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4A Saturday, December 15, 2018
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
NATION/POLITICS
Trump picks budget head Mulvaney for chief of staff
BY JONATHAN LEMIRE,
JILL COLVIN AND
CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President
Donald Trump on Friday picked
budget director Mick Mulvaney to
be his acting chief of staff, ending a
chaotic search in which several top
contenders took themselves out of
contention for the job.
“Mick has done an outstanding
job while in the Administration,”
Trump tweeted. “I look forward
to working with him in this new
capacity as we continue to MAKE
AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Trump added chief of staff John
Kelly, “will be staying until the
end of the year. He is a GREAT
PATRIOT and I want to personally
thank him for his service!”
One White House official said
there was no time limit on the
appointment and Mulvaney would
fill the role indefinitely, regardless
of the “acting” title.
Key to his selection: Mulvaney
and the president get along and
Trump has appreciated how the
budget director briefs him, accord
ing to the official. Additionally,
Trump prized the former congress
man’s knowledge of Capitol Hill
and political instincts as the White
House prepares for both a Dem-
ocratic-controlled House and the
president’s re-election campaign.
Unlike with Kelly’s appoint
ment, Mulvaney received the
news before the president tweeted
his announcement. Trump and
Mulvaney met face to face Fri
day afternoon and spoke
by phone in the evening,
according to a second
White House official. Both
officials spoke on condi
tion of anonymity because
they were not authorized
to discuss the personnel
matter on the record.
Mulvaney, who will
be Trump’s third chief
of staff, will now take on
his third job in the administra
tion. He is head of the Office of
Management and Budget, and
for a time had simultaneously led
the Consumer Financial Protec
tion Bureau. Russell Vought, Mul-
vaney’s deputy, is to take over at
OMB.
The first senior official disputed
reports that Mulvaney wasn’t inter
ested in the chief of staff job and
said the president didn’t need to
change Mulvaney’s mind, though
the budget director had previously
signaled disinterest. A person close
to him had told reporters that Mul
vaney had made clear in recent
months that he would be more inter
ested in taking over at the Treasury
or Commerce Department.
It was unclear why Mulvaney’s
appointment was announced as
temporary — but that decision
was made by the president, the
first official said. The
source added that Kelly
was happy with the choice
of Mulvaney and plans to
stay on through the end of
the year to assist with the
transition.
A former Tea Party
congressman, Mulvaney
was among a faction on
the hard right that pushed
GOP leaders into a 2013
government shutdown confronta
tion by insisting on lacing a must-
pass spending bill with provisions
designed to cripple President
Barack Obama’s signature health
care law.
The appointment of the affable,
fast-talking South Carolinian came
just hours after another candidate
for the post, former New Jersey
Gov. Chris Christie, took him
self out of contention for the job.
Christie cited family reasons in a
statement saying that he was ask
ing Trump to remove him from
consideration. He had met with
Trump on Thursday to discuss the
job, according to a person famil
iar with the meeting who was not
authorized to discuss it publicly.
The president’s hunt for a new
chief reverted to square one last
weekend when Nick Ayers, Vice
President Mike Pence’s chief of
staff, took himself out of the run
ning and decided that he would
instead leave the White House.
Ayers, who had cited family
concerns as a reason why he didn’t
accept the post, tweeted Friday:
“The right father of triplets got the
job... Congratulations @MickMul-
vaneyOMB!” Both men are, coinci
dentally, fathers of triplets.
Trump’s first chief of staff,
Reince Priebus, served six months
before leaving in July 2017. Trump
tweeted his choice of Kelly to
replace him before informing the
retired four-star Marine general.
For some months, Kelly had
success streamlining the decision
making process in the West Wing
and curtailing access to the undis
ciplined president. But Trump
grew weary of the restrictions and
Kelly’s influence waned as the two
men frequently clashed.
As the search dragged on after
Ayers bowed out, the void was filled
with Trump’s specialty: drama.
