Page 3 - Acting Title News Today

An acting title, at some point well have an active interior secretary, we have an acting epa director. there are no deputies at the department of homeland security, at hud or the va. this is an incredibly vulnerable time for this administration to have all these positions unfilled or staffed by people with acting titles, alex. >> it is quite extraordinary. i hadnt thought about it in that perspective, but i agree 100%. lets also talk about the latest offer from the white house to reopen the now ...

What hes done. >> thats true. mick mulvaney is very shrewd operator. hes not dumb. i think in an effort to maintain some post-trump world credibility, he asked for the acting title. its actually not beyond me to imagine that mick mulvaney knows he can be subpoenaed or forced to testify as omb director. he knows exactly how damaging this job can be to anyones career. hes seen the 62% turn over rate or 64% at this administration. he has chosen -- hes publicly admitted he will motte try to correct ...

Trump is a good person, mulvaney certainly isnt the odd man out on that. but i really cant think of a time in washington where theres been so much uncertainty. whether theres a government shut down six days from now, uncertainty about what our trade policy is and whether theres a trade war with china, uncertainty about what the mueller investigation is going to bring and the president now has an acting chief of staff. this is a president who needs a chief of staff more than any president in rece...

David and kelsey. the fact that the first choice for chief of staff, nick ayers, the reason those talks broke down is because he wanted the acting title and trump didnt. why do you think he accepted it with mulvaney? is it just to squash any perception that nobody wants the job? >> it may just be that. there are other candidates who said no or have been turned down since ayers said he didnt want the job, and it may also to be to put a little ease with people in congress because mulvaney has an o...

Or second choice. but what mick mulvaney does have over those other individuals is he will be relatively unassume anything this white house. can you imagine a donald trump presidency with a chris cristie chief of staff? you know, when you had these two alpha males, these bulls in china shops, for lack of a better term, that would have been amazing television. im not afraid of mulvaney being able to push through his policies. i think he is the one that wanted the acting title because right now to...

Will be good to have mick on his shoulder. to make sure he doesnt let entitlements get out of control. >> lets back up a little bit. lets back this train up. mick mulvaney was not the presidents first choice. that was nick ayres. he wasnt the presidents first or second choice. but what mick mulvaney does have over those other individuals is he will be relatively unassuming in this white house. can you imagine a donald trump presidency with a chris christie chief of staff? you know, when you had ...

Trump. i think hes a terrible human being. the choice on the other hand is just as bad. >> i want to turn to my panel, geoff bennett, reuters correspondent jeff mason, and time magazine contributor, jay newton small. geoff bennett, what is the significance of this acting title instead of a permanent replacement for john kelly, that stands out. >> reporter: two sources familiar tell us it was mick mulvaney who requested of president trump to have that acting title. that reflects his desire to do ...

Welcome back to "hardball." after a drama-filled search for a new chief of staff, president trump announced in a tweet that he has picked mick mulvaney from the office of management and budget as his -- figure this one out if you can -- acting chief of staff. nbc news reporting mulvaney asked for the acting title and he wanted to enter the position with a safe exit in place. this is like colin powell. you have to have an exit strategy. the reporting is that mulvaney told us as late as thursday n...

It would cause too much of a distraction that could be one for the department and the white house. so thats ryan zinke. our reporting is that mulvaney woke up yesterday completely unaware that by the end of the day, he would at least temporarily become president trumps third chief of staff. the president made this decision after polling several members of the cabinet, including at a thursday evening white house holiday party. trump was so eager to kill this story line that no one wanted to be hi...

Starting position. >> because he works in the white house complex right now, their offices are in the eisenhower executive office building right next to the white house. many of the people who are staffing the president at the white house actually work in the same building where he works so he understands what it means in this administration to work with the president the way that he does his job. >> that could be why hes asking for the acting title. that might be exactly -- >> it might be. >> h...