Mulvaney reportedly on ‘shaky ground’ after fallout from whistleblower complaint – Washington Examiner

Acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney’s position within the Trump administration is reportedly on “shaky ground” following fallout from an intelligence community whistleblower complaint released this week.

According to CNN, several sources have claimed that Mulvaney could be in risk of losing his job amid Trump’s frustrations with him for failing to construct “a strategy for defending and explaining the contents” of both the complaint and the transcript of the president’s July phone call with the leader of Ukraine.

According to one of the sources, there is widespread frustration in the White House surrounding the lack of response for dealing with the releases, and Mulvaney appears to be taking the heat for it. However, they also indicated that President Trump may not be eager to fire him just yet “given the amount of tumult” from the week.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham denied the report on Saurday, saying, “This story is manufactured palace intrigue.”

She continued, “The fact is that President Trump and this Administration have done nothing wrong. Why would we need to implement a strategy to explain the contents of a document we willingly released? Sounds to me like more anonymous troublemakers working to stir the pot for their own selfish reasons.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry into President Trump after reports that he had pressured the Ukrainian president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden. The White House released a transcript of the call this week, which shows the president did urge his Ukrainian counterpart to look into Biden and his son Hunter.

An intelligence community whistleblower complaint concerning the call was also released, which alleges that Trump asked a foreign power to interfere in the 2020 presidential election by investigating his potential opponent. Trump, however, has denied any wrongdoing.

Mulvaney was previously a congressman for South Carolina before assuming his role as Trump’s third chief of staff in less than two years.