President Trump‘s new chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, called the president “a terrible human being” days before the 2016 presidential election.
Mulvaney was named acting chief of staff by Trump on Friday, replacing John Kelly. (MSNBC reported that Mulvaney asked for the “acting” title to allow himself a graceful exit.) Mulvaney previously headed up the Office of Management and Budget and, controversially, served as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
He critiqued Trump during a debate against his Democratic challenger for North Carolina’s 5th Congressional District on Nov. 2, 2016. “Yes, I’m supporting Donald Trump. I’m doing so as enthusiastically as I can given the fact that he’s a terrible human being,” said Mulvaney. “But the choice on the other side is just as bad.”
The moderator asked Mulvaney and his challenger, Fran Person, if they supported their parties’ candidate for president. “Do I like Donald Trump? No,” Mulvaney said, adding that he didn’t think Trump was a good role model for his sons but that Hillary Clinton wasn’t a good role model for his daughter.
Mulvaney ended up winning his race by 20 points.
The New York Times reported that on Oct. 11, 2016, Mulvaney posted a similar comment on his Facebook page but deleted it shortly before being selected to head the OMB. “I think one thing we’ve learned about Donald Trump during this campaign is that he is not a very good person,” wrote Mulvaney. “What he said in the audiotape is disgusting and indefensible. My guess is that he has probably said even worse — and that the Clinton campaign has a lot more material to dump before this election is over. I’ve decided that I don’t particularly like Donald Trump as a person. But I am still voting for him. And I am still asking other people to do the same. And there is one simple reason for that: Hillary Clinton.”
A spokewoman at OMB told the Times the story was “old news” and the remark was made before he’d met Trump. Mulvaney supported “then-candidate Trump throughout the election, and his support for President Trump has never wavered while serving within the administration,” the spokeswoman, Meghan Burris, said in a statement. “He both likes and respects the president, and he likes working for him. More importantly, Director Mulvaney believes in the president — because he is working every day to lift up millions of Americans and stands up for our great country.”
