Tag Archives: Press secretary

Longtime Trump aide Stephanie Grisham will succeed Sanders as press secretary

Stephanie Grisham, spokesperson for first lady Melania Trump, arrives for a campaign rally with U.S. President Donald Trump in Orlando, Florida, U.S., June 18, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Stephanie Grisham, the communications director for first lady Melania Trump and a longtime aide to President Donald Trump, will succeed Sarah Sanders as White House press secretary, Mrs. Trump announced on Tuesday.

Melania Trump announced the development in a tweet to close out the president’s search for a press secretary after Sanders decided to resign and go back home to Arkansas earlier this month.

Grisham, 42, a fixture in the Arizona Republican Party, was one of Trump’s first hires for his presidential campaign – as a press aide in 2015. She served as a deputy press secretary in the White House when he took office in January 2017 and eventually moved over to the first lady’s operation.

A clue that the president was leaning toward Grisham for the job was when aides said she had now been added to the White House team going with Trump to the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, this week.

The fact that Mrs. Trump announced the appointment, instead of the president himself, showed that the first lady was willing to part with Grisham for the greater good.

Grisham will have the dual role of press secretary and communications director. Sanders had essentially been doing both roles as well, without the communications director title.

Melania Trump’s tweet said: “I am pleased to announce @StephGrisham45 will be the next @PressSec & Comms Director! She has been with us since 2015 – @potus & I can think of no better person to serve the Administration & our country. Excited to have Stephanie working for both sides of the @WhiteHouse. #BeBest”

Grisham was viewed internally as the candidate with the best rapport with President Trump, a key requirement.

With his tweets and multiple exchanges with reporters, Trump is in many ways his own press secretary and communications director, and Sanders’ role grew to being a senior adviser.

Whether Grisham would bring back the daily press briefing was unclear. Trump has all but ended the practice and it has been more than three months since the last one.

The other top candidate had been Sanders’ principal deputy press secretary, Hogan Gidley.

Tony Sayegh, a former Treasury Department spokesman, had been considered as well but was in the midst of a move home to New York. Former State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert withdrew herself from consideration.

Gidley tweeted his congratulations to Grisham.

“Amazing announcement! So proud and blessed to have my good friend @StephGrisham45 working with our team. She is a rockstar and perfect to fill Sarah’s shoes!” he said.

Sanders is contemplating a political future in Arkansas, considering a 2022 run for state governor, a position once held by her father, Republican Mike Huckabee.

(Reporting By Steve Holland; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

White House spokeswoman Sanders to get Secret Service protection: source

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders holds the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S. June 25, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – White House press secretary Sarah Sanders will get Secret Service protection after she was asked to leave a restaurant in southern Virginia in protest of President Donald Trump’s policies, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The source did not provide details. The Secret Service and the White House both declined to confirm the matter.

NBC News, which first reported that Sanders would get protection, said security would be provided at her home on a temporary basis, citing a law enforcement official.

Sanders was asked to leave the Red Hen in Lexington, Virginia, on Friday because she worked for Trump. The owner later confirmed the reasoning to media, and the incident drew praise and condemnation online for the restaurant.

The incident prompted Twitter attacks from the president on Monday.

Trump lashed out at Democratic U.S. Representative Maxine Waters, who told a crowd in California on Sunday that the Red Hen’s actions should be a model for resisting the president’s administration.

Tensions have risen over the Republican president’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy that initially led to migrant children being separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, said the protection was related to other threats Sanders has received.

“Well, it’s not so much related to the Red Hen as it is to other threats and you got to remember, she has three small children and there have been some nasty things,” Mike Huckabee said in an interview with Fox Business Network.

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Doina Chiacu; Editing by David Gregorio and Bernadette Baum)