Kayleigh McEnany Becomes Fourth White House Press Secretary In Three Years
Kayleigh McEnany is set to become the new White House press secretary after major changes were made to the president’s communications team.
What Happened
McEnany and Ben Williamson will join Alyssa Farah as senior communications advisers in sweeping changes made to the White House communications team amid the coronavirus pandemic, reported the Wall Street Journal.
McEnany was sourced from the re-election campaign of President Donald Trump, where she held the same title. She replaces Stephanie Grisham, who is leaving her role as press secretary and communications director, which she has held since July. Grisham has not held any press conferences during her tenure and will be moving back to the East Wing, where she will be joining Melania Trump’s office as chief of staff and communications director.
The outgoing press secretary thanked the president on Twitter on Tuesday, “Thank you to @POTUS @realDonaldTrump for the honor of a lifetime to serve as your Press Sec & Dir of Comms. I also want to thank my AMAZING press & comms teams in the West Wing, it has been a true honor to work alongside each of you & I’m looking forward to the years to come!!”
Farah, who joins as senior adviser, comes from the Defense Department where she oversaw the press team there. She is also a former aide to Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff and a former press secretary for Vice President Mike Pence. Williamson has been a senior adviser to Meadows.
Why It Matters
According to the Wall Street Journal, it was Meadows who pushed out Grisham from her roles. The changes have been instituted a week after Meadows joined as the chief of staff at the White House.
It is expected that McEnany will restart regular press briefings after the coronavirus pandemic is dealt with. As of now, President Trump conducts the briefings himself.
Citing sources, the WSJ said that the changes had been made to “rapidly professionalize the operation.”
Whitehouse spokespersons Hogan Gidley and Judd Deere are expected to stay on in their roles.
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