President Donald Trump has just resolved days of speculation over a possible shake up in White House senior leadership by firing his chief-of-staff, Reince Priebus.
Simultaneously, the president named Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly as Priebus’ replacement.
Trump made the announcement, as usual, via Twitter:
I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff. He is a Great American….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2017
…and a Great Leader. John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2017
I would like to thank Reince Priebus for his service and dedication to his country. We accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2017
There had been much speculation in the media that Priebus and/or White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon were about to depart. The move follows the voluntary resignation of Press Secretary Sean Spicer last week, effective in August.
Both Spicer and Priebus leave following public hostility between them and Anthony Scaramucci, a Wall Street financier, who Trump recently named Director of Communications.
On Thursday, Scaramucci was the center of scandal when a journalist from The New Yorker went public with details of expletive-laden phone call in which Scaramucci was upset with both Bannon and Priebus.
There is an increasing sense now that Trump brought in the non-nonsense talking Italian from Trump’s native New York in order to clean house in an administration beset with information leaks and an inability to advance the president’s legislative agenda.
In an extended interview with CNN’s Andrew Cuomo discussing the scandal, Scaramucci intimated that he held Priebus responsible for the non-stop leaks coming from the White House.
And a final push to repeal and replace Obamacare – one of Trump’s top legislative priorities – narrowly failed in the US senate on Friday, after Republican senators McCain, Collins, and Murkowski voted against the measure.
The elimination of Priebus, who was previously chairman of the Republican Party could only be the first of several firings at top levels of the government, as the news broke on July 27 that the FBI’s top lawyer was under investigation for leaking classified information.
After much preparation, draining the deep state Washington swamp, or what Trump recently called a “cess pool” and a “sewer,” may have finally begun.
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