JOHN KELLY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “For the past month, Nick Ayers has been a White House chief of staff in waiting. President Donald Trump informally offered Ayers a job as his top aide during a private huddle at an election night party in the White House residence last month. Several White House staff and advisers were within earshot and overheard the conversation, which included First Lady Melania Trump, and its details were described to POLITICO by two people briefed on them. It seemed like a done deal, except for one complication: The position wasn’t open yet. John Kelly was still hanging on to the job, however tenuously. White House officials now believe that will finally change, saying they expect Kelly to exit any day now. That would seem to clear the way for Ayers. But the lag time allowed a month-long lobbying campaign both for and against the 36-year-old Ayers, currently Vice President Mike Pence’s top aide. Ayers’ detractors — who consider him nakedly ambitious and untrustworthy — have lobbied Trump against following through on the offer. Some top White House aides have even threatened to resign if he does.”
–Nancy Cook, Andrew Restuccia and Gabby Orr, “Nick Ayers is Trump’s next chief of staff — unless his enemies can stop him,” Politico, December 7, 2018 6:25 pm