Trump considering handful of candidates for chief of staff

President Donald Trump is considering Republican Representative Mark Meadows, former campaign adviser David Bossie, and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie for White House chief of staff, a source familiar with the search said on Monday.

Another source said Trump was also looking at U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer for the job.

The search comes after the president’s initial choice for the job bowed out and as his White House braces for an onslaught of political and legal challenges in the coming year.

On Saturday Trump announced that his current chief, General John Kelly, would be leaving the White House at the end of the year. The two men had clashed for months.

Trump’s initial pick for the job, Nick Ayers, pulled out on Sunday. Ayers, who is Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, had agreed to come on for an interim period but declined to commit to stay for the remaining two years of Trump’s term.