Trump abruptly replaces acting chief of staff Mulvaney with Mark Meadows

President Donald Trump parted ways on Friday with acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and replaced him with conservative lawmaker and close ally Mark Meadows, who was a strong Trump defender during the Democratic impeachment drive.

Olivia Chan reports

U.S. President Donald Trump has replaced his acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney on Friday (March 6) with Republican conservative lawmaker Mark Meadows.

Making his announcement on Twitter, Trump said Mulvaney will now become U.S. special envoy to Northern Ireland instead.

Meadows, who is a close ally of Trump, announced in December that he would not run for re-election this year in his North Carolina district.

He takes over as the White House struggles to advance a consistent message about the coronavirus crisis and as Trump goes into a bruising re-election contest.

Trump had long groused about Mulvaney, who angered the president last autumn by saying at a White House news conference that Trump had sought to persuade Ukraine to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden.

Mulvaney quickly walked back the statement, but the damage was done.

He was named acting chief of staff in December 2018 but Trump never made the appointment permanent.