President Donald Trump’s White House Director of Strategic Communications, Alyssa Farah, resigned Thursday. Her resignation is effective Friday.
Farah is a top White House official, and worked for President Trump for three and a half years. She was Trump’s third Director of Strategic Communications. Hope Hicks was his first, followed for a short time by Mercedes Schlapp.
She is not leaving to start a job with another employer, but will start her own communications firm. It’s unclear why Farah is leaving now, rather than wait until the ends of Trump’s term.
The Washington Post reports Farah served as Trump’s Communications Director, technically a different job than Director of Strategic Communications, although there is a lot of overlap in the Trump administration. She would have been his eighth Communications Director. Hope Hicks literally poerformed both jobs at one point.
Farah is the highest level top Trump aide to exit since he lost the election. Staffers have been threatened with firings if they are caught job hunting outside the White House.