Arkansas native to be new face of White House
WASHINGTON — New White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was schooled in hardscrabble politics — and down-home rhetoric — from a young age by her father, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Her way with a zinger — and her unshakable loyalty to an often unpredictable boss — are big reasons why she became a rising star in President Donald Trump’s orbit. She’ll take over for Sean Spicer, who abruptly announced Friday that he’s resigning, effective at the end of August.
Sanders steps into what has been deemed the most difficult job in Washington. Her responsibilities are not just to do combat with a feisty White House press corps but to try to please a mercurial president who fancies himself his own best spokesman.
Trump often presents his own thoughts directly on Twitter in the early hours of the morning and is known to closely follow his surrogates on television, assessing their performances. He has been happy with Sanders’ advocacy, said Kellyanne Conway, a counselor to the president.
“She understands America. She understands the president. And she understands how to connect the two,” Conway told The Associated Press in March. “The president has a great deal of trust in Sarah.”
Sanders, in her debut briefing after the announcement of her promotion, promised to “be as open, honest and transparent with you all as humanly possible.” Her low-key approach, which came after a 37-minute charm offensive from new communications director Anthony Scaramucci, was in stark contrast to Spicer’s debut in the role. Spicer, in his first briefing, berated reporters about underestimating the size of Trump’s inaugural crowds and refused to take questions.
ARKANSAS CONNECTION
Sanders, who will be the third female press secretary in history, credits her larger-than-life dad with
helping her learn how to deliver a message. Huckabee, a frequent political commentator, has long been famed for his pithy rhetoric. The two speak most days before 6 a.m.
“I’ll call and say, ‘What do you think if I say this?’ He’ll say, ‘That’s really good. You might try to say it a little bit more like X,’” she said.
Arkansas-raised, Sanders is married to a Republican consultant and moved her young family to Washington to be part of the administration. She joined the Trump campaign not long after her father’s second presidential bid — which she managed — fizzled out in the 2016 Iowa caucuses. She said she was drawn to Trump’s message of economic populism and his outsider attitude.
Sanders entered politics young, helping with her father’s campaigns as a child and then working her way up the ranks. In 2007, she moved to Iowa to run her father’s operation in the leadoff caucus state, where he was the surprise winner. She also served in the Education Department under President George W. Bush and worked on a number of Senate and presidential campaigns.
The Arkansas ties continue to hold strong. Sanders has consulted with friends from the state about her new role, including Mack McLarty, a former chief of staff for President Bill Clinton, who she said counseled her to appreciate the “historic opportunity” to work in the White House.
And she downplayed on Friday any reports of “chaos” enveloping the West Wing, saying that her house at 6 a.m. with three young kids was far more hectic.
SPICER’S RESIGNATION
Spicer’s resignation ended a rocky six-month tenure that made his news briefings defending President Donald Trump must-see TV. He said Trump’s communications team “could benefit from a clean slate” as the White House seeks to steady operations amid the Russia investigations and ahead of a health care showdown.
Spicer quit in protest over the hiring of the new communications director Scaramucci, a New York financier, objecting to what Spicer considered his lack of qualifications as well as the direction of the press operation, according to people familiar with the situation.
The shake-up on the communications team comes as Trump is suffering from dismal approval ratings and struggling to advance his agenda. The president has been frustrated by all the attention devoted to investigations of allegations of his election campaign’s connections to Russia.
Trump, who watches the press briefings closely and believes he is his own best spokesman, in a statement saluted Spicer’s “great ratings” on TV and said he was “grateful for Sean’s work on behalf of my administration and the American people.”
Scaramucci, in an appearance after his appointment was made official, praised Trump’s political instincts and competitiveness, cracked a few self-deprecating jokes and battled with reporters who categorized the West Wing as dysfunctional, saying “there is a disconnect” between the media and the way the public sees the president.
“The president has really good karma and the world turns back to him,” Scaramucci said.
Spicer said during a brief phone conversation with The Associated Press that he felt it would be best for Scaramucci to build his own operation “and chart a new way forward.”
His decision to quit took advisers inside and outside the White House by surprise, according to people with knowledge of the decision. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the personnel matter publicly.
The White House has been looking for a new communications director for several weeks, but struggled to attract an experienced Republican hand. Scaramucci began seriously talking to the White House about the position this week, and Trump formally offered him the job Friday morning.
Scaramucci did not commit to putting the briefings back on camera full-time. He also offered a level of support to some of Trump’s most outlandish statements, including his unproven claim that millions of illegal votes were cast in the 2016 election.
“If the president says it … there’s probably some level of truth to that,” he said.
Spicer had long sought the strategic communications job for himself and had been managing that role along with his press secretary duties for nearly two months.
Spicer had spent several years leading communications at the Republican National Committee before helping Trump’s campaign in the general election. He is close to White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, the former RNC chair, and several of the lower-ranking aides in the White House communications shop.
Scaramucci notably said he reports directly to the president, not to the chief of staff — a highly unusual arrangement for a communications director and a possible reflection that Priebus’ standing with Trump is often uncertain.
The resignation comes a day after Mark Corallo, the spokesman for the president’s outside legal team, left his post. And in a separate move, former White House aide Katie Walsh is returning to the RNC, spokesman Ryan Mahoney said. Walsh will serve as an adviser on data and digital issues, and the appointment is unrelated to the White House personnel changes, he said.