--- title: Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders To Leave White House description: After more than three years in Donald Trump’s Administration, Sarah Huckabee Sanders is stepping down as White House Press Secretary canonical: https://time.com/5606824/sarah-sanders-leaves-white-house/ author: Abby Vesoulis article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-06-13T20:40:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T23:02:21.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Sarah Huckabee Sanders Is Stepping Down as White House Press Secretary, Trump Says og:description: Sanders has been with the White House since Trump took office og:url: https://time.com/5606824/sarah-sanders-leaves-white-house/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c46438cd823ec8c/69894b2d4ee262801f314a36/sarah-sanders-leaves-post.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Sarah Sanders To Leave White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sarah Huckabee Sanders Is Stepping Down as White House Press Secretary, Trump Says twitter:description: Sanders has been with the White House since Trump took office twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c46438cd823ec8c/69894b2d4ee262801f314a36/sarah-sanders-leaves-post.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 video:duration: 01:39 video:published: 2019-06-13 section: politics topics: White House press secretary, departure from administration, Trump administration, public service, farewell remarks, presidential praise, gratitude, staff transition genre: news, farewell remarks tones: appreciative, warm, personal, respectful emotions: gratitude (high), pride (high), affection (medium) sentiment: positive audience: political news readers, White House watchers, general news audience people: Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Donald Trump organizations: White House transcript_source: automatic transcription transcript_reviewed: not applicable ---  # Sarah Huckabee Sanders Is Stepping Down as White House Press Secretary, Trump Says > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=3656aeeb-ed16-48e8-b7c5-32f688709e41&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Sarah Huckabee Sanders Is Stepping Down as White House Press Secretary, Trump Says [Watch (HLS stream): Sarah Huckabee Sanders Is Stepping Down as White House Press Secretary, Trump Says](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/KCYYkm8Z.m3u8) (1:39)  _Published 2019-06-13. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will leave her position in President Donald Trump’s administration at the end of June, Trump tweeted on Thursday afternoon._ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary The video features remarks reflecting on service in the White House. The speaker describes the role as an honor and an opportunity of a lifetime and expresses pride in working for the President. A second speaker, identified as the President, praises the departing staffer as strong, heartfelt and deserving of thanks for an outstanding job. The tone throughout is appreciative and personal. ## Key points - The first speaker calls the job the honor of a lifetime and the opportunity of a lifetime. (00:09) - The first speaker says she is proud to have served her country and to have worked for this President. (00:13) - The first speaker states the President has accomplished much in two and a half years. (00:19) - The first speaker says she will treasure the experience forever. (00:19) - The first speaker describes the position as one of the greatest jobs she could ever have. (00:29) - The first speaker says she loved every minute, including the hard minutes. (00:29) - The President is described as a special person who calls the departing staffer a very fine woman with great heart. (00:59) - The President thanks her for an outstanding job, calling her strong with great heart. (01:29) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 00:59] Reflections on serving in the White House. The first speaker expresses gratitude, pride and affection for the job and the President after two and a half years. - [00:59 to 01:39] President praises and thanks the staffer. The President calls her a special, strong and heartfelt person and thanks her for an outstanding job. ## Key quotes - [00:09] Sarah Huckabee Sanders: "This has been the honor of a lifetime, the opportunity of a lifetime." - [00:19] Sarah Huckabee Sanders: "He has accomplished so much in these 2 1⁄2 years, and it's truly been something I will treasure forever." - [00:29] Sarah Huckabee Sanders: "I've loved every minute, even the hard minutes." - [00:59] President Donald Trump: "She has such heart." - [01:29] President Donald Trump: "She's strong but with great great heart and I want to thank you for an outstanding job and thank you" ## Questions this video answers - How does the departing press secretary describe her time in the job? [00:09] - How long does she say the President has been in office in her remarks? [00:19] - What does she say about the hard moments of the job? [00:29] - How does the President describe her personal qualities? [00:59] - What does the President thank her for? [01:29]  by [Abby Vesoulis](https://time.com/author/abby-vesoulis/)  ## Abby Vesoulis Updated: Dec 12, 2023 11:02 PM UTCPublished: Jun 13, 2019 8:40 PM UTC White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will leave her position in President Donald Trump’s administration at the end of June, Trump tweeted on Thursday afternoon.  