Heather Nauert, the former State Department spokeswoman, has said she is no longer interested in replacing Sarah Sanders as White House press secretary, the Washington Examiner has learned.
Nauert, 49, left her previous Washington role in April after nearly two years living apart from her husband and two sons, who remained in New York when she joined the Trump administration in 2017.
The former “Fox & Friends” co-host was reported to be among four top contenders considered by President Trump in the aftermath of Sanders’ Thursday departure announcement. The Washington Examiner reported Monday that Stephanie Grisham, 42, had emerged as the favorite.
Trump has expressed a preference for naming a woman, and Nauert and Grisham, the spokeswoman to first lady Melania Trump, were the only women on the list.
“She’s on to that next season of life and not looking to return to the administration, at this point anyway,” said an individual who spoke with Nauert in recent days, after Sanders said she would leave.
“She is back with her family. Her job at State required a significant amount of travel, and her family was up in New York,” the individual said. “She laughed it off and dismissed it, and said, ‘I’m moving on to the next thing.'”
Nauert withdrew as the would-be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in February after Trump announced her selection as nominee. Some news reports said there was an issue linked to her decade-old employment of a nanny who lacked the correct work authorization. An individual close to senior State Department officials said that the same problems that derailed Nauert’s U.N. job would keep her from being able to serve as press secretary.
The person who spoke with Nauert said they don’t know if news reports and rumors about her withdrawal from the U.N. post are accurate, but that regardless of their accuracy, they “probably played some role in her moving on.”
Nauert would not comment on the record. She currently serves on the Fulbright Scholarship Board and as a member of the Presidential Commission on White House Fellows.
Sanders plans to leave at the end of June, establishing a short window to pick her replacement. Grisham is seen as a heavy favorite, beloved by the first family and supported by many insiders connected to the Trump campaign and the West Wing.
A shortlist also featured outgoing Treasury Department spokesman Tony Sayegh and deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley.
Insiders say Trump has been insistent on a woman, but note the president is prone to abruptly change plans. Among the candidates is Steve Cortes, a CNN personality who would be the first Hispanic in the position.
