustrated his three predecessors. It hasn’t helped him with his new White House colleagues that he’s emotional and sometimes cries.

Mark Meadows has officially been President Trump’s fourth White House chief of staff for less than three weeks.

In that time, he has shaken up the communications office, angering supporters of the press secretary he chose to replace. He has tried to put in place other speedy changes, hoping to succeed where his three predecessors failed. He has hunted aggressively for leaks.

But administration officials say he has been overwhelmed at times by a permanent culture at the White House that revolves around the president’s moods, his desire to present a veneer of strength and his need for a sense of control. It is why, no matter who serves as chief of staff, the lack of formal processes and the constant infighting are unavoidable facts of life for those working for Mr. Trump. Continue reading.

Incoming White House chief of staff Mark Meadows among lawmakers sidelined by coronavirus concerns

Washington Post logoThe incoming White House chief of staff, Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, was among three Republican congressmen who said Monday that they were quarantining themselves because of suspected contact with a confirmed carrier of the novel coronavirus.

A spokesman, Ben Williamson, said Meadows learned this weekend he “may have come in contact” with the individual who attended the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in suburban Washington late last month. Meadows tested negative for the virus and is not displaying symptoms but is remaining home in self-quarantine until Wednesday, Williamson said in a statement.

Trump named Meadows his chief of staff on Friday evening, replacing Mick Mulvaney. Williamson’s statement did not address whether Meadows physically interacted with Trump since the conference last month. Continue reading.

Trump names Mark Meadows as new chief of staff

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Friday announced that Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) would replace Mick Mulvaney as his chief of staff, becoming the fourth person to hold the position during Trump’s tenure.

The president announced the news in a tweet, saying he would appoint Mulvaney as U.S. special envoy for Northern Ireland.

“I am pleased to announce that Congressman Mark Meadows will become White House Chief of Staff. I have long known and worked with Mark, and the relationship is a very good one,” Trump tweeted Friday night while in Palm Beach, Fla., for fundraising events after a day of official travel. Continue reading.

Chris Christie tells Trump he doesn’t want to be chief of staff

Credit: Luke Sharrett, Bloomberg

Chris Christie said Friday that he told President Trump he doesn’t want to be considered to replace John Kelly as White House chief of staff, per the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman, who obtained a copy of his statement.

“It’s an honor to have the president consider me as he looks to choose a new White House chief-of-staff. 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.”
— Chris Christie

The backdrop: President Trump, who considered Christie a top contender to replace John Kelly as chief of staff, discussed the job with Christie Thursday night, a source familiar with the president’s thinking told Axios’ Jonathan Swan.

View the December 14 article on the Axios.com website here.

 

Trump Doesn’t Want a Chief of Staff

Credit: Danny Wild, USA Today Sports

Someone needs to get the White House under control — but the president won’t let it happen.

Before a president begins thinking about who should be his White House chief of staff, he has to define both the job and the moment. There’s nothing magical about the chief of staff’s corner office in the West Wing. How any individuals perform in the job depends, first, on the power the president gives them to execute their responsibilities, and second, on their expertise facing whatever’s in front of the White House in that moment. So how should that inform President Donald Trump as John Kelly takes his leave?

Consider the first issue. Had they been given unlimited time and bandwidth, neither of the presidents I worked for would have even hired a chief of staff. Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama would have wanted to take every meeting, hear every perspective, mull every decision, game out every scenario, and address every challenge. They both loved the job of president—and arrived in the Oval Office every morning excited to see what they could accomplish.

But both also recognized that they simply couldn’t do it all. No president can. To get anything completed, and certainly to get the most important things done, they needed to discipline their own time and attention. They needed a gatekeeper. They needed someone to play traffic cop inside the bureaucracy. Without someone wielding the organizational tools that keep the executive branch moving apace, an administration can devolve into chaos. And so, however begrudgingly, both Clinton and Obama accepted that the limitations their chiefs of staff would impose on them and the rest of their administration would help them achieve their goals.

View the complete commentary by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel on The Atlantic websit here.

White House chief of staff tried to pressure acting DHS secretary to expel thousands of Hondurans, officials say

The following article by Nick Miroff was posted on the Washington Post website November 9, 2017:

Elaine Duke, the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, meets with Britain’s home secretary on Oct. 20. Duke refused to bow to pressure from White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly to expel tens of thousands of Hondurans living in the United States under protected status, officials said. (Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images)

On Monday, as the Department of Homeland Security prepared to extend the residency permits of tens of thousands of Hondurans living in the United States, White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly called acting secretary Elaine Duke to pressure her to expel them, according to current and former administration officials.

Duke refused to reverse her decision and was angered by what she felt was a politically driven intrusion by Kelly and Tom Bossert, the White House homeland security adviser, who also called her about the matter, according to officials with knowledge of Monday’s events. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

“As with many issues, there were a variety of views inside the administration on a policy. The Acting Secretary took those views and advice on the path forward for TPS and made her decision based on the law,” DHS spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement, referring to a form of provisional residency called temporary protected status. He added that it was also “perfectly normal for them to discuss the issue before she had reached a decision.” Continue reading “White House chief of staff tried to pressure acting DHS secretary to expel thousands of Hondurans, officials say”