White House Chief of Staff John Kelly could be the next member of the Trump Administration transitioning out of his role, with rumors suggesting that the former Marine Corps general may depart as soon as this summer.
The President is rumored to be consulting with advisers about his successor and has a short list of probable replacements, the Wall Street Journal reported.
According to individuals familiar with the matter, Nick Ayers, current Chief of Staff to Vice President Mike Pence, and Mick Mulvaney, acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and head of the Office of Management and Budget, are both being considered for the position.
Mulvaney met with the President over dinner on Wednesday night and reportedly discussed the position with him.
While Kelly’s exit has yet to be confirmed, he has told colleagues that he does not intend to stay in his role beyond the one-year mark.
Kelly began his job as the President’s Chief of Staff on July 31 of last year, and as the one-year mark approaches, rumblings about his departure have picked up steam.
Along with Kelly’s own self-proclaimed deadline, anonymous sources inside the White House have suggested that his relationship with the President may also be a factor in his departure.
Kelly believes that he is currently unable to serve the President well enough and expressed his displeasure with the job.
Furthermore, while Kelly was tasked to bring order to a chaotic White House last year, many aides have witnessed Kelly’s control falter in recent months. Individuals now often speak directly to the President and pursue policy initiatives not fully vetted, whereas the custom originally was to go through Kelly instead.
However, having individuals approach Trump directly rather than going through a chain of command has been the President’s preferred way of working, both during his time so far in the Oval Office and as a business magnate.
According to former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, Trump had no hierarchy when he ran his real-estate empire and had a number of people report to him directly.
