White House Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said that from his vantage point inside the White House, "there was never that much drama in the first place." | Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Mulvaney: 'There was never that much drama' in Trump White House

President Donald Trump's White House doesn't have "that much drama," despite reports of infighting between the president and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, according to budget chief Mick Mulvaney.

Mulvaney, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, instead argued the flow of quality information to Trump has improved and the White House is more orderly under chief of staff John Kelly.


In an interview Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Mulvaney was pressed by host Chuck Todd on reports of a falling out between Trump and Tillerson. But Mulvaney pushed back that "the topic never even came up" in his conversations with Trump, Tillerson or Kelly.

"From the inside, there was never that much drama in the first place," Mulvaney said. "What I can tell you has changed is the flow of information to the president, the flow of information from different people, from different sources. It is a much more orderly and aligned West Wing than it was previously."

"Folks would wander in. You've heard stories — and those stories are actually true — about folks would just come in and there was an open-door policy and they can come in and talk to the president about anything," he added. "That's probably not the most effective way to get information about very, very complex issues in front of the president of the United States."

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Host Chuck Todd also pressed Mulvaney on his change in position on federal deficits. Known as a deficit hawk as a member of the House, Mulvaney backed a recent request for billions in emergency funding in the wake of hurricanes that that did extensive damage to Florida, Texas, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. If enacted, the emergency spending — as well as a Republican push to overhaul the tax code — will increase the budget deficit.

"This is what's changed: I've come to the realization that Washington is not going to solve the debt problem, the deficit problem, through spending," Mulvaney said.

Mulvaney described the issue as a matter of "political will" among lawmakers, citing spending cuts proposed in the administration's first budget that will likely be repudiated by Congress.

"We offered, for example, $54 billion worth of discretionary cuts in our budget this year," he said. "I think by the time it's over on Capitol Hill, four or five of those will be put into place. I just don't think there's much appetite to cut our way to balance."