'I could see' Trump not replacing Kelly, says former Obama chief of staff

President Trump with chief of staff John Kelly on Dec. 1. (Photo: Susan Walsh/AP)
President Trump with chief of staff John Kelly on Dec. 1. (Photo: Susan Walsh/AP)

William Daley, one of President Barack Obama’s five chiefs of staff, believes President Trump may do away with the role once John Kelly steps down from the job at the end of the year.

“I think Trump would be goofy to have another chief of staff because he or she isn’t going to be what, quote, a chief of staff is supposed to be,” Daley, who held the job from January 2011 to January 2012, told Yahoo News in a telephone interview. “That’s not what Donald Trump wants. I could easily see him not fill that role.”

The position is not legally mandated, but every president since at least Harry S. Truman has had one. The last time the post was vacant for any length of time was early in the administration of Jimmy Carter.

Kelly is Trump’s second chief of staff, following former Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, who left in July 2017. On Saturday, after months of speculation about their strained relationship, the president announced that Kelly was departing the White House by the end of the month.

It was widely reported that Trump was planning to replace Kelly with Nick Ayers, who is chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence. Ayers declined that offer on Sunday. On Monday, the president tweeted about his search for Kelly’s replacement.

The demands on any incoming chief of staff would likely be tremendous given that the Democrats have retaken control of the House of Representatives and special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties with Russia is continuing. Against this backdrop, Yahoo News reached out to Daley, now a managing partner at the investment firm Argentiere Capital, to get his perspective on the importance of the role itself.

Former Obama chief of staff William Daley in 2014. (Photo: M. Spencer Green/AP)
Former Obama chief of staff William Daley in 2014. (Photo: M. Spencer Green/AP)

David Knowles: Why is the chief of staff position important and do you think President Trump views it that way?

William Daley: I’m not sure Donald Trump views it as important, and if he views it as a senior person who, by virtue of the people who report to him directly and the management of the White House staff, that’s their role, then it’s vital. But I don’t think you can ever say the chief of staff’s role and title and position is anything but dependent upon how the president looks at it. There is some historical view of that office that presidents have had, but Donald Trump is totally unconventional, so why would anyone think he wouldn’t have a totally unconventional view of that?

How does a chief of staff best serve a president?

I think what all chief of staffs try to do is be an honest broker of what comes to them from the staff. It’s driving the staff to put together the options that go to the president on whatever the crisis or issue of the day is, and being a voice for Cabinet [members], and taking the arrows that some people may want to shoot [at] the president, either internally or externally. Historically, most of the presidents of the past viewed it that way. I think Trump from the very beginning has made it very clear that he’s totally unconventional in everything including how he allegedly manages the business of governing.

When Rahm Emanuel became Obama’s first chief of staff, some people said his experience in Congress would help the president navigate his relationship with the House. Do you think that kind of background matters for the position?

I think that can be viewed as a negative in that if a president is offloading that relationship to a staff person, and I’m not talking specifically about Obama and Emanuel, some people would say that’s not good, that the president himself should develop those relationships. That was one of the criticisms of Obama both when Emanuel was there and when I was there, that the president himself didn’t do enough of that. On the other hand, you had people like Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush who had long relationships with a lot of political people and therefore they took advantage of those relationships.

Does the suggestion that Trump might do away with the chief of staff position cause you any concern?

Remember, the position is what the president wants it to be. To be frank with you, I think Trump would be goofy to have another chief of staff because he or she isn’t going to be what, quote, a chief of staff is supposed to be. That’s not what Donald Trump wants. I could easily see him not fill that role and say, ‘Oh I’m going to have more senior advisers or one or two assistants to the president without a chief of staff.’ Because if you’re just giving a person a title, it doesn’t mean anything. Basically I think that’s what has happened to Kelly and Priebus.

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