About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 11, 2018)
TODAYS TOP HEADLINES The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com Tuesday, December 11,2018 3A Trump searching for new chief of staff BY ZEKE MILLER, JILL COLVIN AND JONATHAN LEMIRE Associated Press WASHINGTON — Wanted: Top aide to most powerful leader in world. Chief qualification: Willing to take the job. Must also be prepared to tolerate regu lar undermining by boss and risk of steep legal bills. Post-employment prospects: Uncertain. President Donald Trump is scrambling to find a new chief of staff after his first choice to replace John Kelly bailed at the last minute and several other potential successors signaled they weren’t interested in the job. Back to square one, Trump is mulling over a list of at least four potential candidates after Nick Ayers, Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, took himself out of the running Sunday and decided that he would instead be leaving the White House. The announcement surprised even senior staff ers who believed that Ayers’ ascension was a done deal. Trump is now soliciting input on a list of candi dates that is said to include Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, Rep. Mark Mead ows, R-N.C., the chairman of the conservative House Free dom Caucus, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. And allies are pitch ing Trump on even more contenders. But as quickly as names were being floated, candi dates appeared to be pulling themselves from consid eration, underscoring the challenges of working for a mercurial president who has acknowledged that he likes to surround himself with chaos and despises any sug gestion he’s being managed. “In the best of times, it is relentless,” said Chris Whipple, an expert on chiefs of staff and author of “The Gatekeepers,” a book on the subject. “It’s 24/7. It’s thankless. You get all of the blame and none of the credit for everything that happens. And that’s in the best of times. We are not in the best of times.” Trump’s admin istration has set records for staff turnover, and the president has often struggled to attract experienced politi cal professionals, a chal lenge that has grown more difficult with the upcoming threat of costly Democratic oversight investigations and an uncertain political environment. Those who take high-level positions in the White House at this time open themselves up to potential legal expo sure and pricey lawyer bills, said David B. Cohen, a politi cal science professor at The University of Akron who co-wrote a book on chiefs of staff. After reports surfaced Monday that he was unwill ing to take the job, Mead ows told Politico Playbook: “Serving as Chief of Staff would be an incredible honor. The President has a long list of qualified candi dates and I know he’ll make the best selection for his administration and for the country. ” Meanwhile, U.S. Trade Representa tive Robert Ligh- thizer, a potential contender, said he was “entirely focused” on his cur rent position. A per son familiar with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s thinking but not authorized to speak publicly made clear he, too, is happy in his cur rent post. While some of the reac tions may be strategic pos turing, there is also ample reason for any aspiring chief of staff to give pause to the notion of taking the job. Trump has already burned through two chiefs of staff — a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and a retired Marine four-star general — subjecting them to regular humiliation and ridicule. Former RNC Chair man Reince Priebus’s departure from the White House was unceremoni ously announced by tweet. Nearly 18 months later, Trump stepped on an orderly succes sion plan for Kelly, making a surprise Saturday announce ment on the White House lawn that the retired general would be leaving by year’s end. Ayers’ ascen sion and Kelly’s departure looked like a done deal Fri day night, according to mul tiple people in and close to the administration, with an announcement planned for Monday. Trump and Ayers had discussed the job for months, and the president had already been steer ing inquiries to the Pence staffer rather than Kelly. These people, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensi tive personnel matters. But Trump jumped the gun Saturday, and Ayers re-evaluated his decision. While a White House offi cial said Ayers’ decision was driven by a desire to return to Georgia to be closer to his family, people familiar with his thinking said he was also worried about scru tiny of his former political consulting business. He and Trump also could not reach agreement on Ayers’ length of service. Ayers wanted to serve on an interim basis; Trump wanted a two-year commitment. Trump was stung by Ayers’ decision to back out, according to people close to him. The embarrassment comes at a pivotal time for Trump, as he prepares for re-election while facing an expected onslaught of inves tigations from Democrats who will take control of the House and amid the ongoing Russia probe. When Trump appoints a replacement for Kelly, he will set a record for most chiefs of staff within the first 24 months of an administra tion, according to an analysis by Kathryn Dunn Tenpas of the Brookings Institution. Yet Trump once mocked his predecessor for chief of staff turnover. “3 Chief of Staffs in less than 3 years