While the White House still lacks a communications director since the departure of longtime President Trump aide Hope Hicks, two of the most familiar faces in the communications shop are reportedly planning to exit the Trump White House, CBS News reported Wednesday.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah are reportedly both mulling their departure. Sanders has told friends that she will leave the Trump administration by the end of the year, while Shah has not yet decided on a date for his exit, according to CBS.
Sanders and Shah both declined to comment on the record when contacted by CBS, but Sanders vehemently denied the report on Twitter Wednesday evening, saying she is “honored to work for @POTUS.”
Does @CBSNews know something I don’t about my plans and my future? I was at my daughter’s year-end Kindergarten event and they ran a story about my “plans to leave the WH” without even talking to me. I love my job and am honored to work for @POTUS
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) June 14, 2018
While Sanders denies the news of her impending retreat, the report of her exit follows a tumultuous month for Sanders, who has been heavily questioned and criticized for lying to the media last year when she told reporters that Trump did not personally dictate a statement that Donald Trump Jr. initially released about his infamous meeting with a Russian lawyer in Trump Tower in 2016.
The news also comes on the heels of reports that the White House is taking steps to shake up the press shop, ousting junior staffers and cutting down on the number of people allowed to attend daily meetings. The efforts are all fueled by a crusade to crackdown on leaks to the press.
