U.S. President Donald Trump hinted on Tuesday that outgoing White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders may run for governor of Arkansas.
Trump made the remarks Tuesday evening during a rally in Orlando, Florida, where he officially kicked off his 2020 re-election campaign.
“A woman who has been so good, so talented, so wonderful and we’re sort of going to be losing her,” Trump said.
“But I have a feeling she’s going to be running for a certain gubernatorial position,” he added.
Huckabee Sanders was met onstage with a roaring cheer from the rally’s crowd Tuesday evening.
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“This has been truly the honour of a lifetime,” she said. “One of the most incredible experiences anybody could ever imagine and that’s because I’ve had the chance to be on the front row of history and watch you drastically change our country for the better.”
Sanders neither confirmed nor denied Trump’s remark suggesting she was eyeing a run at governor of Arkansas.
Instead, she thanked Trump, saying she “couldn’t be prouder to be a part of his team.”
“I’m going to go spend a little time with my kids,” she said. “But no one will be a stronger voice and a more fierce advocate for this president.”
Trump announced via Twitter on June 13 that Huckabee Sanders would be leaving her post as press secretary at the end of the month.
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“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,” Trump wrote.
He continued, calling Huckabee Sanders a “very special person with extraordinary talents” who has “done an incredible job.”
In that tweet, Trump expressed his hope that Huckabee Sanders would run for governor in Arkansas, saying “she would be fantastic.”
In a subsequent press conference announcing her departure, Trump again encouraged she run.
“I think she’ll do very well,” he said. “I’m trying to get her to do that.”
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In a tweet, Huckabee Sanders said she was “blessed and forever grateful” to Trump for the chance to work in his administration.
“I love the President and my job,” she wrote, but added that it was time for her family to return home.
Huckabee Sanders was appointed White House press secretary after Sean Spicer resigned in July 2017. She had previously served as Spicer’s deputy.
Under her tenure, regular White House press briefings ceased.
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Her credibility has also come under fire.
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia report revealed that Huckabee Sanders admitted to investigators that she had made an unfounded claim about “countless” FBI agents reaching out to express support for Trump’s decision to fire FBI Director James Comey in May 2017.
— With files from Kerri Breen
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