Press secretary Sarah Sanders has hit back at reports she is planning to leave the White House.
On Wednesday, CBS News ran an article quoting White House sources who claimed that Sanders and principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah were planning to step down.
But that evening, Sanders posted an indignant tweet, insisting that she loved her role and was ‘honored’ to work for President Trump.
Press Secretary Sarah Sanders has hit back at reports she is planning to leave the White House
‘Does @CBSNews know something I don’t about my plans and my future?’ she tweeted
‘Does @CBSNews know something I don’t about my plans and my future?’ she tweeted.
‘I was at my daughter’s year-end Kindergarten event and they ran a story about my ‘plans to leave the WH’ without even talking to me. I love my job and am honored to work for @POTUS.’
Sources had reportedly told CBS that Sanders, who has been in the role 322 days, had told friends that she plans to leave the administration at the end of the year.
Her deputy Shah was also reportedly considering leaving his role but hadn’t decided on a date.
There has been an exodus from the Trump administration in recent months, with numerous staffers pushed out.
Principal deputy press secretary Raj Sha (pictured) was also reportedly planning to step down
The previous White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, (pictured) resigned in July last year after just 182 days after a series of missteps
Former communications director Hope Hicks, Jared Kushner’s top communications aide Josh Raffel, Trump personal aide John McEnte, congressional communications director Kaelan Dorr; assistant press secretary Natalie Strom; and deputy director of media affairs Tyler Ross to name just a few.
Some have gone out quietly, others, such as communications aide Kelly Sadler who resigned after it was leaked she made an insulting joke about Arizona Sen. John McCain, who is suffering from brain cancer, went in disgrace.
The previous White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, resigned in July last year after just 182 days after a series of missteps where he suggested that Hitler, who gassed millions of Jewish people to death in the Holocaust, ‘never stooped’ to using chemical weapons on ‘his own people’.
Many staffers have described the White House under Trump (pictured) as a toxic work environment
He also appeared to tweet out his own password, mistakenly called Justin Trudeau ‘Joe’ and was hilariously sent up by Melissa McCarthy on SNL – to the reported fury of Trump.
Trump’s turnover rate stands at 51 percent, according to the Brookings Institution.
‘There will be even more people leaving the White House sooner rather than later, laid off or just leaving out of exhaustion. And it is going to be harder to find good people to replace them,’ the source close to the administration told CBS News.
‘I do think they’re going to have a harder time getting the second wave of people in than the first, because those people were loyalists, and [new] folks will have to be recruited and encouraged and then survive the vetting process. In addition to all of that, the president prefers to have a small communications staff.’
Many staffers have described the White House as a toxic work environment. In a sign of unhappy staff, there have also been numerous leaks – and a hunt to find those responsible.
There has been an exodus from the Trump administration in recent months, with numerous staffers pushed out such as former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks
Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who has studied turnover dating back to Reagan, said the turnover was so fast ‘many people haven’t even stayed in these jobs to master the learning curve.’
‘This is a White House that doesn’t seem to value that or understand the consequences of it. It’s kind of one of those things where we may not know the vulnerability of lacking expertise unless there is a crisis – or a crisis that may have been averted had a person been in the room.’
Sources claim that the administration is struggling to fill the holes from the people who have left.
‘Nobody wants to come in,’ a source close to the administration said. ‘So they’ve gone through two rounds and now they’re at third tier of people who are just lucking out – battlefield promotion ends up promoting people who aren’t qualified for the position.’