JOHN KELLY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE/WHITE HOUSE STAFF: “President Donald Trump insisted on Tuesday [12-11-18] that he’s having no trouble finding a new chief of staff and that he is in ‘no rush’ to fill the job, despite having already burned through two such top aides and being turned down by his reported first choice…Trump’s rebuttals come as his current chief of staff, John Kelly, is set to depart the White House at the end of the month without a clear replacement. The president’s rumored top pick, vice presidential chief of staff Nick Ayers, turned the job down in favor of working for a PAC to support the administration. The president’s lack of urgency in naming Kelly’s replacement may betray his assurances that there’s plenty of interest in the job. Some White House officials are already floating the idea he may move back his departure date. While Trump told reporters over the weekend that Kelly would leave by the end of the year, White House senior counselor Kellyanne Conway, who has been floated for the job herself, said Tuesday that Kelly is staying on ‘through Jan. 2’ and possibly longer if the president or Kelly wished.”
–Caitlin Oprysko, “‘A lot of friends of mine want it’: Trump says chief of staff is a hot job,” Politico, December 11, 2018 1:34 pm