Mick Mulvaney, President Trump’s pick to be acting White House chief of staff, made the comment in a debate, and offered similar remarks in a post on his campaign Facebook page.
Mick Mulvaney, President Trump’s pick to be acting White House chief of staff, described Mr. Trump in 2016 as a “terrible human being” who had said “disgusting and indefensible” things about women on the infamous “Access Hollywood” recording.
Mr. Mulvaney, a former Republican congressman, made the comments in a debate with his Democratic challenger in South Carolina, and offered similar remarks in a post on his campaign Facebook page. The post was deleted shortly before he was chosen by Mr. Trump as the director of the Office of Management and Budget at the beginning of his term.
On Friday, Mr. Trump abruptly named Mr. Mulvaney as acting chief of staff a few hours after Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, dropped out of the running. An administration official told reporters that Mr. Trump and Mr. Mulvaney, who have become golfing partners, get along.
But the surfacing of a video from the 2016 campaign debate, first reported by The Daily Beast, may present a complication.
“Do I like Donald Trump? No,” Mr. Mulvaney said in the video. He added that Mr. Trump was not a role model for his children, but that he was better than his opponent, Hillary Clinton.
“We have perhaps two of the most flawed human beings running for president in the history of the country,” Mr. Mulvaney said. “So I have to step back and look and say, ‘O. K., what do you all, the majority of the folks who vote for me, want me to do?’ In order to accomplish that, I have to support Donald Trump, and he has to win.
