President Trump’s advisers are bracing themselves for the departure of White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, a new report says.
Staffers are laying the groundwork for Sanders’ exodus and have already started composing an unofficial list of potential replacements, multiple current and former administration officials and those close to Trump told Politico.
White House deputy chief of staff for communications Bill Shine has discreetly begun seeking suggestions from friends about who could replace Sanders in the near future, two sources told the outlet.
However, Shine pushed back on those comments.
“I have not had a meeting or discussion about this,” Shine said, per Politico.
Potential candidates to replace Sanders include Heather Nauert, State Department spokesperson, Fox News reporter Bill Hemmer, and Kimberly Guilfoyle, former Fox News host who is reportedly planning to join America First Policies, a nonprofit that advances Trump’s policy agenda.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
In June, CBS published a report that claimed Sanders had informed those close to her she would leave her White House post at the end of 2018. But Sanders cast doubt on the accuracy of the report shortly thereafter.
“Does @CBSNews know something I don’t about my plans and my future? I was at my daughter’s year-end Kindergarten event and they ran a story about my ‘plans to leave the WH’ without even talking to me. I love my job and am honored to work for @POTUS,” Sanders tweeted.
The report comes as other high-profile White House staffers have left their posts this year, including former White House communications director Hope Hicks, Jared Kushner’s top communications aide Josh Raffel, National Security Council spokesman Michael Anton, and others.
[Also read: More predictions that Trump White House chief John Kelly is leaving]
