Former Trump chief of staff Reince Priebus selected to join Navy with backing from Mattis

By Dan Lamothe December 14 at 12:48 PM

Reince Priebus, a former chief of staff to President Trump and Republican power broker, could join the Navy after a months-long process in which Defense Secretary Jim Mattis recommended him and a board of officers selected him as a reserve officer, according to defense officials and a memo obtained by The Washington Post.

Priebus, 46, will be required to attend two weeks of training in Newport, R.I., and drill once a month as a reservist if commissioned. He would join a list of Navy reserve officers with political connections that include Sean Spicer, Trump’s former press secretary, and Robby Mook, Hillary Clinton’s former presidential campaign manager.

Priebus declined to comment Friday.

In a statement submitted to the Navy and obtained by The Post, Priebus wrote that he has proudly watched his sister serve as a Navy doctor and remembers his father teaching at Naval Station Great Lakes in Illinois when he was growing up. He added that he especially felt called to serve after an Oval Office meeting in which Trump met with the wife and children of Senior Chief William “Ryan” Owens, 36, a Navy SEAL who was killed early in the administration in a Special Operations raid in Yemen.

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