of being Presi dent: Part of the reason why (" BarackObama can’t manage to pass his agenda,” Trump wrote in a 2012 tweet. Kelly Ayers Brexit deal in turmoil as May postpones vote MATT DUNHAM I Associated Press Remaining in the European Union supporters, including one dressed as Santa, hold placards and protest outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Monday, Dec. 10. BY JILL LAWLESS AND DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON — Facing almost certain defeat, British Prime Min ister Theresa May on Monday postponed a vote in Parliament on her Brexit deal, saying she would go back to European Union lead ers to seek changes to the divorce agreement. May’s move threw Britain’s Brexit plans into disarray, inten sified a domestic political crisis and battered the pound. With EU officials adamant the withdrawal deal was not up for renegotiation, the country does not know on what terms it will leave — and whether May will still be Britain’s leader when it does. In an emergency statement to the House of Commons, May accepted that the divorce deal she struck last month with EU leaders was likely to be rejected “by a sig nificant margin” if the vote were held Tuesday as planned. May said she would defer the vote so she could seek “assur ances” from the EU and bring the deal back to Parliament. She did not set a new date for the vote. The U.K.’s departure is supposed to take place on March 29. Opposition lawmakers — and ones from May’s Conservative Party — were incredulous and angry. Some accused her of tram pling on parliamentary democracy. “The government has lost con trol of events and is in complete disarray,” Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said. Corbyn demanded, and was granted, an emergency debate Tuesday on the postponement. But Labour lawmaker Lloyd Russell- Moyle was expelled from Parlia ment for the day after he grabbed the House of Commons’ ceremo nial mace as a sign of protest. The centuries-old gilded staff is the symbol of royal authority. With out it, the Commons can’t meet or pass laws. Jacob Rees-Mogg, a leading pro- Brexit Conservative, expressed despair at the Brexit shambles. “It’s not really governing,” he said. “It’s just an awful muddle.” Monday’s turmoil sent the pound to a 20-month low against the dollar of $1.2550. It was a new blow for May, who became prime minister after Brit ain’s 2016 referendum decision to leave the EU. She has been bat tling ever since — first to strike a divorce deal with the bloc, then to sell it to skeptical British lawmakers. May insisted the agreement hammered out with the EU after a year and a half of negotiations was “the best deal that is negotiable.” But it has been scorned by lawmak ers on all sides of Britain’s debate about Europe. Derisive laughter erupted in the House of Commons when May claimed there was “broad support” for many aspects of the deal. Pro-Brexit lawmakers say the deal keeps Britain bound too closely to the EU, while pro-EU politicians say it erects barriers between the U.K. and its biggest trading partner and leaves many details of the future relationship undecided. The main sticking point is a “backstop” provision that aims to guarantee an open border between EU member Ireland and the U.K.’s Northern Ireland after Brexit. The measure would keep Britain under EU customs rules, and is supposed to last until it is superseded by per manent new trade arrangements. Critics say it could leave Britain tied to the EU indefinitely, unable to strike new trade deals around the world. May said she would hold talks with EU leaders ahead of a sum mit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, seeking “further reassur ances” over the backstop. “Nothing should be off the table,” she said. EU leaders signaled they are prepared to help Britain, up to a point, but insisted the Brexit agree ment could not be changed. “The deal is the deal,” Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said. “It’s taken two years to put together. It’s a fair deal for both sides.” European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted: “We will not renegotiate the deal, includ ing the backstop, but we are ready to discuss how to facilitate U.K. ratification.” A key member of the European parliament’s Brexit team, Green lawmaker Philippe Lamberts, predicted May’s shuttle diplomacy would fail to secure changes. “The only net result of this round of capitals will be an additional amount of C02 in the atmosphere,” he said. Despite May’s dogged deter mination to press on, the tumult leaves her in a precarious position. Conservative rivals are preparing for a potential leadership chal lenge, and Labour has threatened call for a no-confidence motion in the government. