Donald Trump selects Mark Meadows as new White House chief of staff

President Trump announced Friday evening that Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina will be his new White House chief of staff.

Mick Mulvaney, the current acting chief of staff, will be named as the U.S. special envoy for Northern Ireland.

Mr. Meadows, a Freedom Caucus founder, announced earlier this year that he would be retiring from Congress at the end of this term. He was recently made ranking member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee.

The North Carolina Republican was a staunch defender of the president throughout the impeachment proceedings, even as a member of Mr. Trump’s defense team.

I am pleased to announce that Congressman Mark Meadows will become White House Chief of Staff. I have long known and worked with Mark, and the relationship is a very good one….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 7, 2020

….I want to thank Acting Chief Mick Mulvaney for having served the Administration so well. He will become the United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland. Thank you!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 7, 2020

Mr. Meadows had been under the president’s consideration for months. He has long been one of Mr. Trump’s closest allies in the House.

“I have long known and worked with Mark, and the relationship is a very good one,” the president tweeted.

Mr. Meadows will become the president’s fourth chief of staff in four years. The first, Reince Priebus, lasted only 192 days.

Mr. Mulvaney had not traveled with the president to Florida on Friday to the president’s resort, where Mr. Trump tweeted the announcement. The move had been rumored as far back as last fall, during the House impeachment inquiry.

Mr. Meadows will be taking over just as Hope Hicks, another trusted aide, returns to the White House to work with senior presidential adviser Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law.

The move comes at a critical time for the president, who is moving into the heat of his re-election campaign while grappling with widespread anxiety and a potential economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

Mr. Meadows said it is “an honor to be selected by President Trump to serve alongside him and his team.”

“This president and his administration have a long list of incredible victories they’ve delivered to the country during this first term, with the best yet to come — and I look forward to helping build on that success and staying in the fight for the forgotten men and women of America,” he said in a statement. “In particular, I want to recognize my friend Mick Mulvaney. Mick is smart, principled, and as tough a fighter you’ll find in Washington, D.C. He did a great job leading the president’s team through a tremendous period of accomplishment over the last year-plus.”