With much of the country focused on the spreading coronavirus, Trump announced the surprise reshuffle in a Friday night tweet, saying Mulvaney would become the U.S. special envoy for Northern Ireland.
"I have long known and worked with Mark, and the relationship is a very good one,” he wrote, thanking Mulvaney – who never shook his "acting” title – "for having served the Administration so well.”
The long-rumored move comes as Trump has been pulling together a team of loyalists and allies ahead of what is expected to be a bitter reelection fight. But the timing – as his administration was already facing criticism over its handling of the outbreak – has threatened to exacerbate concerns about the government's ability to protect the nation from a virus that has now infected more than 100,000 people worldwide.
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