? AYERS WAS ALREADY A D CANDIDATE:

After Nick Ayers, the Georgia political operative who was the president's top pick, declined the job -- something of a plot twist in a presidency notorious for its episodic cliffhangers -- Mr. Trump is without a Plan B. Several of his aides expressed frustration that months of intense campaigning to replace John F. Kelly -- an effort led by Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, the president's elder daughter and son-in-law -- resulted in yet another chaotic staffing scramble in a White House splintered by factions and rife with turnover.

[A]s Chris Christie pointed out, the Mueller investigation, Southern District of New York, they probably have a lot more evidence than just the word of Michael Cohen and that has to worry the president," Stokols explained.

"Yes, he and Rudy Giuliani on some level believe they can continue to attack the investigators, to try and convince the public that there's something nefarious and something politically motivated about this," he noted. "But when all the facts are laid out and people can see the investigators' work, I think it's going to be very problematic for this president."

Republicans on Capitol Hill are also growing anxious.

"And there is some understanding, I think, inside the White House of just how dark it may be getting, especially in terms of conversations -- private conversations -- that people there are having with Republicans on the Hill who are starting to be concerned," Stokols reported.

"Republican lawmakers who are -- have a huge role to play in this if it goes forward -- are starting to tell me privately, some of them, that, you know, if there's obvious evidence, the bottom is going to fall out," he explained.

"They're not going to be able to stand by this White House and that's a looming problem for the president," he concluded.

Trump may even face a greater threat from the Southern District of New York investigations.

"It's much harder to stop what's happening in that office as opposed to with the special counsel's investigation," Stokols noted. "This train has left the station, there's really nothing that this White House can do about it."

"I think that's a source of frustration to the president. Also, it's difficult to politicize, it's difficult to go out and demonize that office because, as you pointed out already, that's a Trump appointee running that office," he added.

Trump has become increasingly concerned in recent weeks about what his administration is facing come January, when newly empowered Democrats are expected to unleash the full force of their oversight powers on the Trump administration.

Those include compelling Cabinet secretaries to testify, requesting the President's tax returns and scrutinizing some of his most controversial policy decisions. Trump often complained that Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general, was not politically shrewd enough for the task.

The details of the President's discussions, which have not been reported on previously, reveal how close Ayers was to becoming chief of staff. He and Trump huddled several times over the last week in the residence of the White House, where they were afforded more privacy than in the staff-filled West Wing, but they ultimately could not agree to terms and Ayers declined the job.

Multiple sources familiar with Trump's mood told CNN he's frustrated with the Ayers process. One source described his mood as "super pissed." A second added he feels humiliated, a position he doesn't like to be in, because the President did not have a backup candidate prepared like he typically does when he's fielding people for jobs.

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