--- title: Donald Trump Friend Says Reince Priebus 'in Over His Head' description: A longtime friend of President Donald Trump said Sunday that White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus should be replaced canonical: https://time.com/4668762/donald-trump-reince-priebus-christopher-ruddy/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-13T12:42:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T12:03:26.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: A Friend of Trump Says Reince Priebus Is 'in Way Over His Head' og:description: Harsh criticism for the White House chief of staff og:url: https://time.com/4668762/donald-trump-reince-priebus-christopher-ruddy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta9413e0581b8d8bb/6988b9fccd1bba4e76703f59/reince-priebus.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Friend of Trump Says Reince Priebus Is 'in Way Over His Head' twitter:description: Harsh criticism for the White House chief of staff twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta9413e0581b8d8bb/6988b9fccd1bba4e76703f59/reince-priebus.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Friend of President Trump Says Reince Priebus Is 'in Way Over His Head' by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 13, 2023 12:03 PM UTCPublished: Feb 13, 2017 12:42 PM UTC  White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus listens during a meeting with county sheriffs in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC on, Feb. 07, 2017. White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus listens during a meeting with county sheriffs in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC on, Feb. 07, 2017.Jabin Botsford—The Washington Post/Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 13, 2023 12:03 PM UTCPublished: Feb 13, 2017 12:42 PM UTC A longtime friend of [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump/) said Sunday that [White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus](http://time.com/4578006/reince-priebus-donald-trump-muslim-registry/) should be replaced, though he later said he has an “open mind” about the President’s top aide. “A lot of people have been saying, ‘Look, Donald has some problems,’ and I think he realizes that he’s got to make some changes going forward,” Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy told [the Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/02/12/trump-friend-says-priebus-is-in-way-over-his-head/?tid=sm%5Ffb&utm%5Fterm=.7a28bc79b272), after having drinks with Trump in Florida over the weekend. “It’s my view that Reince is the problem. I think on paper Reince looked good as the chief of staff — and Donald trusted him — but it’s pretty clear the guy is in way over his head.” Ruddy also said he doesn’t believe Priebus gives Trump the “pushback” he needs. And Ruddy appeared on [CNN](http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/12/politics/trump-christopher-ruddy-reince-priebus-cnntv/index.html) to cast doubt on Priebus’ strength and his understanding of how federal agencies operate. The White House didn’t respond to the _Post_‘s request for comment. Later on Sunday, Ruddy appeared to back away from those statements onTwitter. In [one tweet](https://twitter.com/ChrisRuddyNMX/status/830950543589797894), he said Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner had come to Priebus’ defense. > [](https://twitter.com/ChrisRuddyNMX/status/830921446465507330) > [](https://twitter.com/ChrisRuddyNMX/status/830950543589797894) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4668762/donald-trump-reince-priebus-christopher-ruddy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4668762/donald-trump-reince-priebus-christopher-ruddy/"},"headline":"A Friend of President Trump Says Reince Priebus Is 'in Way Over His Head'","datePublished":"2017-02-13T12:42:35.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T12:03:26.000Z","description":"Harsh criticism for the White House chief of staff","url":"https://time.com/4668762/donald-trump-reince-priebus-christopher-ruddy/","keywords":["White House","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta9413e0581b8d8bb/6988b9fccd1bba4e76703f59/reince-priebus.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta9413e0581b8d8bb/6988b9fccd1bba4e76703f59/reince-priebus.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Donald Trump","caption":"President Donald Trump","creditText":"Jabin Botsford—The Washington Post/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4668762/donald-trump-reince-priebus-christopher-ruddy/","name":"A Friend of President Trump Says Reince Priebus Is 'in Way Over His Head'"}}]}] ```