White House chief of staff to leave by year-end

WASHINGTON, Dec 09 (Agencies): President Donald Trump said on Saturday that chief of staff John Kelly will leave his job by year's end amid an expected West Wing reshuffling reflecting a focus on the 2020 re-election campaign and the challenge of governing with Democrats reclaiming control of the House.

Nick Ayers, Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, is Trump's top choice to replace Kelly, and the two have held discussions for months about the job, a White House official said.

An announcement was expected in the coming days, the president told reporters as he left the White House for the Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia.

There have been persistent reports for several days that Gen Kelly was under pressure to go.

Some reports said that the retired Marine Corps general's relationship with Mr Trump had deteriorated.

But Mr Trump described Mr Kelly as a "great guy" and said a replacement would be named "over the next day or two".

"He's been with me almost two years now, between two positions," Mr Trump said. "I appreciate his service very much."

John Kelly came into the job promising to bring military discipline to an administration riddled with leaks and palace intrigue.

He can claim some success - but the leaks never completely disappeared and, by the end, the chief of staff was as deep into the back-stabbing and personnel drama as anyone.

A White House job is never easy, but this administration has chewed through senior staff at a record pace. Donald Trump is on his third national security adviser, fifth communications director and soon to be third chief of staff.

The one constant is the man in the Oval Office. He likes to say his administration operates like a well-oiled machine, but the grinding gears are amassing quite a professional body count.

In total, 28 people have resigned or been fired from the White House during Mr Trump's administration.

Last month Reuters news agency quoted a source as saying that Vice-President Mike Pence's chief of staff Nick Ayers was a possible contender for the chief of staff role.

Earlier this year Gen Kelly was forced to deny that he had called Mr Trump an "idiot" after the quote was included in a book about Mr Trump by the veteran investigative journalist Bob Woodward.

Gen Kelly is said to have used the description repeatedly and also allegedly said that "it's pointless to try to convince him of anything".

Mr Trump initially nominated Gen Kelly to oversee Homeland Security before promoting him to chief of staff last July, replacing Reince Priebus.

On Saturday, the president also announced that his highest-ranking military officer, Gen Joe Dunford, would be retiring as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.