Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary who’s known for offering misleading statements in defense of the president, is officially leaving her post, according to a Thursday tweet from Trump.
Sarah Sanders is leaving the White House at the end of June
An announcement from Trump alluded to a potential run for Arkansas governor down the line.
Li Zhou is a former politics reporter at Vox, where she covers Congress and elections. Previously, she was a tech policy reporter at Politico and an editorial fellow at the Atlantic.
Sanders, one of the longest-serving communications officials for a president who most often speaks for himself, will be leaving at the end of the month.
Sanders is the latest high-profile departure from the Trump White House and appears to be leaving on relatively positive terms, given the effusive praise espoused by the president in his tweets, which included a call for her to run for governor of Arkansas.
Trump referred to her as “a very special person with extraordinary talents” and said she’d be “fantastic” as governor.
That comment didn’t come out of nowhere, according to CNN. Sanders has reportedly said her next plans could include jumping into the state’s gubernatorial race, though the next open election wouldn’t be until 2022.
Sanders’s tenure is one that’s been defined by her unyielding defense of Trump, countless inconsistencies in the statements she’s made to the press, and the increasing sparseness of White House press briefings.
Among the subjects that Sanders is known for lying about: She alleged that numerous FBI agents had lost confidence in FBI Director James Comey’s leadership prior to his firing (a claim directly contradicted by the Mueller report), she shared a seemingly doctored video to justify the White House’s decision to rescind CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, and she claimed that Trump had never promoted or encouraged violence.
Sanders first took on the role after Sean Spicer’s departure in 2017 and has served in the position for roughly two years (even though Trump said she had held it for more than three in his recent tweet.)
She’ll exit the role later this summer. As of Thursday, it’s been 94 days since her last press briefing.
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