Thread: Trump’s top Hill aide leaving White House amid Supreme Court battle

Trump’s top Hill aide leaving White House amid Supreme Court battle

Marc Short, Trump’s director of legislative affairs, is leaving later this month to join a D.C. consulting firm and teach at UVA.

By MATTHEW NUSSBAUM
07/12/2018 05:04 AM EDT

President Donald Trump’s legislative affairs director is heading for the exits just as the White House gears up for a major Supreme Court nomination battle and approaches a daunting midterm election landscape.

Marc Short, one of the administration’s longest-serving senior aides and a frequent spokesperson for the president on television, is planning to depart by July 20, according to a person familiar with the plans.

Short, who declined to comment on the record, is taking a position at Guidepost Strategies consulting firm and will teach at the University of Virginia’s business school, where he received his MBA, and will also serve as a senior fellow at the university’s Miller Center.

Short took the job as Trump’s top liaison to Capitol Hill after serving as a senior aide to Vice President Mike Pence on the 2016 campaign. A veteran of Republican politics, Short was seen as an establishment voice within the decidedly anti-establishment administration. He was in the center of Trump’s key legislative fights, from the failed attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act to the rewrite of the tax code and the marathon efforts to reshape the judiciary.

And unlike past legislative affairs chiefs, Short took on a significant media profile, regularly appearing on cable news and Sunday shows to defend the White House and advocate for the president. But unlike other White House faces, from former press secretary Sean Spicer to counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway, Short largely managed to avoid making the type of controversial statements or embarrassing gaffes that have become commonplace in Trump’s orbit. Like other former officials, Short may continue to make television appearances.

At Guidepost, Short will serve as a partner alongside Phil Cox, the former executive director of the Republican Governors Association, and Marie Sanderson, who was policy director at RGA. The firm does consulting, lobbying and communications for an array of corporate and non-profit clients, including the tobacco company Reynolds American, pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, BMW and the American Petroleum Institute. Short himself will not be doing any lobbying.

“Marc brings that unique combination of policy depth and political expertise, which is a hallmark of our firm,” Cox said in a statement to POLITICO. “Marie and I are excited to have him join our team.”

Short is slated to begin his fellowship at UVA on Aug. 1.

“It’s an honor for me to welcome Marc Short to the Miller Center," Miller Center director William Antholis said in a statement to POLITICO. “Marc is widely respected in both parties. We had the privilege of getting to know Marc through the presidential transition and the Trump Administration’s first year, and have been impressed by his professionalism, effectiveness, and collegiality.”

Short is one of a large cadre of senior White House staff to leave before the president’s two-year mark, as Trump’s White House has seen an unprecedented level of staff turnover. Already, Trump has cycled through a chief of staff, deputy chief of staff, four communications directors, a press secretary, a chief strategist, two national security advisers and a number of mid-level aides.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/...e-house-713453

I didn't know he came from Pence's campaign. Interesting. I never thought he was fully on board with the trade and immigration agenda. Maybe it just seemed that way because he was trying to reach compromises, but there was just something off about it, or at least it seemed that way to me. Wish him luck in his new teaching position and look forward to his replacement.

Glad he is gone!



Former “Never Trump” Koch brothers executive turned White House staffer Marc Short contradicted previous statements by President Trump’s administration this week, claiming the president is “open” to negotiations in granting amnesty to nearly 800,000 illegal aliens without pro-American immigration reforms.

Short — who formerly ran the failed “Never Trump” effort inside the Koch brothers’ network of organizations — told the media at the White House on Friday that not only is Trump “open” to discussions about amnesty for the hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens shielded from deportation by the President Obama-created Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, but he’s also “anxious” to cut a deal on the issue.

https://www.breitbart.com/big-govern...llegal-aliens/

Short came to Trump through Mike Pence. He was Pence's senior advisor for his VP run with Trump. If Short worked with the Never-Trumpers through the Koch Brothers, it would have been during the primaries and before the Convention. There were a lot of "Never Trumpers" during the primaries.

I consider this a gain, not loss. Marc Short fully supported and encouraged Trump's DACA amnesty attempts.