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Trump hints 'there will always be change' as rumors of staff shakeups loom
President Trump has to date shed roughly 40 of the staffers under his employ when he took office last January, many of them advisers he himself appointed before later giving them the ax. On Thursday, he reiterated his belief that shakeups are good, The New York Times reports, saying, "There will always be change. I think you want change."
Even the strait-laced Times acknowledged Trump's remarks landed "ominously," given that the president fired his secretary of state via Twitter just two days ago. "I want to also see different ideas," Trump said, per the Times.
The list of high-level aides who could be on the chopping block is ... extensive:
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John F. Kelly, his second chief of staff, and Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, the national security adviser, are on thin ice, having angered the president by privately saying "no" to the boss too often. White House insiders predict that Mr. Trump could decide to fire one or both of them soon.
Ben Carson, the secretary of housing and urban development, and David J. Shulkin, the secretary of veterans affairs, have both embarrassed the president by generating scandalous headlines. Mr. Carson could be axed over an eye-popping $31,000 dining set, and Mr. Shulkin might be replaced over a 10-day, $122,000 European trip with his wife.
And then there's Attorney General Jeff Sessions, whose original sin — the decision to recuse himself from oversight of the Russia investigation — made him the regular target of presidential ire. The attorney general has threatened to resign at least once, but has more recently indicated his determination to resist Mr. Trump's obvious desire for him to leave his post at the Justice Department. [The New York Times]
Trump could act "as early as Friday to remove one or more" of his advisers, the Times reports. Read more here.
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