Here's who could replace Sarah Sanders as Trump's White House press secretary
- On Thursday, President Donald Trump announced that press secretary Sarah Sanders would be leaving the Trump administration to return to her home state of Arkansas.
Sanders had been with Trump since his campaign in 2016, and took over from Sean Spicer as press secretary in July 2017.
- Now the White House will begin the hunt for Sanders' replacement. There are multiple strong contenders within the White House and the administration itself, but Trump could also pull from the conservative media world.
- Contenders for the next press secretary include Melania Trump's press secretary Stephanie Grisham, current White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley, and former Treasury Department spokesman Tony Sayegh.
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On Thursday, President Donald Trump announced that press secretary Sarah Sanders would be leaving the Trump administration to return to her home state of Arkansas.
Trump added: "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."
Sanders had been with Trump since his campaign in 2016 and took over from Sean Spicer as White House press secretary in July 2017.
During her controversial tenure in the role, she was criticized by White House reporters for giving infrequent press briefings, and admitted to lying to reporters in press briefings in interviews with special counsel Robert Mueller. Sanders sparred with the media over Trump's agenda, tweets and the Russia investigation and in some cases it got personal, as when she used a doctored video to accuse a CNN correspondent of placing his hands on an intern during a press conference.
Now, the White House will begin the hunt for Sanders' replacement. There are multiple strong contenders within the White House and the administration itself, but Trump could also pull from the conservative media world.
It's also possible that Trump - who relies on social media to get his message across, and also eschewed formally replacing Hope Hicks when she left her post as his communications director - won't pick a new press secretary at all, and use his Twitter feed and loyal surrogates on cable news as his communications staff.
Here are the candidates who could replace Sanders: