Howard Kurtz: Trump Considering Replacing John Kelly With Corey Lewandowski

Hey guys, remember that time President Donald Trump said he was super-duper happy with his chief of staff, John Kelly?

Turns out he’s so “very happy” with him that he’s considering alternatives to replace him – namely, OG Trump campaign manager and one time Hope Hicks boy-toy Corey Lewandowski.

“I can report, based on my sources, that the president and his first campaign manager have discussed that possibility,” Fox News’ Howard Kurtz wrote Thursday. “Lewandowski has said he would accept a White House post if Trump calls him off the bench. But in the end it’s unlikely to happen.”

“Still, the mere fact that Lewandowski is on the radar for the top job, after the campaign fired him in the spring of 2016, underscores his rising stock and the changing climate,” Kurtz continued.

A Lewandowski White House could be made possible if Kelly is forced out of his current post or resigns, two possibilities that look more likely in the face of reports the chief of staff bad-mouths the president in private.

Kurtz reports that Trump and Lewandowski speak on the phone on a regular basis, he joined the president on Air Force One en route to the Michigan rally he held opposite the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and Trump shouted him out during the speech he gave there.

“Speaking of not being a patsy or a pushover, you ever watch Corey Lewandowski on the shows?” Trump said to the throng, calling Lewandowski onstage.

However, Kurtz notes that the chief of staff job would mean a significant pay cut for Lewandowski, and he did not respond to “several requests” for comment from Kurtz for the piece.

[image via screengrab]