First Lady Melania Trump announced the next White House press secretary on Twitter on Tuesday: her spokesperson and longtime confidante Stephanie Grisham.
Grisham has been with President Donald Trump since 2015, when he launched the presidential campaign. She will also take on the role of White House communications director, a strategic and forward-looking role that has been vacant since March. Grisham will also accompany Trump on a trip to Japan and South Korea on Wednesday.
“She has been with us since 2015 - @potus and I can think of no better person to serve the Administration & our country," Melania Trump tweeted. "Excited to have Stephanie working for both sides of the @WhiteHouse. #BeBest."
Grisham worked directly for Trump after he took office in 2017. She was a deputy press secretary in the West Wing before she was tapped in March of that year to run communications for the first lady. She will continue to serve the first lady in her new capacity.
Grisham replaces Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who announced her departure from the job on June 13 and whose resignation is effective at the end of the month.
Sanders had a rocky relationship with reporters and it has been 106 days since the last official White House briefing in March, NBC News reported.
Grisham "will be an incredible asset to the President and the country," Sanders tweeted on Tuesday. "I’m sad to leave the WH, but so happy to leave our team in such great hands. Stephanie will do a phenomenal job. Proud to have another mom and a great friend in this role."
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The previous communications director was former Fox News executive Bill Shine.