Sarah Sanders is leaving the White House

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders is leaving her post at the end of the month, President Trump announced on Twitter Thursday.

After 3 1/2 years, 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. 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 – she would be fantastic. Sarah, thank you for a job well done!

Why it matters: Sanders has long been one of President Trump’s fiercest and most loyal defenders, and became notorious for her combative exchanges with reporters and — toward the latter part of her tenure — lack of press briefings (it’s been 94 days since the last one.) As Axios’ Jonathan Swan notes, by the end Sanders wasn’t really a press secretary. She was a top adviser who Trump consulted on just about everything.

*story by AXIOS