


President Trump on Friday shot down a report that he planned to oust acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and possibly replace him with retiring North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, a staunch supporter throughout the impeachment proceedings.
“That was a false report. I have a great relationship with Mick. I have a great relationship with Mark. And it’s false,” Trump said about a report from CNN as he left the White House en route to Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, North Carolina, to speak at the North Carolina Opportunity Now Summit.
The cable network, citing sources, reported that Trump lost confidence in Mulvaney, who still also oversees the Office of Management and Budget, months ago but was persuaded not to can him then by staffers worried that the move could only add more drama during the impeachment.
The sources said Trump ignores Mulvaney’s advice and has often taken the opposite course to what the former GOP lawmaker from South Carolina advised.
A White House spokesman also told the network the story was not true.
“It’s unfortunate but not surprising that at the end of a week when the President was totally acquitted, CNN is turning to palace intrigue stories. As he indicated in his State of the Union address this week, President Trump is focused on delivering results for the American people. We have no personnel announcements at this time,” White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere said in a statement.
Mulvaney was a fixture on TV defending the administration and pushing Trump’s policies until a press briefing in November in which he told reporters that political influence always affects US foreign policy and that they should “get over it.”
Alexander VindmanAPHe was referring to Trump’s call to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in which Trump asked him to announce a probe into Joe Biden, a request that sparked the impeachment effort, which failed Wednesday when the Senate voted to acquit the president.
Rumors that Meadows would replace Mulvaney have been rampant inside the Beltway for weeks, but it was unclear when or if the fervent conservative would replace Mulvaney, or even when Mulvaney might be departing.
Meanwhile, Trump was expected to transfer a national security official who testified against him during the impeachment inquiry on Ukraine, the Washington Post reported.
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who told House investigators he was troubled by Trump’s request that Zelensky probe a political rival, will work elsewhere in government, and had already said he would welcome a transfer.



