President Trump announced Thursday on Twitter that White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders will be leaving her position at the end of the month.

"After 3 1/2 years, our wonderful Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be leaving the White House at the end of the month and going home to the Great State of Arkansas," Trump said. "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!"

The president has not yet named a replacement for the position.

The 36-year old Sanders, the daughter of former Arkansas Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee, worked on her father’s presidential campaign during the 2016 Republican primary until he dropped out of the race. She then joined the Trump campaign and, subsequently, the Trump administration as a White House communications aide. She was promoted to White House press secretary in 2017, after the president’s first top spokesman, Sean Spicer, resigned from the position.

If she chooses to follow in her father's footsteps the seat for governor opens up in 2022.

Throughout her tenure at the White House, Sanders has come under fierce criticism from members of the press for being dishonest on the president's behalf during press briefings that were often contentious and emotional. Eventually, the press secretary stopped giving daily briefings altogether.

Sanders did not immediately respond to request for comment.

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This is a developing story. Check back for updates. </s> Sarah Huckabee Sanders has been promoted to press secretary in the Trump White House's latest shakeup. (Source: CBS News)

New York financier Anthony Scaramucci has been formally named White House communications director and Sarah Huckabee Sanders has been promoted to press secretary in the Trump White House's latest shakeup.

The announcement came during the first White House press briefing since the appointments were announced Friday morning and just hours after the resignation of White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer.

Trump says in a statement read by Sanders that he's "grateful" for departing press secretary Sean Spicer's "work on behalf of my administration and the American people."

Copyright 2017 KSLA. All rights reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report. </s> White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be leaving the Trump administration at the end of June, President Donald Trump announced Thursday afternoon.

"She is a very special person with extraordinary talents, who has done an incredible job," Trump tweeted.

The Trump administration has largely done away with formal press briefings, instead answering questions before cameras spontaneously on the White House driveway.

The last formal press briefing by Sanders was on March 11.

Sanders pushed back on a report last year that said she had planned to leave the Trump administration by the end of 2018. In June 2018, she tweeted that she loved her job and was honored to work for the president.

Trump explained Thursday that Sanders would be returning to her home in Arkansas and he hoped that she would run for governor one day, saying "she would be fantastic."

"Sarah, thank you for a job well done." </s> White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders will step down from her post by the end of the month, according to President Donald J. Trump.

Trump made the announcement via Twitter on Thursday afternoon.

“Our wonderful Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be leaving the White House at the end of the month and going home to the Great State of Arkansas,” he tweeted. “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!”

Sanders is the daughter of Mike Huckabee, who served as the 44th governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007.

Speaking with NBC News, Sanders did not say whether she would take another job in Arkansas or run for governor. But she stressed that she will “continue to be one of the most outspoken and loyal supporters of the president and his agenda.”

She has served as Trump’s press secretary since July 2017 and had an adversarial relationship with the media.

Last summer, Sanders slammed CBS News for reporting she planned to leave her post by the end of the year. “I love my job and am honored to work for @POTUS,” she tweeted. </s> WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Sarah Sanders will leave her position at the end of the month, capping a tumultuous tenure as the President’s chief spokeswoman in which she largely redefined the position.

Announcing her departure on Twitter, President Donald Trump said Sanders will return to her home state of Arkansas and floated the possibility of a gubernatorial run for the White House press secretary.

“After 3 1/2 years, our wonderful Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be leaving the White House at the end of the month and going home to the Great State of Arkansas,” Trump said.

In private conversations in recent weeks, Sanders has floated running for governor in her home state of Arkansas, according to two people familiar with the talks. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson was re-elected just last year, so unless he steps down early — or is appointed to something — the governor’s office in Little Rock isn’t open until January 2023.

