Comms Official, Frequent Fox News Surrogate Leaving WH To Join 2020 Campaign

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 3 : White House Director of Strategic Communications Mercedes Schlapp speaks to reporters and members of the media outside of the West Wing at the White House on Thursday, Jan. 03, 2019 in Wa... WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 3 : White House Director of Strategic Communications Mercedes Schlapp speaks to reporters and members of the media outside of the West Wing at the White House on Thursday, Jan. 03, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images) MORE LESS
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White House Director of Strategic Communications Mercedes Schlapp will soon leave the West Wing to join President Trump’s 2020 reelection team, Trump announced in a tweet Monday evening.

Both Schlapp’s husband Matt Schlapp, head of the American Conservative Union, and Campaign manager Brad Parscale tweeted about the move. Schlapp’s husband likened her work for the campaign to fighting “socialism” in the U.S.

The move was reportedly expected, according to the New York Times. With Stephanie Grisham’s appointment as communications director and White House press secretary, a number of changes in the press shop are expected, according to the Times. The moves are in part fueled by Trump’s ongoing irritation: despite the number of people in the press shop, he’s still plagued by negative coverage.

Schlapp told the Times she’d been in talks with White House senior adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner for several weeks.

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