Mick Mulvaney: Trump replaces White House chief of staf

US President Donald Trump has replaced his acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, whose departure had long been rumored.

He said North Carolina lawmaker Mark Meadows would take over. The change had been expected for weeks.

Mr. Trump said Mr. Mulvaney would become a US special envoy to European nation.

Mr. Mulvaney was gave the impression to have implicated the president in last year's impeachment inquiry in a casual remark at the White House podium.

When Mr. Mulvaney gave a rare White House news conference last October, he shrugged off criticism over an alleged corrupt take care of Ukraine by saying: "We try this all the time."

Mr. Trump was reportedly outraged by the gaffe.

Trump impeachment: The short, medium and long story

Mr. Mulvaney then walked back his comments in an exceedingly written statement that said: "Let me be clear, there was absolutely no quid pro quo between Ukrainian military aid and any investigation into the 2016 election."

That same month the chief of staff was seen as having have made another slip-up while attempting to defend the president from criticism over an inspiration, later canceled, to hold this year's G7 summit at one among his resorts in Florida.

Mr. Mulvaney told Fox News that "at the top of the day he still considers himself to be within the hospitality business", prompting the show's host to illustrate that Mr. Trump was president of the united states, not a hotel executive.

The role of presidential chief of staff, part gatekeeper to the government office and part taskmaster for White House employees, traditionally requires ruthless efficiency and organization, delivered with a fragile touch. James Baker, nicknamed "the velvet hammer", served under both President of the United States and George HW Bush, and was the model for such a role.

Donald Trump isn't , however, a conventional president. He prefers to control on instinct and improvisation - attributes that have thwarted the simplest designs of his three previous chiefs.

Reince Priebus, a republican party functionary, was unable to manage the rivalries and feuds that festered within the White House. John Kelly, the former general, attempted to impose military discipline on the administration - and eventually clashed with the free-wheeling president.

Mick Mulvaney's strategy to "let Trump be Trump" looked as if it would suit the president, but his missteps during the impeachment investigation eventually sealed his fate.

Now it's Mark Meadows's turn. As a congressman, the affable North Carolinian has been a fanatical Trump defender in an exceedingly job that does not require the aforementioned administrative skills.

In an election year, however, vocal support and loyalty - and a capability to demand it from subordinates - is also what the president wants most.

Mr. Mulvaney last week made headlines again for accusing US media of only being fascinated by covering coronavirus because "they think this is often progressing to bring down the president".

In February, Mr. Trump said reports that Mr. Mulvaney would be fired were "false", insisting he had a "great relationship" with him.

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Despite his key White House role, which he assumed in January last year, he was never part of the Trump coterie.

Shortly after he was picked to be chief of staff in late 2018, a video emerged of Mr. Mulvaney making a disparaging remark about Mr. Trump.

He had said in 2016: "Yes, i'm supporting Donald Trump, but I'm doing so despite the actual fact that i feel he's a terrible person." He had also said Mr. Trump was "just as bad" as his opponent, Hillary Clinton.

Who is Mark Meadows?

Mr. Trump's new chief of staff could be a close ally of the president with a record of supporting hardline conservative causes and global climate change denial within the US.

In 2012 he publicly embraced the conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama wasn't born within the US but instead in Kenya.

As head of a bunch of conservative politicians called the freedom Caucus, Mr. Meadows lobbied the White House to close down the government's global climate change office.

But in 2019 he suggested he was "willing to appear at" addressing global climate change .

Mr. Meadows will now retire from the House of Representatives.

In Friday night's tweet, Mr. Trump said: "I have long known and worked with Mark and therefore the relationship could be a very good one."