President Trump on Tuesday fêted outgoing White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders at a rally where he officially announced his 2020 reelection campaign.
Trump invited Sanders onstage just under an hour into his speech in Orlando, Fla., to a deafening ovation, calling her a “warrior” who would make a good governor of her home state of Arkansas.
“We’re going to miss her,” Trump said.
Sanders, who is making her final presidential trip, said that serving as press secretary “has truly been an honor of a lifetime” and predicted Trump would win a second term.
“He made America great again and continues to make America great,” she said. “He’s going to have an incredible six more years.”
Trump announced that Sanders was leaving her post after a turbulent two-year run as the president’s top spokeswoman. She presided over the end of the daily White House press briefing but became a star among Trump supporters for her fierce defense of the president in past briefings and on cable news.
Sanders also appeared onstage with Trump at a campaign rally in April, when the president joked he would have to fire her because she was becoming “too popular.”
Her two rally appearances in the past two months outnumber the number of formal press briefings she has held in that time. The last White House press briefing occurred on March 11.
Trump’s White House staff has come under scrutiny for violating the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from engaging in political activities in the course of their official duties. A federal watchdog recommended that Kellyanne Conway be fired for repeated violations.
Other White House staffers were reprimanded for using the president’s “Make America Great Again” slogan on their official Twitter accounts.
It’s unclear whether Sanders’s appearance would pose any issues.