Washington — White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham is leaving her post in the West Wing after less than a year on the job and will serve as first lady Melania Trump’s chief of staff, the White House said Tuesday.
“I am excited to welcome Stephanie back to the team in this new role,” the first lady said in a statement. “She has been a mainstay and true leader in the Administration from even before day one, and I know she will excel as Chief of Staff.”
Grisham, who was tapped to replace Sarah Sanders in June 2019, did not hold a single press briefing at the White House across her 10-month tenure as press secretary. But she appeared often on Fox News from the network’s bureau in Washington, D.C., as opposed to from the north lawn of the White House, where many other administration officials go for television appearances.
CNN first reported Grisham’s departure Tuesday morning. In the White House statement, Grisham said she continues “to be honored to serve both the President and First Lady in the Administration.”
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“My replacements will be announced in the coming days and I will stay in the West Wing to help with a smooth transition for as long as needed,” she said.
Grisham’s departure comes just days after Mark Meadows took over as White House chief of staff. Meadows, a former congressman from North Carolina and one of the president’s top allies on Capitol Hill, replaced Mick Mulvaney, who served in the role in an acting capacity for more than a year.
Grisham was one of the remaining holdovers in the White House who worked on Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and became a trusted adviser to the first lady, serving as her communications director before she was tapped for a dual role as White House press secretary and communications director.
Her departure comes in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, which has roiled the nation as public health officials rush to limit the spread of the illness. Mr. Trump appears nearly daily on television to brief reporters on the federal government’s response to the coronavirus. Grisham had been self-quarantining at her home after she came in contact with a member of a Brazilian delegation who tested positive for the coronavirus after a visit to at Mr. Trump’s South Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago. She tested negative for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
