Who is Mick Mulvaney? Things to know about Trump’s future chief of staff
President Donald Trump announced last week that Mick Mulvaney will become his acting chief of staff once John Kelly leaves the post at the end of this year.
Mulvaney became director of the Office of Management and Budget in February 2017. White House officials initially said he'd be replaced in that role by deputy budget director Russell Vought, although press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders later told reporters Mulvaney planned to continue running the Office of Management and Budget while serving as acting chief of staff, The Washington Post reported.
“Mick has done an outstanding job while in the Administration,” Trump said Friday in a tweet. “I look forward to working with him in this new capacity as we continue to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
....I look forward to working with him in this new capacity as we continue to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! John will be staying until the end of the year. He is a GREAT PATRIOT and I want to personally thank him for his service!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2018
Here are some things to know about Mulvaney:
- Trump nominated Mulvaney in December 2016 to serve as his director of the Office of Management and Budget. He was confirmed by the Senate on Feb. 16, 2017.
- Under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, the president designated Mulvaney to serve as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in November 2017 following the resignation of Richard Cordray. The appointment was challenged in court by Leandra English, who Cordray had appointed as his deputy director just before his exit. However, a judge determined the White House had the authority to name Cordray's replacement, The New York Times reported. Mulvaney served as both the director of the Office of Management and Budget and the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau until Dec. 11, when the U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination of Kathy Kraninger.
- Mulvaney represented South Carolina's 5th District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2010 until 2017. He was elected as a member of the conservative Tea Party movement and as a co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus, the Post reported.
- In November 2016, before Trump was elected to serve as the 45th president of the United States, Mulvaney said he planned to vote for Trump, "despite the fact that I think he's a terrible human being," The State reported. He made the comment during a debate with his then-Democratic challenger for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
- Mulvaney and his wife, Pam, were married in 1998. They are the parents of triplets named James, Caroline and Finnegan.
