Rep Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), a staunch Trump ally, had been a top contender for the position, and he had signaled his interest in recent days. | Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo White House Meadows out of the running to be Trump’s chief of staff The White House says the president needs the House Freedom Caucus chairman in Congress.

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, is no longer under consideration to be President Donald Trump’s chief of staff.

“Congressman Mark Meadows is a great friend to President Trump and is doing an incredible job in Congress,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement on Wednesday. “The President told him we need him in Congress so he can continue the great work he is doing there.”


Meadows, a staunch Trump ally, had been a top contender for the position after Nick Ayers — the president’s first choice to replace John Kelly, who Trump said last weekend would be leaving at the end of the year — turned it down. Meadows had signaled his interest in recent days, despite early reports that he was telling confidants he didn’t want the job.

Former senior administration officials and conservatives outside the administration told POLITICO that as of Tuesday night, the conversations with Meadows were going well and that there seemed to be a 50 percent chance he would get the job.

But ultimately, the White House said, the president thought it best for him to remain in Congress, where he can continue to be a strong outside defender of the administration.

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In a statement, Meadows said he was “fully committed” to continuing to work alongside Trump as a member of Congress.

“I know the President has a long list of tremendous candidates for his next Chief of Staff, and whomever it is will have my total support moving forward,” he said.

The development further narrows the list of possible candidates for the job.

Among those who have been talked about for the position: David Bossie, a former Trump campaign deputy manager; former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey; Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget; U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer; Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin; and Republican fundraiser Wayne Berman. Mulvaney and Mnuchin have both signaled to the White House that they are not interested in the job.

Meadows was a favored candidate among Trump’s outside conservative allies. Bossie was said to be privately telling friends that he hoped Meadows would get the job — and some people close to the White House privately suggested that Bossie could serve as Meadows’ deputy.

Bossie and Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s former campaign manager, are slated to meet with the president at the White House on Friday for lunch.

White House aides said the president was expected to make a final decision by the end of the year.

Trump has insisted that he has no shortage of options for chief of staff. He told Reuters on Tuesday that he was deciding among 10 to 12 candidates.

“Everybody wants it,” he said. “Who doesn’t want to be one of the top few people in Washington, D.C.?”

The Wall Street Journal first reported that Meadows was out of the running.

The search for a chief of staff has engrossed many in the White House and across Washington in recent days. The president and his staff are sensitive to the notion that few people want to serve as Trump’s chief of staff after his previous two chiefs — Reince Priebus and Kelly — were savaged by internal backbiting and rumors about how long they’d stay on the job.

Conscious of the fallout from another candidate saying thanks but no thanks, the White House made sure to stress that it was Trump who told Meadows that he wanted him to remain in Congress.

But the White House’s troubles regarding a new chief of staff pale in comparison with the broader legal complications facing many in the president’s orbit.

On Wednesday, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, was sentenced to three years in prison on charges of tax fraud, campaign finance violations and lying to Congress. A short while later, a court document disclosed that The National Enquirer’s parent company, American Media Inc., had agreed to cooperate with prosecutors after admitting to coordinating a hush-money payment with Trump’s 2016 campaign.

By evening, the president had not reacted publicly to the legal developments or commented on the search for a new chief of staff. He did, however, postpone part of an interview arranged with Eric Bolling for Sinclair Broadcast group.

Bolling told POLITICO that he had set up cameras in the White House Diplomatic Reception Room but that Trump pulled out of the on-camera portion because “he got jammed up with bill signing and was pulled in a hundred different directions.”

“I literally think he was being called about new chief of staff issues, Congress issues and Pelosi issues,” he said, referring to Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the House minority leader. Instead, he and the president chatted for half an hour in the Oval Office, Bolling said, adding that Trump was “very open” and in a “great mood.”

After Bolling brought up Cohen’s sentencing, Trump asked him what he thought of the prison term.

Bolling said he told Trump that he thought Cohen got off “lightly” and was lucky to get only 36 months. Trump slowly nodded his head in acknowledgment, he said, but didn’t react to what Bolling said.

“He literally had no response,” Bolling said.

Nancy Cook contributed to this report.