White House adviser Kevin Hassett will reportedly depart the Trump administration this summer following his return in March to assist the President in response to the economic turbulence from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Axios first reported the news, noting that he will return as a distinguished visiting fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and vice president and managing director of The Lindsey Group — two positions he served in after leaving his position as Trump’s first Council of Economic Advisers chair in the spring.
In an interview with the Washington Post published on Monday, Hassett said that his departure aligns with the administration’s initial plan when he returned as an unpaid volunteer in March. Hassett told the Post that he agreed to return to the White House for about 90 days, adding that he has already stayed past that time window.
The White House did not immediately respond to TPM’s request for comment.
Hassett’s reported departure comes on the heels of the announced departures of several White House economic officials, which include Andrew Olmen, special assistant to the president for economic policy and deputy director of the White House National Economic Council; Eric Ueland, former White House director of legislative affairs who left for the State Department; and Joe Grogan, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council.
Last month, Hassett became the bearer of bad news for the Trump administration when he agreed that the unemployment rate during the COVID-19 pandemic could remain in the double digits by the time President Trump appears on the ballot in November. Hassett also faced backlash for his off-handed comment that the nation’s “human capital stock” is ready to return to work.
“Our capital stock hasn’t been destroyed — our human capital stock is ready to get back to work, and so there are lots of reasons to believe that we can get going way faster than we have in previous crises,” Hassett said during an interview on CNN last month.
