Washington: President Donald Trump is planning to make several key staffing changes as he prepares t<\/b>
\nWashington: President Donald Trump is planning to make several key staffing changes as he prepares to deal with newly empowered Democrats and with the looming outcome of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
\u201cI have three or four or five positions that I\u2019m thinking about,\u201d Trump said in an interview with \u201cFox News Sunday.\u201d
\u201cI need flexibility,\u201d he said.
Trump did not rule out the possibility that his chief of staff John Kelly might be leaving. \u201cAt some point he\u2019s going to want to move on.\u201d
Democrats picked up at least 36 seats in the House of Representatives in the recent midterm elections, giving them control of the lower chamber.
Trump insisted that it was \u201chistoric\u201d that Republicans were able to hold the Senate. But control of the House will allow Democrats to block much Trump-backed legislation, to issue subpoenas and to launch congressional inquiries into Russian involvement, Trump\u2019s taxes and finances, and other highly sensitive issues.
\u2013 Democratic oversight \u2013
Vice President Mike Pence\u2019s chief of staff, Nick Ayers, has been widely reported to be a leading contender to replace Kelly \u2014 should Trump decide to do so.
The 36-year-old Ayers has been described as a sharp-elbowed strategist with keen political instincts that might make him a better pick than Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general, to navigate the perils of heightened Democratic oversight and the challenges of a Trump re-election campaign in 2020.
Trump also told Fox that \u201cthere\u2019s a chance\u201d his homeland security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, might be replaced, saying \u201cI like her very much\u2026 (but) I would like her to be much tougher on the border.\u201d
The president has made the security of the border with Mexico an overarching issue \u2014 one seen to play well with his conservative base.
Another recent Trump staff change \u2014 replacing Attorney General Jeff Sessions with his chief of staff, Matt Whitaker \u2014 is seen by analysts as a bid to gird the administration for the long-awaited Mueller report on Russian interference.
Democrats bitterly criticized the appointment, noting that Whitaker has spoken in the past about how an attorney general could starve the Mueller team by cutting its budget.
\u2013 \u2018It\u2019s up to him\u2019 \u2013
But Trump told Fox he would not intervene if Whitaker tried to curtail the investigation.
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be up to him,\u201d he said. \u201cI really believe he\u2019s going to do what\u2019s right. I would not get involved.\u201d
While Trump has attempted to put the best face on Republican losses in the House \u2014 which were worse than the 2006 losses that then-President George W. Bush called a \u201cthumping\u201d \u2014 the Democrats\u2019 gains underline the challenges Trump and party will face in 2020.
Republicans lost in big Southern cities like Houston and in three states \u2014 Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin \u2014 that were key to Trump\u2019s 2016 victory. They also lost by a wide margin among suburban women and independents.
Some otherwise supportive Trump voters have said he might be wise, given the recent losses, to moderate his tone, to be more inclusive and less divisive. But he indicated to Fox that he had no plan to do so.
\u201cI think if I was a more modified, more moderate in that sense, I don\u2019t think I would have done half of the things that I was able to get completed,\u201d he said.
\u201cYou have people coming at you so hard that if you don\u2019t fight back in a somewhat vigorous way, you\u2019re not going to win, and we have to win. This country has to win.\u201d
The president added that 2020 will be different in a crucial way from this month\u2019s elections \u2014 his name will be on the ballot.<\/p>\n

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