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> 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> 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> 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> 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> 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, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Hope Hicks, one of President Donald Trump’s longest-serving aides, is resigning from her job as White House communications director, White House spokesman Sarah Sanders said on Wednesday.

Sanders told reporters the timeline for Hicks’ departure was unclear. She said her departure was not related to her testimony to a congressional committee on Tuesday about a probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. </s> This post was originally published on this site

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders is leaving her post, President Donald Trump tweeted on Thursday.

“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 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!”

At an event aimed at highlighting hiring efforts for former inmates, Trump praised Sanders calling her “a warrior.”

“We’ve been through a lot together. She’s tough, but she’s good,” he said and added, “If we can get her to run for the governor of Arkansas, I think she’ll do very well.”

Sources familiar say Sanders has not revealed whether she might consider mounting a political bid of her own back in Arkansas, but a personal familiar said there has been speculation among staffers in the White House about the possibility of Sanders pursuing a political career.

Sanders described her role as “the honor of a lifetime.”

“This has been the honor of a lifetime, the opportunity of a lifetime… particularly to work for this president,” she said adding it is “something I will treasure forever .. loved every minute…even the hard minutes.”

Sanders gathered members of her staff Thursday afternoon and informed them of her planned departure at that time. Sources familiar with Sanders decision to depart cited her desire to make the move back to Arkansas for the sake of her family. Sanders and her husband have three young children, all under the age of ten, and sources said she and her husband felt now was the right time to move the family and get them settled back in Arkansas during the summer school recess.

Sanders was named White House press secretary in July 2017, just hours after Sean Spicer resigned from the position. She is the daughter of former Arkansas governor and two-time presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and grew up with a fascination for politics.

“I always say that when most kids are seven or eight years old out jumping rope, she was sitting at the kitchen table listening to [political commentators] analyze poll results,” her father told Fox News in May of 2017.

Sanders confirmed earlier this year that she has been interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

“The President urged me, like he has everyone in the administration, to fully cooperate with the special counsel. I was happy to voluntarily sit down with them,” Sanders said in a statement to ABC after the news was first reported by CNN.

One source told ABC News the interview happened around the same time that it’s believed other White House officials were being brought in for interviews.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders announces she will resign at the end of June.