Sanders to end time as press secretary by July, Trump says
WASHINGTON — Sarah Sanders, the combative White House press secretary whose tenure was marked by controversy and questions about her credibility, will be leaving after 22 months on the job, President Donald Trump announced Thursday.
The president shared the news of her unexpected departure in a tweet, writing: “After 3 years, our wonderful Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be leaving the White House at the end of the month and going home to the Great State of Arkansas.”
He added: “She is a very special person with extraordinary talents, who has done an incredible job! I hope she decides to run for Governor of Arkansas — she would be fantastic. Sarah, thank you for a job well done!”
Sanders, 36, has been among the longest-serving senior officials in Trump’s administration. During her rocky stint as the president’s official spokeswoman, Sanders endeared herself to her boss and to his supporters by her staunch defense of him and his remarks. She often amplified Trump’s criticism of the news media, pushing back on reporters’ questions, sometimes sarcastically.
But her truthfulness and integrity were called into serious question by special counsel Robert Mueller’s nearly two-year investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mueller’s report cites two occasions in May 2017 when Sanders told reporters that rank-and-file members of the FBI supported Trump’s firing of FBI director James Comey. But when asked about this description by investigators, Sanders backed off that charge. She told Mueller’s team that the first time she made that statement it was a “slip of the tongue” and that she repeated it later in an interview and it “was a comment she made ‘in the heat of the moment’ that was not founded on anything,” according to the report.
Sanders’ time as press secretary is notable for what she didn’t do as much as for what she did. Under her watch, her principal function as press secretary — representing the White House in media briefings — all but ceased to exist.
In recent months, Sanders’ primary public contact with reporters was on the White House driveway, where she would hold irregular and impromptu “gaggles,” usually after appearing on Fox News.
Though she no longer briefed the media, she regularly attended meetings on foreign policy, trade and health care. She was at the table for many meetings with foreign leaders.
The terms of her departure were unclear, though Sanders told staff around 4 p.m. in her office, according to people with knowledge of her comments, that it was her choice.