Mulvaney on cusp of permanent status upgrade

‘He has stayed out of a lot of people’s way,’ said one senior administration official. ‘No one is saying he is killing it but staying out of people’s way has helped.’

The White House plans to drop the word “acting” from Mick Mulvaney’s title, officially making him President Donald Trump’s third chief of staff, according to four current and former senior administration officials.

It’s a recognition that Mulvaney has successfully navigated a tumultuous West Wing. The former South Carolina congressman and White House budget chief talks to the president multiple times a day and maintains good relations with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner — Trump family members who also happen to be the White House’s two most powerful staffers — while giving them and other top staffers more leeway to operate than his predecessor, John Kelly. Mulvaney has also quietly installed roughly eight loyal aides within the West Wing.

“He has stayed out of a lot of people’s way,” said one senior administration official. “No one is saying he is killing it but staying out of people’s way has helped.”

View the complete March 19 article by Nancy Cook on the Politico website here.