‘SMOOTH MACHINE’

Trump Confidant: VA Secretary Shulkin to Depart White House ‘Very Soon’

As part of “one or two major changes” the president is plotting to his administration.

Presidential confidant and Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy on Sunday said the president is planning “one or two major changes” to his administration in the near future, but he is “perplexed” by talk of chaos in the White House. Speaking on ABC’s This Week, Ruddy said he was told White House chief of staff John Kelly and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson would be staying in their positions, despite reports of President Donald Trump planning to oust them. Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, however, is expected to be axed “very soon,” Ruddy said. Shulkin has come under fire recently amid reports he misused taxpayer money to book flights for his wife. Despite a spate of news reports depicting a White House mired in turbulence, Ruddy said Trump “thinks the White House is operating like a ‘smooth machine.’”