A Vanity Fair report claims President Donald Trump has grown tired of White House chief of staff John Kelly to the point he hopes the retired Marine Corps general quits.
Vanity Fair's Gabriel Sherman wrote Tuesday the recent hiring of former Fox News co-president Bill Shine as White House deputy chief of staff for communications – an appointment Kelly allegedly opposed – was a move to encourage the chief of staff to resign.
Other White House sources told Sherman that Shine orchestrated the 9 p.m. ET timing of the president's Monday event naming his new Supreme Court justice to help Sean Hannity's ratings. Hannity's Fox News show begins at 9 p.m. ET.
"Sean is very happy. Bill Shine is his best friend," one Republican told Sherman. "Everyone at the White House knew [Monday's announcement] was about Sean's ratings."
Initial Nielsen ratings for Monday's ceremony indicate Fox News led all other networks with more than 6 million viewers.
Sherman reported for Vanity Fair that Trump's decision to hire Shine shadows the controversial, 11-day tenure of Anthony Scaramucci as White House communications director last summer. Scaramucci's brief time in the West Wing resulted in Reince Priebus quitting his job as chief of staff.
"This is a more subtle version of Scaramucci," an outside White House adviser told Sherman.
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