President Trump could see at least two more members of his Cabinet depart before the 2020 presidential election kicks into full gear, his former campaign manager predicted Wednesday.
“I think prior to the 2020 election, you’ll see one or two Cabinet members who would likely depart,” Corey Lewandowski told reporters at a breakfast in Washington, D.C.. “I don’t think we’ll have the same Cabinet through 2020 that we do today.”
The Trump administration has already set a 100-year record for Cabinet turnover in its first 20 months.
Three former agency heads – Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, and EPA administrator Scott Pruitt – were fired by the president or resigned over ethics scandals, while former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was pushed out last December and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly left his post to become White House chief of staff.
Additionally, Trump’s decision to replace Tillerson with former CIA Director Mike Pompeo left another vacancy to be filled earlier this summer.
Lewandowski declined to say which members of the president’s Cabinet would be most likely to leave prior to his re-election bid, though speculation has swirled for months around Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The former Alabama senator’s fraught relationship with the president has repeatedly spilled into public view, including in a tweet last Sunday where Trump described him as “scared stiff and Missing in Action.”
Lewandowski said the president’s frustration with Sessions exclusively stems from the attorney general’s decision to recuse himself from the federal investigation into Russian election meddling.
“When the president looks back at the relationship between Barack Obama and Eric Holder, Eric Holder was by all accounts an unapologetic Barack Obama supporter,” Lewandowski explained, “and I think the president feels that Jeff Sessions should not have recused himself from the investigation.”
Other agency heads who have weathered scandals could also make an exit prior to the 2020 cycle, such as Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson or Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. Both men have faced criticism for questionable purchases with taxpayer dollars, or cozy financial relationships with industry executives.
