White House press secretary Sarah Sanders and principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah are both planning their exit from the Trump administration according to CBS News, citing “sources inside the White House and close to the administration” – so don’t take any of this to the bank.
Sanders would leave at the end of the year, while Shah reportedly hasn’t picked a date for his exit.
Sanders, who has become a confidante of President Trump since the departure of former communications director Hope Hicks, has told friends that she plans to leave the administration at the end of the year.
Shah is also considering his exit, but he has not yet settled on an exact date. Neither Sanders nor Shah immediately responded to repeated requests for comment.
Several other lower-level positions in the communications department left vacant in recent weeks are likely to remain unfilled, with more departures expected in the coming weeks, according to a former official. –CBS
The departures, if true, would be the latest in a string of West Wing vacancies – including former Economic adviser Gary Cohn, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Steve Bannon and Sebastian Gorka – to name a few.
Over the course of the Trump administration, the White House has consolidated its workforce, eliminating jobs and assigning multiple portfolios of responsibility to individual staffers. Some positions have never been filled. Despite the smaller number of positions, the record-setting turnover rate has not slowed. Less than halfway through Mr. Trump’s term, the turnover rate stands at 51 percent, according to the Brookings Institution. Turnover during Mr. Trump’s first year in office was 34 percent — nearly four times higher than turnover during the first year of the Obama administration.
Yes, maybe, but we’re guessing much of that turnover consists of Obama holdovers “not adjusting well” to the new culture, or general swamp draining activities.
Also of note, Sanders’ departure at the end of the year would put her tenure in the White House roughly in line with previous press secretaries, many of whom also had to deal with Jim Acosta.
Perspective: Typically, White House press secretaries end up serving for at least a year and usually longer, with the average length being 2.9 years. If Sanders stays until the end of the year, as reported by @CBSNews, it would put her tenure in line with some others. @wkyc https://t.co/VVgu3Wn3Wp
— Russ Mitchell (@RussWKYC) June 14, 2018
She is probably exhausted and wants new adventures…note that the story does not say it is immediate https://t.co/mXpzTmrFn1
— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) June 14, 2018
While there has been no official denials from either Sanders or Shah, WaPo’s Josh Dawsey implies “don’t hold your breath” for their departure…
White House official says Sarah Sanders and Raj Shah are both likely to stay for months. While both of them have mused about leaving, would not expect movement anytime soon.
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) June 14, 2018
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