Who Is Trump’s New Chief Of Staff Mark Meadows?

Topline: Mark Meadows, R-N.C., is expected to resign from Congress Monday afternoon and begin his new role as President Trump’s incoming chief of staff as Trump enters a crucial month for handling the coronavirus pandemic. 

• Meadows, who will replace acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, enters the White House during perhaps the most tumultuous period of Trump’s presidency, with the U.S. now experiencing the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the world and a record number of Americans filing for unemployment.
• A staunch supporter of the president, Meadows is retiring from his seat as a four-term congressman from North Carolina early this week where he served as chair of the hyper-conservative House Freedom Caucus from 2017-2019.
• Meadows became a loud and vocal defender of the president during the months’ long impeachment battle that played out on Capitol Hill and was eventually named to Trump’s eight-person impeachment defense team. 
• The relationship between Trump and Meadows grew much stronger during the impeachment proceedings, with the two speaking on the phone often, reports the Raleigh, North Carolina-based News & Observer. 
• Meadows is expected to officially resign from Congress at 5 p.m. ET Monday, reports CNN.

Chief Critic: Meadows will face a reality check when he starts his new job this week. “I think [Meadows] is walking into a perfect storm,” says Chris Whipple, author of The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency. “It’s hard to imagine a more difficult time to try to function as Trump’s chief of staff which is hard enough.”

Even in good times, Whipple said, being Trump’s chief of staff “is practically mission impossible.”

What to watch for: How Meadows will fit into the Trump administration’s coronavirus response team. Trump has already shuffled his team around, first appointing Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar as head of the task force before then settling on Vice President Mike Pence. 

Whipple said “it’s anyone’s guess” for what role Meadows will play in the response effort. “Trump has made it clear he’s not interested in empowering a White House chief of staff to do anything.”

Trump, for his part, said that he has a “great relationship” with Meadows’ predecessor, Mulvaney. And Trump confidants have said that Meadows and Trump have a good working rapport.

“Mark has a really good grasp of who the president is, how the president operates,” said Jay Sekulow, one of Trump’s personal attorneys who worked with Meadows on the president’s impeachment defense team, to NPR.

Key background: Outgoing Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, who served in an “acting” capacity for 14 months and never had his title changed, made a concerted effort to not restrict the president, letting “Trump be Trump.” 

Mulvaney was repeatedly mentioned in connection with the events that led to Trump’s impeachment in December. Mulvaney was the one who facilitated Trump’s order to suspend $391 million in aid to Ukraine, an action at the center of impeachment inquiry, as Peter Baker of the New York Times notes. 

Surprising fact: Meadows was recently in self quarantine after coming in contact with someone at CPAC, a conservative action summit. 

Big number: Four. Meadows will become Trump’s fourth chief of staff in 38 months as president. 

Crucial quote: Trump announced Meadows would be taking over on Twitter earlier this month. 

The New York Times reports that Trump told donors recently that Meadows would be his “James Baker,” a reference to the famous chief of staff to President Ronald Reagan and George Bush. 

Further reading: Politico’s Nancy Cook and Gabby Orr write about how Meadows is preparing to handle the pandemic as chief of staff: “Meadows has tried recently to insert himself into the administration’s response by gathering information from his former congressional colleagues on what would be most helpful for their states, and then bringing that input back to the White House for the president and the task force to use as guidance.”