She has told colleagues and friends that she thinks running for office would be a good next move for her, instead of taking a television job upon her departure. </s> In this June 11, 2019, photo, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders talks with reporters outside the White House in Washington. President Donald Trump announced on June 13, Sanders is leaving her job as press secretary at the end of June. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

In this June 11, 2019, photo, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders talks with reporters outside the White House in Washington. President Donald Trump announced on June 13, Sanders is leaving her job as press secretary at the end of June. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

(AP) – White House press secretary Sarah Sanders will be leaving the Trump administration at the end of the month.

President Donald Trump announced the news on Twitter Wednesday. He says Sanders will be returning to her home state of Arkansas and has not immediately named a successor.

Sanders is one of the president’s closest and most trusted White House aides and one of the few remaining who worked on his campaign. Her tenure was marked by a breakdown in regular White House press briefings and questions about the administration’s credibility.

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s revealed that Sanders admitted to investigators that she had made an unfounded claim that “countless” FBI agents had reached out to express support for Trump’s decision to fire FBI Director James Comey in May 2017. </s> WASHINGTON (AP) - With a handshake and a presidential kiss on the cheek, Hope Hicks bid farewell to the White House, the press-shy communications director taking a rare moment in the spotlight on her final day in Donald Trump's administration.

The Thursday exit of the president's most trusted aide, coming one day after yet another Cabinet departure, highlights continuing uncertainty among Trump aides and White House staff about who might be the next to go.

Hicks departed the administration on her own terms and was given a gracious goodbye by Trump outside the Oval Office in view of reporters. That stands in stark contrast to the White House treatment of David Shulkin, the Veterans Affairs secretary who was fired amid ethics questions and replaced by a White House physician who has no experience running a bureaucracy or working with veterans.

As Trump allies defended the choice of Navy Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, scrutiny quickly shifted to a number of other Cabinet members facing ethics questions and with strained relationships with the president, as well as a White House chief of staff who has found his influence diminished. Trump aides and outside advisers suggested that other changes weren't imminent, but no one could say how long that would last.

"I'll have to get back to you on that," said deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters when asked on Air Force One if Trump now had his ideal Cabinet.

White House officials are apprehensive about Hicks' departure, given her unrivaled position in the president's orbit. Despite her title as communications director title, Hicks was more accurately described by White House officials as Trump's right-hand-woman and media gatekeeper, providing needed doses of affirmation to the president and able to deliver bad news to him with few repercussions.

The internal jockeying to replace her - if Trump even chooses to do so - has featured backstabbing and planted news stories that, in turn, bash the leading candidates: Mercedes Schlapp, the White House strategic communications director, and Tony Sayegh, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Treasury Department.

Many close to the White House, however, expect senior adviser Kellyanne Conway or press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to assume the role, at least temporarily. Sanders has grown close to the president since taking over the press secretary's job after the resignation of Sean Spicer last summer - and has been spending more time in the Oval Office lately.

The job of communications director - which involves developing and executing the administration's long-term messaging strategy - has never been a particularly important one to the president. Aides joke he is his own communications director, who upends carefully laid plans with a tweet or digression.

Trump, never disciplined, has taken to freelancing more of late, as he moves to surround himself with aides less likely to try to rein him in. A speech outside Cleveland on Thursday meant to be about infrastructure instead felt like a campaign rally. And he has broken free of more of the restraints placed upon him by chief of staff John Kelly.

Trump hired John Bolton as national security adviser last week over Kelly's objections and didn't include his chief of staff in the Oval Office meeting in which the job offer was extended. And Kelly, who frequently listens in on the president's calls, was not on the call Trump made from the White House residence earlier this month during which, over staff objections, he congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin on his re-election.

Though Kelly's job did not appear to be in danger, Trump has mused to outside allies of late about setting a West Wing structure with no chief of staff, reminiscent of his Trump Tower operation.

Aides said controversies around Trump's staff need to hit a certain decibel level to get the president's attention.

