White House chief of staff John Kelly's search for a deputy has dragged on for months now, stunted in part by the never-ending drip of personnel issues in the West Wing, Politico reports.
Kelly has been searching for four-plus months for a deputy chief of staff to replace Kirstjen Nielsen, who replaced him as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
The latest time-suck was Wednesday's resignation of Rob Porter, the staff secretary who was forced to step down after a report surfaced about spousal abuse.
But Kelly has to deal with many other personnel changes just in the second half of Year 1 of President Donald Trump's presidency:
- Steve Bannon: Ousted by Kelly.
- Omarosa Manigault: Ousted by Kelly.
- Deputy national security adviser Dina Powell resigned.
- Economic adviser Jeremy Katz resigned.
- Deputy chief of staff for policy Rick Dearborn is expected to leave soon.
Lawyer Jim Carroll was expected to replace Nielsen, but Politico reports Kelly has been unhappy with his performance so far, leaving the vacancy further in limbo.
"Whatever model you pick, you gotta feel that you’ve got the right person in the job right from the get-go," former deputy chief of staff Karl Rove told Politico.
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