Trump Ousts Mick Mulvaney, Names Mark Meadows As White House Chief Of Staff

President Trump ousted his acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney on Friday, replacing him with Rep. Mark Meadows, R-NC.

"I am pleased to announce that Congressman Mark Meadows will become White House Chief of Staff," Trump said in a tweet.

Mulvaney, who is Trump's third chief of staff, has been in his role for slightly more than a year. Trump said Mulvaney will become the U.S. special envoy for Ireland.

Mulvaney took over as Trump's chief of staff in early January, 2019, following the departure of John Kelly. Meadows will be Trump’s fourth White House chief of staff, after Mulvaney, Kelly and Reince Priebus.

Meadows, a close Trump ally, had indicated that he planned to leave the Congress before his term ended. Meadows led the Freedom Caucus of hardline conservative lawmakers in the House.

At a White House presser last year while the impeachment inquiry against Trump was on, Mulvaney made a slip that reportedly enraged Trump. When a reporter asserted that what the Trump administration did by withholding aid to Ukraine to pressurize that country for an investigation into the dealing of Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, Mulvaney said, “We do that all the time.”

He walked back those comments later with a statement, saying: "Let me be clear, there was absolutely no quid pro quo between Ukrainian military aid and any investigation into the 2016 election."

Trump's surprise move comes even as the administration grapples with the coronavirus threat.