Mick Mulvaney wears a couple of different hats in the Trump administration, currently serving as both the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the director of the Office of Management and Budget.
But the former congressman could soon wear an entirely different hat, White House chief of staff.
According to the New York Times and CNN, President Donald Trump is asking advisers what they think of Mulvaney as a replacement for current Chief of Staff John Kelly.
Kelly reportedly finds himself in Trump’s crosshairs over the handling of the exit of former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, who was accused of domestic violence by his two ex-wives.
Kelly supposedly knew of the allegations against Porter for some time, but elected to do nothing about it, only acting when the Daily Mail reported on Porter’s alleged actions.
That attracted significant negative attention to Kelly, who Trump is now reportedly considering replacing with Mulvaney, although CNN and the New York Times couch Trump’s supposed interest in Mulvaney differently.
Here’s how the New York Times describes it:
Mr. Trump has recently asked advisers what they think of Mick Mulvaney, who currently holds twin posts as director of the White House budget office and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, as a possible chief of staff, according to two people briefed on the discussions.
And here’s how CNN puts it:
Conversations have been going on all week long among White House staffers as to what a "post-Kelly world looks like," a source familiar with these discussions said. And "the conversation keeps coming back to Mulvaney."
Trump also has been quizzing those around him about their opinion of Mulvaney in recent weeks, aides and associates tell CNN.
This source noted that these conversations were "hot" earlier this week at the height of the Porter fiasco, but that they seem to have cooled down — at least for the moment. One reason why Mulvaney talk is on the rise, this source said, is he "doesn't have any enemies" inside the West Wing.
According to the CNN article, Mulvaney “loves” the two jobs he has now in the Trump administration, simultaneously running the OMB and CFPB.
Over at the CFPB, Mulvaney has taken significant actions in the last few weeks to alter how the bureau operates.
Recently, Mulvaney told the CFPB’s employees that the agency was ending regulation by enforcement, adding that the agency works not only for consumers, but also for the companies it supervises.
Mulvaney also reportedly stripped the bureau’s Office of Fair Lending of its enforcement powers, announced that the CFPB would “reconsider” its payday lending rules, defanged the changes in Home Mortgage Disclosure Act reporting that were to take effect this year, and reportedly put the brakes on the agency’s investigation into the massive data breach at Equifax.
But, according to a previous CNN report, Mulvaney’s profile has been on the rise in the White House lately not due to his actions at the CFPB, but rather his handling of budget-related issues that has him reportedly in consideration for the Chief of Staff position.