British journalist Piers Morgan
suggested he would be a good fit
in an op-ed for “The Daily Mail,”
while former major league slugger
Jose Canseco tweeted his interest
to Trump. Speculation has swirled
around an array of Trump associ
ates, prompting some to distance
themselves from the job.
When former House Speaker
Newt Gingrich visited the White
House this week, he insisted it was
to see the Christmas decorations.
The wild process was hardly a
novelty for the Trump adminis
tration, which has struggled with
high staff turnover and attracting
top talent, but it underscored the
tumult of Trump’s Washington. In
past administrations, chief of staff
was a sought-after job, typically
awarded after a careful process.
Now, many view the job as a risky
proposition, given Trump’s propen
sity for disorder and his resistance
to being managed.
Author Chris Whipple, an expert
on chiefs of staff, had called the
search process “sad to watch.”
“In his first two years, Trump
devalued the position by failing to
empower anyone to perform the
job, and now he’s turned the search
for a replacement into a reality
show,” said Whipple, author of
“The Gatekeepers,” a book on the
subject.
Mulvaney
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J&J denies it knew of
asbestos in baby powder
Associated Press
NEW YORK - John
son & Johnson on Friday
forcefully denied a media
report that it knew for
decades about the exis
tence of trace amounts
of asbestos in its baby
powder.
The report by the
Reuters news service sent
the company’s shares into
a tailspin, suffering their
worst one-day sell-off in
16 years.
Reuters cited docu
ments released as part
of a lawsuit by plaintiffs
claiming that the product
can be linked to ovarian
cancer.
The New Brunswick,
New Jersey company has
battled in court against
such claims and on Fri
day called the Reuters
report “one-sided, false
and inflammatory.”
Johnson & Johnson’s
stock fell $14.84, or 10
percent, to close Friday
at $133, its most severe
single-day decline since
2002.
In the report, Reuters
noted documents show
consulting labs as early
as 1957 and 1958 found
asbestos in J&J talc.
Further reports by the
company and outside labs
showed similar findings
through the early 2000s,
according to the Reuters
story.
In its statement Friday,
Johnson & Johnson said
“thousands of indepen
dent tests by regulators
and the world’s leading
labs prove our baby pow
der has never contained
asbestos.”
adviser.
He said Flynn may be
benefiting from Trump’s
labeling of the special coun
sel investigation as a “witch
hunt” and “hoax.”
“I think that’s part of a
political campaign designed
to discredit the special
counsel, but some people do
believe it,” Whitehouse said.
As for what’s next for
Flynn, those close to him
said he has a number of
options, including consulting
or writing a book. Over the
summer, a firm headed by
lobbyists who recently rep
resented the government of
Qatar announced Flynn was
coming to work there. Fly
nn’s attorneys said he hadn’t
joined Stonington Global. As
of Thursday, its website still
listed Flynn as joining it as
director of global strategy.
The company didn’t respond
to requests for comment.
BY MICHELLE R. SMITH
AND JENNIFER
MCDERMOTT
Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -
Days away from being sen
tenced in the Russia probe,
former national security
adviser Michael
Flynn is not exactly
hiding his face in
shame.
People close to
him tell The Asso
ciated Press that
as the possibility
of prison looms,
Flynn is relaxed
and hopeful, eager F| Y nn
to get through Tues
day’s sentencing and move
forward. He’ll be the first
official in President Donald
Trump’s administration to be
sentenced in the case.
Flynn has been having
fun with his old high school
gang, going out on the town
to see an Elton John concert
and watch the New England
Patriots and Boston Celtics
play, friends tell the AP. Ran
dom people approach him in
public with hugs, handshakes
and requests for photos.
His supporters plan to rally
outside the courthouse the
day of his sentencing, and a
lucrative consulting gig could
await him.
The retired three-star gen
eral pleaded guilty last year
to lying to the FBI about con
versations he had with the
then-Russian ambassador
to the United States during
Trump’s White House tran
sition. In a filing this week,
his lawyers highlighted Fly
nn’s long and distinguished
military service and exten
sive cooperation with pros
ecutors in asking that he be
sentenced to probation and
community service, rather
than prison.