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said her Scottish National Party would support an attempt to topple the government and trigger a new election. “This shambles can’t go on — so how about it?” Sturgeon tweeted at Corbyn. Corbyn stopped short of calling a no-confidence vote Monday, but said if May could not renegotiate with the EU, “then she must make way.” Delays in approving the Brexit deal increase the chances of Brit ain crashing out of the EU with no agreement. The government and the Bank of England have warned that could bring logjams to British ports and plunge the country into its deepest recession in decades. May said the government would step up preparations for a no-deal Brexit in order to mitigate its worst effects. It has already stockpiled medicines and other key goods. Carolyn Fairbairn, head of the Confederation of British Industry, said the delay was “yet another blow for companies desperate for clarity.” “Investment plans have been paused for two-and-a-half years,” she said. “Unless a deal is agreed quickly, the country risks sliding towards a national crisis.” May has also warned that reject ing her deal could result in Britain not leaving the EU at all. Macron vows tax cuts, pay rise; will France’s anger subside? CLAUDE PARIS I Associated Press TV screens show French President Emmanuel during a televised address to the nation, at an electrical appliance store in Marseille, southern France, Monday, Dec. 10. BY SYLVIE CORBET AND ANGELA CHARLTON Associated Press PARIS — French Presi dent Emmanuel Macron tried to reassert control over a nation wracked by increas ingly violent protests with offers of tax relief for strug gling workers and pension ers — and an exceptional admission Monday that “I might have hurt people with my words.” It may not be enough. Even as Macron broke his silence on the protests in a brief televised address, yellow-vested demonstra tors vowed to keep up the pressure on a man they see as arrogant, out-of-touch and “president of the rich.” “We are at a historic moment for our country,” the French leader said from the presidential Elysee Palace. “We will not resume the nor mal course of our lives” after all that has happened. Speaking with a soft voice and gentle tone, Macron pleaded for a return to calm after almost four weeks of protests that started in neglected provinces to oppose fuel tax increases and progressed to rioting in Paris and a plethora of broad demands. It’s a turning point in Macron’s presidency, and a crucial moment for both France and Europe. Macron rode to the presidency last year on promises of reju venating France’s stagnant economy and salvaging European unity. His cred ibility on both fronts is now deeply damaged, just as the EU struggles with Britain’s chaotic exit and as France’s protests have prompted copycat movements beyond its borders. French protesters spent days demanding that Macron speak publicly about their concerns. After he did, they took to French airwaves and social media to dissect his promises. “It doesn’t solve the prob lem,” a protester in a yellow vest, Alain Bouche, told BFM television from a yellow-vest roadblock southwest of Paris. He said fellow demonstrators want a national referendum, too. Some protest representa tives have said more dem onstrations will be held Saturday, following those in Paris that turned violent during the previous two weekends. Meanwhile, students opposing changes in key high school tests are calling for a new round of protests Tuesday. Macron declared an “eco nomic and social state of emergency,” ordering the government and parliament to take immediate steps to change tax rules and other policies that hit the wallets of working class French people. He responded to several of the protesters’ demands, promising measures that included: ■ a government-funded 100-euro increase in the mini mum wage starting at the beginning of the new year ■the abolition of taxes on overtime pay in 2019 ■ asking profit-making companies to give workers tax-free year-end bonuses ■ slashing a tax hike on small pensions, acknowledg ing it was “unjust.” One thing he didn’t do: restore a special tax on house holds with assets above $1.5 million that he had slashed last year. Yellow vest protest ers decry the end of the tax and wanted it revived. Overall, Macron unveiled no radical changes, and clung to his vision for transforming France. Yet his costly prom ises will make it even more difficult to boost growth — already being hammered by protests that have dam aged holiday retail sales and worried tourists and foreign investors. “It’s more of a budgetary adjustment than a change of political course,” said Ben jamin Cauchy, a yellow vest protest representative. “That doesn’t correspond to what the French want.” Some protesters just wanted one thing: Macron to announce “I quit.” He showed no signs of giv ing in. Instead, he defended his political independence and described his devotion to serving France. No French presidential or parliamen tary elections are scheduled until 2022. The most remarkable part of the speech may have been the moment Macron said: “I take my share of responsibil ity” for the anger gripping France. It was an unusual admis sion for a president whose leadership has appeared marked by a single-minded determination to push through reforms he promised in his 2017 campaign, regard less of the fallout. “I might have hurt people with my words,” he said. Indeed, he wounded many when he told a jobless man he just had to “cross the street” to find work. Or when he told retirees with small pensions to stop complaining. Or when he suggested some French workers are “lazy.” •Gift baskets •Embroidery •Unique gifts •Screen printing •Balloons for all occasions •Full Service Pharmacy •Free Local Delivery •Compounding Unit Dose Packaging Hiverride fharmaqj 935 Green St., Gainesville, GA 770.532.6253 • callriversidepharmacy.com Auto Insurance Specialist • Easy Payments • Any Driver • Any Age NEW LOCATION! 2415 OLD CORNELIA HWY., GAINESVILLE Next to Rabbittown Cafe 770-450-4500
