Trump says he has a short list for chief of staff position
During a White House meeting with a number of incoming governors Thursday afternoon, President Trump said there are five "well-known" and "terrific" people on his short list of candidates to replace outgoing chief of staff John Kelly.
"We're interviewing people," he told reporters.
When asked about a federal judge's order to have Michael Flynn and special counsel Robert Mueller turn over investigative records from Flynn's interviews with FBI agents in 2017, Mr. Trump praised his first national security adviser.
"Well, the FBI said Michael Flynn, a general and a great person, they said he didn't lie. And Mueller said 'well, maybe he did.' And now they're all having a big dispute," he said. "So I think it's a great thing that the judge is looking into that situation."
Flynn's sentencing is scheduled for Tuesday, but U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan's request can potentially delay it.
Mr. Trump held a roundtable session with a group of governors-elect — eight Republicans and five Democrats — to discuss workforce development, infrastructure, veterans affairs and efforts to curtail the opioid epidemic.
The Republican governors-elect who attended were Florida Rep. Ron DeSantis; Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp; Idaho Lieutenant Governor Brad Little; Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine; Oklahoma's Kevin Stitt; South Dakota Rep. Kristi Noem; and Tennessee's Bill Lee. Alaska's new governor Mike Dunleavy, who began his tenure in early December, also took part in the discussion.
Only five Democratic governors-elect — including two from states Mr. Trump won in 2016 and two from U.S. territories — participated in the roundtable session. They are Wisconsin's Tony Evers, Michigan's Gretchen Whitmer; Illinois' J.B. Pritzker; and Lourdes "Lou" Leon Guerrero and Albert Bryan, who are poised to assume the governorships of Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, respectively.
In November's midterm elections, Democrats successfully defended nine gubernatorial seats and flipped seven — including in deep-red Kansas.
The Democratic governors-elect include Colorado's Jared Polis, who is poised to become the nation's first openly gay governor; Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who will become New Mexico's first Democratic Latina governor; and Gavin Newsom, the young, charismatic progressive lieutenant governor of California who has pledged to continue the state's role as a liberal bulwark to the Trump administration when he succeeds his current boss, Gov. Jerry Brown.
The GOP held on to 19 governorships and elected a Republican in Alaska, where the governor's mansion was previously held by Bill Walker, an independent. Republicans also fended off strong challenges from liberal Democratic candidates in Georgia and Florida and successfully defended the seats of popular GOP governors in several blue states in the Northeast — including Maryland, Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Mr. Trump's meeting with the new class of governors comes as the White House and congressional Democrats have hit an impasse in their negotiations to fund the government. On Tuesday, Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and the Senate's top Democrat Chuck Schumer took part in a remarkable televised clash with President Trump in the Oval Office over the possibility of a government shutdown if they cannot agree on funding for the president's long-sought construction of a wall on the southern border.
Before the roundtable discussion with Mr. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, the incoming governors will meet with several administration cabinet officials.
Arden Farhi contributed to this report.