By STEPHANIE AKIN and JOHN T. BENNETTUpdated at 7:20 p.m. | President Donald Trump has named Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly as his new White House chief of staff, replacing an embattled Reince Priebus.

Trump’s announcement came after a week of turmoil in the White House that had prompted fervent speculation Priebus would be the next to go. But Priebus’s job has been in question almost since the beginning when he was given the almost impossible goal of uniting disparate ideological factions within the Trump administration and serving as a bridge to establishment Republicans.

Priebus told CNN on Friday evening that he formally resigned as chief of staff the previous day, after a few days of discussions with the president about needing to make a change in the White House. In a statement, he called his tenure as chief of staff “one of the greatest honors of my life to serve this President and our country.”

“I will continue to serve as a strong supporter of the President’s agenda and policies,” he said. “I can’t think of a better person than General John Kelly to succeed me and I wish him God’s blessings and great success.”

“The president wanted to go a different direction. I support him in that,” Priebus told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “He intuitively determined that it was time to do something differently, and I think he’s right.”