Donald Trump announced on Twitter that Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be stepping down as of the end of the month. Taking over the role in July 2017 after Sean Spicer resigned, Sanders, 36, was part of the Trump campaign and then moved into the principal deputy press secretary role in the White House before being elevated to her current position.
In his tweet, Trump praised Sanders for doing an “incredible job” and went on to encourage her to run for governor of Arkansas.
….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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 13, 2019
She has regularly come under fire by critics who question how, as White House press secretary, she continuously defends “Trump’s repeated falsehoods and misleading the press,” the LA Times reported.
While Sanders has yet to hold a formal press briefing in 94 days, she is makes regular appearances on cable news, like Fox News, and will engage “in relatively short and less formal encounters with reporters as she leaves the broadcast tents situated on the White House lawn,” the LA Times reported.
Trump called Sanders to the stage on while a criminal justice reform event was taking place in the White House East Room and called her a “warrior.”
“We’ve been through a lot together,” Trump said.
Sanders then thanked Trump for “the honor of a lifetime” and vowed to continue “to be one of the most outspoken and loyal supporters of the president and his agenda” once she leaves her position.
“I’ve loved every minute, even the hard minutes,” she said. “I’ve loved it. I love the president.”
Trump has yet to announce a replacement for Sanders.
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