In the case of Shulkin, who was found to have inappropriately accepted gifts and travel, his parting came as he was under fire from all corners, including GOP-leaning veterans groups and good-government watchdogs. And Trump himself vented to confidants that the questions surrounding Shulkin undermined his campaign promise to help veterans, according to three White House officials and outside advisers who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.

Officials said ethical questions swirling around other Cabinet members are not attracting the attention of the president in the same manner but caution that could change quickly.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson came under scrutiny after reports his agency was spending $31,000 for a new dining set. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has faced questions about $25,000 spent on a soundproof "privacy booth" inside his office to prevent eavesdropping on his phone calls and another $9,000 on biometric locks.

White House ethics officials, directed by Kelly, have warned Carson, Pruitt and others that further negative attention could change the dynamic and send them packing. But another Cabinet member, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, may have inadvertently stepped into Trump's line of fire this week.

Trump has been livid at Sessions for months for recusing himself from the Russia investigation, belittling him publicly and privately but not yet moving to dismiss him. But Sessions on Thursday appeared on the cover of Time magazine, Trump's favorite publication.

Trump has been known to boast about his appearances on Time covers - fake ones have been installed at his golf courses - and was angry last year when former chief strategist Steve Bannon appeared on one. One Trump ally said the president has previously said, only half-jokingly, that he should appear on the cover every week.

Lemire reported from New York. Associated Press writer Jill Colvin contributed to this report.

Follow Lemire on Twitter at http://twitter.com/@JonLemire and Miller at http://twitter.com/@zekejmiller </s> Jim WATSON / AFP | White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders speaks to the media outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 23, 2019

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, whose tenure was marked by a breakdown in regular press briefings and questions about the administration's credibility, will leave her post at the end of June, President Donald Trump announced Thursday.

"She's a warrior," said Trump, who announced her departure on Twitter shortly before calling Sanders on stage at an event at the White House. "We've been through a lot together, and she's tough, but she's good."

Trump did not immediately name a replacement.

The Republican Sanders, who is 36 and has three young children, has drawn fire from the White House Correspondents Association for ending daily briefings, with Trump preferring to take questions himself from reporters and command the White

House stage.

The last briefing was 94 days ago, but Trump answers questions from reporters on a near-daily basis, including two extended sessions with them on Wednesday.

Sanders called the job "the honor of a lifetime."

"I've loved every minute, even the hard minutes," she said, her voice trembling with emotion. "I have three amazing kids and I'm going to spend a little more time with them."

Sanders evolved into a senior adviser and confidante of the president, one who is regularly brought into senior-level meetings.

Speculation immediately turned to whether Sanders might run for governor of Arkansas, a position once held by her father, Mike Huckabee.

"If we can get her to run for the governor of Arkansas, I think she'll do very well," Trump said. </s> Washington: National Security Council (NSC) spokesman Michael Anton is planning to depart US President Donald Trump's administration, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders has announced.

"Michael is one of the smartest and most talented individuals I've ever worked with—not to mention an amazing chef," Sanders said Sunday.

"He has been more than a colleague, he is a true friend. Every day I got to work with Michael was a good day, and he will be greatly missed."

Anton's departure comes amid a series of changes at the National Security Council, including former US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton taking the helm on Monday after HR McMaster stepped down as Trump's top National Security Adviser (NSA), reports CNN.

Anton was brought into the NSC by Michael Flynn, Trump's first NSA, who plead guilty to lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) last year.

Trump called Anton on Sunday and thanked him for his service, a White House official said.

"He said he is a great guy and we will all miss him," the official added.

According to sources, Anton was well liked by his White House colleagues and known as the rare conservative intellectual that joined Trump's administration, reports CNN.

Months before the 2016 election, Anton—reportedly writing under the name Publius Decius Mus—wrote "The Flight 93 Election", an article that praised Trump's campaign and argued that a Clinton presidency "is Russian Roulette with a semi-auto".

"With Trump," he wrote, "at least you can spin the cylinder and take your chances."
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announces the departure of National Security Council spokesman Michael Anton.