WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump isn't committing to a previous pledge to keep chief of staff John Kelly for the remainder of his term, part of widespread speculation about staffing changes in his administration.
Trump, in a wide-ranging interview that aired on Fox News Sunday, praised Kelly's work ethic and much of what he brings to the position but added, "There are certain things that I don't like that he does."
"There are a couple of things where it's just not his strength. It's not his fault. It's not his strength," said Trump, who added that Kelly himself might want to depart.
Asked whether he would keep Kelly in his post through 2020, the president offered only that "it could happen." Trump had earlier pledged publicly that Kelly would remain through the president's first term in office, though many in the West Wing were skeptical.
Trump said he was happy with his Cabinet but was thinking about changing "three or four or five positions." One of them is Homeland Security chief Kirstjen Nielsen, whose departure is now considered inevitable. Trump said in the interview that he could keep her on, but he made clear that he wished she would be tougher in implementing his hard-line immigration policies and enforcing border security.
"I want her to get much tougher, and we'll see what happens there. But I want to be extremely tough," Trump said.
The list of potential replacements for Nielsen includes a career lawman, two military officers and a former acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement head. But her eventual replacement will find there's no getting around the immigration laws and court challenges that have thwarted the president's agenda at every turn -- even if there's better personal chemistry.
Trump also discussed the removal of Mira Ricardel, a deputy national security adviser who is being moved to another position in the administration after clashes with the East Wing culminated in a statement from first lady Melania Trump that called for her removal. The president said Ricardel was "not too diplomatic, but she's talented," and he downplayed the idea that his wife was calling the shots in the White House.
"[The first lady's team] wanted to go a little bit public because that's the way they felt, and I thought it was fine," Trump said.
He also dismissed a series of reports that he had been fuming in the week after the Democrats captured the House, claiming instead that the mood of the West Wing was "very light."
He claimed that despite Republicans' defeat in the House, where they have lost at least three dozen seats, their holding on to the Senate was "historic" and "a tremendous victory."
NOT GETTING INVOLVED
The president also said in the interview he "would not get involved" if his choice for acting attorney general, Matthew Whitaker, decided to curtail special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into 2016 election interference and possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
"It's going to be up to him," Trump said. "I think he's astute politically. He's a very smart person."
In the weeks since Trump forced Jeff Sessions to resign as attorney general and chose Whitaker to serve as his interim replacement, Whitaker has faced calls from Democrats to recuse himself from oversight of the probe given his previous criticism of the investigation. Trump said in Sunday's interview that he "did not know [Whitaker] took views on the Mueller investigation as such" before he appointed him to his position.
Trump also essentially shut the door to sitting down with Mueller, telling host Chris Wallace that his written answers mean "probably this is the end" of his involvement in the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign.
"I think we've wasted enough time on this witch hunt and the answer is probably: We're finished," Trump said. He said that he had given "very complete answers to a lot of questions" and that "that should solve the problem."
"I hope it solves the problem, if it doesn't, you know, I'll be told and we'll make a decision at that time," Trump said. "But probably this is the end."
Trump said Friday that he had answered a set of written questions from Mueller "very easily." The president told Wallace in Sunday's interview that it "wasn't a big deal" and that he expects his legal team to submit the answers "at some point very soon."
Trump's answers had long been sought by Mueller during the course of his 18-month-old investigation. The probe has led to charges against 32 people, including 26 Russians. While four aides to Trump have pleaded guilty to various charges, Mueller's team has not given any public indications as to whether it has concluded that Trump associates conspired with the Russians or whether the president obstructed justice by pressuring Justice Department leaders.
Key lawmakers also weighed in on Whitaker on Sunday. In an appearance on ABC News' This Week, incoming Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., contended that Whitaker "was chosen for the purpose of interfering with the Mueller investigation" and said he "should have absolutely nothing to do" with the probe.
"He auditioned for the part by going on TV and saying he could hobble the investigation," Schiff said, calling Whitaker's appointment unconstitutional and "an attack on the rule of law."
Some Republicans on Sunday were looking past Whitaker and focusing on his potential successor. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said that Whitaker "seems to be a person who has the ability to do that acting job" but that the Justice Department needs a permanent leader as soon as possible.
"We need to move as quickly as we can beyond whoever's the acting attorney general to an attorney general who's going to be there for, hopefully, a much longer period of time," he told ABC.
Blunt, a member of the Senate GOP leadership who also sits on the Intelligence Committee, said that he has confidence in the Mueller investigation and that it would be a "huge mistake" for Trump to seek to end it.
"We need to get beyond this. We don't need to have this starting again," the senator said.
The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel issued a legal opinion last week defending Whitaker's appointment as legal, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell last week blocked two senators from bringing up legislation to protect Mueller's investigation from any efforts by the Trump administration to thwart it.
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who is retiring, has said he will refuse to advance any judicial nominees in the Judiciary Committee or confirm any judges on the Senate floor until the Mueller bill is brought to the floor for a vote.
Information for this article was contributed by Jonathan Lemire of The Associated Press; by Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg News; and by Felicia Sonmez, Tory Newmyer, Carol D. Leonnig and Josh Dawsey of The Washington Post.
A Section on 11/19/2018