Former acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told CNBC on Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s controversial decision to stage a photo-op at a D.C. church despite protests was “a very Trump kind of move.”
Law enforcement on Monday forced demonstrators protesting the killing of George Floyd in police custody to vacate the area near St. John’s Episcopal Church so that Trump could walk there after delivering a statement on the protests from the Rose Garden and pose for what he later described as a “very symbolic” photo.
“That’s a very Trump kind of move,” said Mulvaney, who stepped down as acting White House chief of staff last March. “He wanted, I think, to send a message that if we wanted to take back the streets, if we wanted to end the riots … we have the ability to do that.”
He added, “Do we have the will to do that is another question. But I think that the message he was trying to convey there … allowing the president to be the president is one of the things that a chief of staff is charged with.”
Mulvaney also noted that Trump is “in his mid-70s — he’s extraordinarily successful doing what he’s been doing. He’s not going to change.”
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.