Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney Mick MulvaneyMick Mulvaney to start hedge fund Fauci says positive White House task force reports don't always match what he hears on the ground Bottom line MORE has reportedly inquired about the possibility of becoming president of the University of South Carolina in his home state.

The New York Times reported Monday that Mulvaney, who also heads the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), reached out to a university official as recently as late last year to talk about the position.

A person close to Mulvaney told the Times that he is still interested in the university position as of late last week. The school's current president, Harris Pastides, announced last October that he would retire at the end of the academic year.

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The White House pushed back on the report. Deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley told The Hill in a statement first given to the Times that Mulvaney is focused on his role in the administration, and "is not interested in any other positions."

A spokesman for the University of South Carolina told The Hill that the presidential search is in the early stages, and that the university would not discuss or identify applicants until finalists are named.

Mulvaney, 51, was elected to four terms to represent South Carolina's 5th Congressional District in the House. Prior to serving his fourth term, Trump tapped him to lead OMB, and he was later chosen as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Mulvaney has since relinquished his duties at the CFPB to a full-time director, but took over at the start of 2019 as White House chief of staff on an acting basis, replacing John Kelly John Francis KellyMORE and becoming Trump's third chief of staff in less than two years.

It's unclear if or when Trump will name a full-time chief of staff. He told reporters on Sunday that he's in "no hurry" to replace a handful of Cabinet members serving in an acting capacity, saying he appreciates the flexibility.