Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Trump Press Secretary Sarah Sanders Is Leaving the White House

The embattled press secretary will return to Arkansas, according to President Donald Trump.

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sarahsanders | Polaris/Newscom
(Polaris/Newscom)

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," the president wrote. "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, who is the daughter of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R), assumed the role after Sean Spicer's departure in July 2017, making her one of the longest-serving members on Trump's staff. Her tenure was marked by an adversarial relationship with the press and allegations that she lied or skewed reality to defend Trump's off-the-cuff remarks and erratic decisions. The Mueller report confirmed that Sanders categorically lied when she claimed that FBI employees had told her the "rank-and-file of the FBI had lost confidence in" then-FBI Director James Comey:

"I've heard from countless members of the FBI that are grateful and thankful for the president's decision," Sanders said from the podium. "And I think that we may have to agree to disagree. I'm sure that there are some people that are disappointed, but I certainly heard from a large number of individuals—and that's just myself—and I don't even know that many people in the FBI."

Sanders later told Mueller's team that her remark was a "slip of the tongue."

In recent months, Sanders has all but stopped holding White House briefings. "A lot of the times when we don't come to the podium it's because the president has addressed the American people himself," White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley told Fox News in January. Trump echoed those sentiments, adding that "the press covers her so rudely & inaccurately," so he "told her not to bother."

Trump has yet to name Sanders' replacement.