White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will leave the job at the end of the month, President Donald Trump said Thursday.
In a pair of tweets, the president said Sanders will return to her home state of Arkansas. He thanked her for a “job well done.”
“I hope she decides to run for Governor of Arkansas – she would be fantastic!” Trump tweeted. He did not immediately announce who would replace her.
Sanders was on the 2016 Trump campaign’s communications team before succeeding Sean Spicer as press secretary in July 2017. She had an often adversarial relationship with the press.
Sanders faced criticism for giving answers from the White House podium that were misleading or contradicted what the president said. In one notable episode, she claimed after former FBI Director James Comey’s firing that “countless” agents within the bureau had lost confidence in him. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on his Russia investigation released in May contradicted her characterization.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders speaks to the media during a briefing in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House on October 29, 2018 in Washington, DC.
Mark Wilson | Getty Images
This year, the press secretary largely disappeared from the job’s traditional role as the public face of the administration. She last held a press briefing on March 11, 94 days ago.
Sanders did not immediately return CNBC’s request to comment.
— CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report
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