Reince Priebus’s six-month stint in the White House landed in the history books on a rainy Friday afternoon: He became the shortest-serving chief of staff. Ever.
No White House chief of staff’s term has ended more swiftly than the former GOP chairman’s short 189 days on the job.
The widely anticipated announcement followed a series of public attacks on Priebus this week from new White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, who boarded Air Force One with Trump and Priebus for a Friday afternoon event in New York.
Since the position was first created in 1946, the average tenure of the 29 chiefs of staff stretches nearly two and a half years, according to a CNN analysis of data from a Discovery Channel project called The Presidents’ Gatekeepers.
All but seven chiefs of staff have lasted at least one year in the job.
The next shortest serving chief of staff, Kenneth Duberstein, worked 203 days for President Ronald Reagan from 1988 to 1989. And Jack Watson worked under Jimmy Carter for 223 days from 1980 to 1981.
Only James Baker had a shorter stint: 150 days under George H.W. Bush, but he had served for four years in the same position during Ronald Reagan’s first term. And Pete Rouse temporarily served as an interim chief of staff after Rahm Emanuel left the Obama White House in 2010 to run for mayor of Chicago.
The President broke the news on Twitter when the plane landed, welcoming incoming chief of staff Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly.
The move comes amid a tumultuous first six months for the White House. The administration has been marked by infighting and a largely stagnant policy agenda, marked by a major setback in the effort to repeal and replace Obamacare in the Senate Thursday night.
Priebus joins a long list of White House casualties in just the first six months, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn, communications director Mike Dubke and press secretary Sean Spicer.
Meanwhile, Trump continues to publicly decry his own attorney general, Jeff Sessions, tweeting this week that Sessions is “beleaguered.” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, meanwhile, aimed to quickly squash rumors of a “Rexit” this week.
