Major Trump Announcement: Mark Meadows Named Chief of Staff

Mark Meadows was one of the president's strongest defenders during the political impeachment inquiry.

Meadows had previously announced that he planned to leave Congress at the end of his term, which makes the announcement even more surprising!

Though he will no longer be directly representing the people of western North Carolina, Meadows promises to still represent them as well as all Americans in his new role as Chief of Staff!

Fox News has more on the major announcement:

President Trump made a surprise announcement on Friday night that Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., would become his new White House chief of staff, replacing acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.

"I am pleased to announce that Congressman Mark Meadows will become White House Chief of Staff. I have long known and worked with Mark, and the relationship is a very good one," Trump tweeted.

Meadows has become one of Trump's most loyal defenders on Capitol Hill, particularly during the monthslong impeachment battle that ultimately ended with an acquittal in February.

Mulvaney became the acting White House chief of staff in January 2019, replacing Gen. John Kelly. Mulvaney was also serving as the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director.

Trump also announced that Mulvaney would become the U.S. special envoy for Northern Ireland.

"I want to thank Acting Chief Mick Mulvaney for having served the Administration so well. He will become the United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland. Thank you!" Trump said in a second tweet.

In a statement, Meadows said it was an "honor" to selected by President Trump.

"This President and his administration have a long list of incredible victories they've delivered to the country during this first term, with the best yet to come -- and I look forward to helping build on that success and staying in the fight for the forgotten men and women of America," he said.

Meadows said Mulvaney did a "great job," and he also thanked his constituents in western North Carolina.

Many Trump supporters are thrilled with the pick.

See Tucker Carlson's reaction as the news broke:

So what does this mean?

What will Mark Meadows bring with him as he serves as Chief of Staff?

Well, he has a lot of unique qualities and qualifications that will benefit the Trump Administration.

For example, Meadows is a known savvy strategist who is adeptly skilled at negotiating and operating behind the scenes. He can get things done!

Meadows also has incredible relationships with people on capitol hill. Both Democrats and Republicans have respect for Meadows, so he can leverage those relationships to help achieve bipartisan accomplishments for the Trump administration.

Politico has more insight as to how Meadows will benefit the White House:

WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF for TRUMP is a job that is perfectly suited for how MEADOWS sees himself. It’s made for a savvy strategist who can operate behind the scenes, manage a Game of Thrones-like environment and occasionally burst into the limelight to defend the president and blast his enemies. It’s long overdue that TRUMP made this move, since he’s been listening to MEADOWS over PAUL RYAN and other party stalwarts for years.

MEADOWS’ DETRACTORS -- and, yes, there are some, mostly in the GOP -- see this job as the ultimate moment that will finally reveal the North Carolina Republican as a top-notch fraud who couldn’t find his way out of a wet paper bag. And, to be fair, he has never managed a crisis like this, so he’s starting with quite the challenge staring him down.

MEADOWS DOES HAVE considerable talents he can deploy here. Even people who don’t like him acknowledge his deep relationships in Washington, and his uncanny understanding of how the levers of power work. He understands the small tokens that can be distributed to win lawmakers’ support and loyalty -- and can find his way to temporarily trading or loaning his ideology to achieve a larger end.

PERHAPS MOST NOTABLY FOR TRUMP, he has relationships with Democrats. People make a lot of MEADOWS’ relationship with the widely respected ELIJAH CUMMINGS. That relationship is instructive of his across-the-aisle bonds. CUMMINGS didn’t see MEADOWS as a saint. But the late Baltimore Democrat saw MEADOWS for what he was: an operator who was open for business. MEADOWS has a relationship with STENY HOYER, which will be useful for him. His relationship with KEVIN MCCARTHY is, well, how to put this lightly? It’s complicated, but at this point it’s functional.

MEADOWS, more than anything, understands Washington’s power games, how to play them to maximum impact and what they actually mean. For example, MEADOWS was quite public with us for our book about the fight for the border wall: In his mind, it was the opening clash between NANCY PELOSI and TRUMP that would set the stage for the rest of his first term. He was right on that front.

Many took to Twitter to congratulation Meadow's on the new position!

Are you as excited as we are? 

This is HUGE news!