Following rumors of a possible White House shakeup, The Resurgent‘s Erick Erickson reported Thursday that two sources told him that Reince Priebus, Donald Trump’s Chief of Staff, will soon be parting ways with the White House.
On Wednesday, NBC News cited “multiple sources close to the administration” who say Trump has been signaling that he was about to make some major changes in his staff that would likely include Priebus, though the outlet noted that one source “flatly denies Priebus is at risk.”
The next day, Erickson reported that two White House sources confirmed to him that “Priebus’s departure is imminent“:
[T]wo White House sources tell me Reince Priebus’s departure is imminent. The President would like to land Reince somewhere still in government, but regardless has decided to move on. I was not told who the replacement is or even that the President has settled on a replacement. It will not be, despite some rumors, Steve Bannon. One name circulating in the media is lobbyist David Urban, who once served as Chief of Staff to Arlen Specter.
Before joining the Trump administration, Priebus was the chair of the Republican National Committee, where his attempts to modernize the party technologically and expand its reach through grassroots campaigns and conservative organizations has earned him praise, including from Erickson. Trump’s choice of Priebus to head up his staff was widely viewed as an attempt to provide some “establishment” balance to his anti-establishment team, but as Red State points out, Priebus “has long been viewed as the odd man out in the daily White House melodrama with no close ties to any of the factions Trump looks to for advice and counsel and apparently he had limited chemistry with Trump.”
In its report on the “White House shakeup” on Wednesday, NBC provided two names for Priebus’ replacement offered by “people close to Trump”: David Urban and Gary Cohn. Below are excerpts of NBC’s take on the two possible Chief of Staff candidates:
Urban is perceived as a Trump loyalist who helped deliver Pennsylvania, a crucial prize to the president, on election night. His connections to Capitol Hill could be an asset to a White House hoping to bolster those relationships, but, like other top advisers currently serving Trump, he doesn’t bring prior White House experience to the table. And signs point to Trump appearing to cool on Urban in recent days as a potential future chief of staff.
While Cohn’s name has long been rumored to be in the mix for the chief of staff position, those close to him say he’s skittish about bringing on campaign loyalists like Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie. … Cohn has extensive business relationships outside the White House and an affinity for driving policy discussions around tax reform and economic development, both of which could be assets. But internally, he’s eyed warily by other factions inside the West Wing; his rise would likely be seen as a threat to the Trump loyalists.