President Trump said Friday that Mick Mulvaney will remain on as his chief of staff, dismissing talk of his potential ouster.
“I have a great relationship with Mick,” Trump told reporters at the White House before departing for a speech in North Carolina, calling a report about his expected ouster “false.”
CNN reported earlier Friday that Mulvaney had fallen out of favor with Trump and the top aide’s tenure in the White House was in question now that the impeachment proceedings had wrapped up.
The report said Trump was considering replacing Mulvaney with retiring Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), one of his top allies on Capitol Hill.
Trump described his relationship with both Mulvaney and Meadows as “great” on Friday but disputed the report as false.
“That was a false report,” Trump told reporters before departing the White House.
Both Mulvaney and Meadows are traveling with Trump on Air Force One on Friday for the president’s appearance at the North Carolina Opportunity Now Summit.
Mulvaney was said to be on rocky terrain in his position last year after he said during an October press conference that Trump held up military aid to Ukraine in part because he wanted Kyiv to assist with an investigation related to the 2016 hack of the Democratic National Committee server.
The remarks undermined a key talking point of the administration related to allegations raised by Democrats during the impeachment inquiry.
Mulvaney later walked his remarks back, saying there was no such quid pro quo in the Trump administration’s dealings with Ukraine.
Mulvaney has never shed his “acting” title, and speculation has swirled particularly since the October press conference that he could be pushed out of his role.
Trump’s remarks on Friday, however, indicate that Mulvaney, who is the president’s third chief of staff, is on secure footing with the president following the end of impeachment proceedings.