AP sources: Trump reflects on major reshuffle

Colleen Long, Zeke Miller and Catherine Lucey, Associated Press

Update

22:42 PST, Tuesday 13 November 2018

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump is considering an in-depth reform of the administration as he seeks to prepare his White House for a divided government, but it is unclear who is going or who is staying.

Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen is said to have been dismissed this week, according to two people familiar with the issue, but she is now likely to remain in office longer, as no obvious successor is in office. square.

Trump angered Nielsen and White House chief of staff John Kelly, partly because he was frustrated that his administration was not doing more to fix it. termed a crisis at the US-Mexico border, depending on the population. But the scope of the changes envisioned is much wider, as Trump prepares for a wave of demands for Democratic control and devotes more effort to his own reelection campaign.

According to people familiar with the situation, Trump also plans to replace Kelly with Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, Nick Ayers. Kelly, a retired naval general, was credited with putting order in a chaotic west wing, but he fell out of favor with the president and his daughter-in-office, Ivanka Trump, and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Ayers, an experienced campaigner, would re-establish a political role in this role, but he faces stiff opposition from some corners of the West Wing, with some associates putting pressure on Trump directly against the movement.

Other changes are underway, while the Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross, and Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, are being discussed for their replacement. And in an extraordinary move on Tuesday, First Lady Melania Trump's office publicly called for the dismissal of Mira Ricardel, Trump's Deputy National Security Advisor.

Despite all the unsubscribe speeches, Trump often expresses frustration with his help and then takes no action. We've been talking about Kelly's release for months and he stays put.

Nielsen had hoped to finish his job and leave his post in December, but it seemed unlikely that it would last that long, two sources said. The two people who heard about the debate spoke to the PA under the guise of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak in public.

The fight against illegal immigration is Trump's central question – a question to which he returns to rally his most loyal supporters.

But anyone who takes over Homeland Security may face the same problems Nielsen faces. The administration has already tried to put a brake on the border but these efforts have been largely thwarted or diluted due to legal proceedings.

Trump also told his allies that he had never fully trusted Nielsen, whom he associated with President George W. Bush, a longtime foe. And he told his relatives that he sometimes felt that his loyalty was more to his longtime mentor – Kelly – than his president.

Zinke, who faces several investigations into ethics, said Monday in an interview with The Associated Press that he had spoken in recent days to Trump, Pence and Kelly about the investigations. on his leadership and that they remained supportive. He denied any wrongdoing.

Ross tackled the rumors of revenue at Yahoo! Finance summit Tuesday, saying that he was stationed to give back to the country and support Trump.

"I worked very hard to get President Trump elected," he said. "Now I would like to work so hard to make him successful and re-elected."

The questions about Nielsen's job security are not new. Earlier this year, she rebuffed a New York Times report that she had written a letter of resignation, but had not sent it, after Trump had reprimanded her at a meeting Cabinet.

Nielsen is head of the federal agency after September 11, 2001. She was Chief of Staff to Kelly when he was Trump's first Secretary of Homeland Security. A DHS spokesperson did not want to say whether she was leaving or not.

"The Secretary is honored to lead the men and women of DHS and is committed to implementing the President's Security Agenda in order to protect Americans from any threat and will continue to do so", said spokesman Tyler Houlton.

Nielsen argued for a strong defense against cybersecurity and often claimed that she thought the next major terrorist attack would occur online, not by plane or by bomb. Its mission was to help states to hold elections following the interference of the Russians in the 2016 elections.

She pushed Trump's immigration policies, including the funding of her wall, and defended the administration's practice of separating children from parents, stating to a Senate committee that the removal of Children of the parents facing criminal charges occur "in the United States every day". But she also played a decisive role in stopping separations.

Just last week, the administration announced that migrants would be denied asylum at the US-Mexico border if they crossed illegally, creating a by-law that bypassed immigration laws stating that anyone could to claim asylum, no matter how she arrives in the country. The decision would affect about 70,000 people each year and was immediately challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Nielsen also decided to abandon the long-standing regulations that dictate the length of detention of children in detention and asked the US military to sleep with about 12,000 people in order to detain all families crossing the border. border. At present, there is room for about 3,000 families and they are at full capacity.

On several occasions, she had lively discussions with Trump and White House assistants on immigration policy, while she was trying to explain the complex legal challenges posed by the law of immigration. and advocated a more diplomatic approach.

We do not know who would replace her. The position requires confirmation from the Senate and there is no Assistant Secretary. Undersecretary for Management Claire Grady would be the acting head if Nielsen left.

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Associate press editors Darlene Superville in Washington and Jonathan Lemire in New York contributed to this report.