Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave press secretary post

WASHINGTON—White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will step down from that position at the end of June and return home to Arkansas, President Donald Trump tweeted Thursday afternoon. “She is a very special person with extraordinary talents, who has done an incredible job!” the president wrote. “I hope she decides to run for Governor of Arkansas—she would be fantastic. Sarah, thank you for a job well done!”

Sanders joined the Trump campaign’s communications team in September 2016. After the election, she was named deputy press secretary under Sean Spicer. In July 2017, when Spicer resigned, Sanders took over handling the White House press corps.

Calling her role at the White House “the honor of a lifetime,” Sanders said she would remain “one of the most outspoken and loyal supporters of the president.”

Sanders is the daughter of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who also ran for president in 2008 and 2016. She is married to her father’s former campaign field director, Brian Sanders, and has three children.

The Trump administration has not yet named any candidates to succeed Sanders