The special counsel inves
tigating whether Trump’s
2016 Republican presidential
campaign coordinated with
Russia has said Flynn was so
helpful that he was entitled to
avoid time behind bars, even
though sentencing guidelines
recommend up to six months
in prison.
Despite the extensive
cooperation, Flynn has not
drawn any of the vitriol that
Trump has hurled at those
who have turned on him
— most notably his former
fixer Michael Cohen. The
president on Thursday called
Flynn a “great person.”
Flynn has given 19 inter
views to prosecutors, five
of those before he pleaded
guilty, according to his fil
ing. His lawyers said he
turned over thousands of
documents, and the special
counsel’s office has said that
he has also aided a criminal
investigation they haven’t yet
revealed.
While Flynn’s lawyers
acknowledged he had made
a “serious error in judgment”
and “shown true contrition,”
he has an extended group
of supporters who believe
he’s an American hero
being unjustly prosecuted
because of his association
with Trump. Tuesday’s filing
added fuel to that idea.
His lawyers detailed his
FBI interview, including that
agents did not warn him in
advance that it was a crime
to lie to the FBI, and sug
gested Flynn was discour
aged from bringing a lawyer
into the meeting.
Prosecutors with the spe
cial counsel’s office pushed
back on Friday against
the idea that anything was
improper. They wrote in a
filing that Flynn, a longtime
intelligence officer, had
been lying to administration
officials and media
about his contacts
with the Russian
ambassador for
weeks before the
FBI called, then vol
untarily met with
them. They said he
should have known
not to lie.
Members of
Flynn’s family and
friends tweeted this week
that he had been entrapped,
set up or ambushed by the
FBI. His son, Michael Flynn
Jr., complained of a double
standard with Democrat Hill
ary Clinton because she had
lawyers in her FBI interview.
Trump on Thursday
tweeted that the special
counsel gave Flynn “a great
deal because they were
embarrassed by the way he
was treated.”
“They want to scare every
body into making up stories
that are not true by catch
ing them in the smallest of
misstatements. Sad!” Trump
wrote.
In the time since he left the
White House just weeks after
Trump’s inauguration, Flynn
has moved back to Middle-
town, Rhode Island, where
he and his wife, Lori, grew up
and where they have a deep
social network.
Thomas A. Heaney Jr., a
retired Army colonel who
has been friends with Flynn
since they were 9 years old,
said they have been out more
than a dozen times in Rhode
Island and elsewhere when
Flynn has been recognized
by people on the street.
“Every single circum
stance I’ve been witness to,
people are in support of him,
and they voice that opinion
to him when they see him.
And they are upset about the
way he’s been treated. That’s
the general theme each and
every time,” Heaney told the
AP.
Flynn has remained
mostly out of the public eye
since his guilty plea, with
occasional public appear
ances in front of friendly
audiences. The closest he’s
gotten to commenting on
his case was in a campaign
appearance for an ultimately
unsuccessful Republican
congressional candidate in
California earlier this year,
telling the crowd he wasn’t
there “to complain about
who has done me wrong or
how unfair I’ve been treated
or how unfair the entire pro
cess has been.”
Several supporters who
came together in a private
group chat on Twitter plan
to rally outside the federal
courthouse when he is sen
tenced, according to one of
the organizers, Pasquale
Scopelliti. Flynn wrote a
foreword to Scopelliti’s self-
published book, “America
First: The MAGA Manifesto,”
earlier this year. He said
Flynn was not involved in the
rally.
Scopelliti said they hope
to counteract Flynn detrac
tors who they expect will be
shouting “Lock him up!” — a
reference to Flynn’s anti-
Clinton “Lock her up!” chant
during the 2016 Republican
National Convention.
“He is our hero, abso
lutely,” Scopelliti said.
The “hero” label puzzles
U.S. Sen. Sheldon White-
house, a Rhode Island Dem
ocrat and former federal
prosecutor, who said Flynn
committed a serious crime
of lying to the FBI about a
national security matter
while in the White House and
serving as national security
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As sentencing looms, Flynn upbeat
