Two more officials depart from Trump White House
March 8, 2019
Two top officials in US President Donald Trump's administration announced their resignations on Friday, the latest in a series of departures from the White House.
Bill Shine resigned as White House communications director after eight months in the post as Trump's top communications aide.
The former Fox News executive will now work on Trump's 2020 re-election campaign, the White House said in a statement.
In a statement, Trump said Shine "has done an outstanding job working for me and the administration."
White House communications directors have had short-lived careers in the Trump administration, with five people holding the post in under three years.
Earlier this week, The New Yorker magazine published a report on the close ties between Fox News and Trump, detailing the exclusive access to interviews that the White House has granted to the television network.
One expert in the report said Fox News "is the closest we've come to having state TV," while another described it as a "propaganda operation" for the Trump administration.
Top pick for defense secretary departs
Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson also announced her resignation on Friday, leaving another top-level post vacant at the Pentagon.
Wilson, who is the Air Force's top civilian official, said she will be leaving at the end of May to become the president of the University of Texas.
"It has been a privilege to serve alongside our airmen over the past two years and I am proud of the progress that we have made in restoring our nation's defenses," Wilson said.
She was considered a top candidate to become the next secretary of defense after Jim Mattis resigned from the post over policy differences with Trump. If she had been nominated, she would have been the first woman to serve as defense secretary.
The former Republican congresswoman and US Air Force Academy graduate had served as Air Force secretary since 2017. She was a staunch advocate of the NATO military alliance and urged for a stronger focus on security issues with China and Russia.
Her successor will have the difficult job of setting up Trump's "Space Force," a new military branch that the US president says is needed to protect satellites and defend against vulnerabilities in space.
rs/sms (AP, Reuters, AFP)