by [Abby Vesoulis](https://time.com/author/abby-vesoulis/)  ## Abby Vesoulis Updated: Dec 12, 2023 11:02 PM UTCPublished: Jun 13, 2019 8:40 PM UTC After more than three years serving as one of the most trusted members of Donald Trump’s administration, Sarah Huckabee Sanders is stepping down from her current position as White House Press Secretary. “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,” Trump tweeted Thursday afternoon. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1139263781144596486) Sanders, 36, worked on the communications team of Trump’s 2016 campaign, and later joined the White House as deputy press secretary when Trump took office. She’s held her current role since July 2017, after Sean Spicer resigned from the position. Though many officials — including former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions — have departed the Administration on fraught terms, it appears Sanders is amicably parting ways with her boss. During an event at the White House on Thursday, Trump called Sanders a “great, great magnificent person,” with her by his side. Sanders, meanwhile, said through tears that the job was “the honor of a lifetime,” and that she “loved every minute, even the hard minutes.” A White House Press Secretary is generally responsible for delivering routine and formal press briefings, though Sanders often went weeks or months without doing so. In fact, it’s been over 90 days since her last. Sanders’ stint has not been a particularly easy one. In addition to having to fend off questions about Russia’s ties to the 2016 election and the resulting Mueller report, her boss is also known to cause media uproars by tweeting out new government policies and staff changes unexpectedly, surprising even top government officials. But it’s not just Trump’s actions that have put Sanders under fire. She faced her own scrutiny when the Mueller report revealed that an earlier claim she made about Former FBI Director James Comey was [unfounded.](https://www.vox.com/2019/4/23/18511475/mueller-report-sarah-sanders-lies-explained) She had told the media that “countless” members of the FBI indicated they lost confidence in Comey at the time of his firing. Later, in interviews with the Special Counsel’s office, she called that a “slip of the tongue.” Other controversial incidents include her [saying](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress-is-not-smart-enough-to-examine-trumps-tax-returns-sarah-sanders-says/2019/04/14/95959c4e-5ec8-11e9-bfad-36a7eb36cb60%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.b7e1377bcbc1) Congress wasn’t “smart enough” to page through Trump’s tax returns, being [asked to leave a Virginia restaurant](https://www.roanoke.com/news/local/prominent-lexington-business-owner-asks-trump-s-press-secretary-to/article%5F916a0e10-50a8-51b6-b891-51acba84043d.html) over political differences, and [suspending the hard press](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/11/08/white-house-suspends-press-pass-cnns-jim-acosta-after-testy-exchange-with-trump/?utm%5Fterm=.3ec88f1f486c) credentials of a well-known journalist after a testy exchange about immigration. In his announcement of Sanders’ departure, Trump said he hoped she would run for Governor of Arkansas, a position her father, Mike Huckabee, previously held. Sanders said she was eager to return home to be a mom to her three children. > [](https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/1139279314095149078) A replacement for the position has not yet been named. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5606824/sarah-sanders-leaves-white-house/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5606824/sarah-sanders-leaves-white-house/"},"headline":"Sarah Huckabee Sanders Is Stepping Down as White House Press Secretary, Trump Says","datePublished":"2019-06-13T20:40:43.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-12T23:02:21.000Z","description":"After more than three years in Donald Trump’s Administration, Sarah Huckabee Sanders is stepping down as White House Press Secretary","url":"https://time.com/5606824/sarah-sanders-leaves-white-house/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c46438cd823ec8c/69894b2d4ee262801f314a36/sarah-sanders-leaves-post.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abby Vesoulis","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/abby-vesoulis/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c46438cd823ec8c/69894b2d4ee262801f314a36/sarah-sanders-leaves-post.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Sarah Sanders To Leave White House","caption":"Sarah Sanders To Leave White House","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5606824/sarah-sanders-leaves-white-house/","name":"Sarah Huckabee Sanders Is Stepping Down as White House Press Secretary, Trump Says"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Sarah Huckabee Sanders Is Stepping Down as White House Press Secretary, Trump Says","description":"White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will leave her position in President Donald Trump’s administration at the end of June, Trump tweeted on Thursday afternoon.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/KCYYkm8Z/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2019-06-13T21:48:16.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/KCYYkm8Z.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5606824/sarah-sanders-leaves-white-house/","duration":"PT1M39S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5606824/sarah-sanders-leaves-white-house/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```