CNN’s Acosta: Trump Naming Mulvaney Acting Chief of Staff Appears to Be ‘Bright, Shiny Object’

On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” CNN Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta reacted to President Trump naming Mick Mulvaney as his acting chief of staff by saying the president “appears to be dangling a bright, shiny object on this late Friday evening,” and is “apparently trying to change the news cycle here.”

Acosta said, “The president appears to be dangling a bright, shiny object on this late Friday evening, selecting his Budget Director Mick Mulvaney as his new acting chief of staff. We should point out, he’s only been selected as an acting chief of staff. The president apparently trying to change the news cycle here. But even today, with [such] a momentous decision as naming a new chief of staff — or an acting chief of staff, it’s going to be tough to change the narrative of this news cycle, with his former attorney, Michael Cohen, speaking out, and not just to the special counsel’s office.”

He concluded, “Now, one thing we should point out about the outgoing Chief of Staff, John Kelly, a senior administration official just told reporters that Kelly will be staying on until the end of the year, and then Mick Mulvaney will be taking over as the acting chief of staff. And that senior administration official tried to clean up some of the confusion over why Mulvaney is being named an acting chief of staff at this point, Brianna, this official telling reporters that he is the acting chief of staff, which means he’s the chief of staff. That is very confusing language coming from the White House, not really cleaning things up. The other confusing aspect of all of this, Brianna, is that Nick Ayers, the Vice President’s Chief of Staff, was willing to be the new chief of staff over here at the White House, but he wanted to do it on an interim basis. The president apparently rejected that, wanted a permanent chief of staff, and here he is, on this Friday evening, after all that Michael Cohen news, all that Russia investigation news, all week long, the president, suddenly, on a Friday evening, saying, he’s okay with an acting chief of staff.”

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