White House press official to take job as Trump campaign spokesman

Deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley is moving over to President Trump’s reelection campaign, where he will serve as a top spokesman, people familiar with the matter confirmed Tuesday.

Gidley, who has served in the White House press shop since 2017, will take over as the Trump campaign’s national press secretary. That role was previously filled by Kayleigh McEnany, who is now the White House press secretary.

“Hogan Gidley has been at the President’s side for three years and now he joins the fight to re-elect him,” campaign manager Brad Parscale said in a statement. “He is a talented advocate and defender of the President and his policies and is never afraid to go into battle with hostile reporters and television hosts. Hogan is a great addition to the team and makes us even stronger.”

Trump had hinted at the move during a gaggle with reporters at the White House on Tuesday morning when asked if he planned any changes to his campaign following his disappointing rally in Tulsa, Okla.

The president tweeted Tuesday afternoon that Gidley would leave the White House on July 1, praising him as a “strong, loyal, and trusted member of the team.”

“Hogan is a talented, trusted member of the White House team and has done an outstanding job communicating President Trump’s many accomplishments,” senior White House adviser Jared Kushner said in a statement.

“His two decades of prior campaign experience combined with his deep knowledge of the Administration make him an invaluable addition,” added Kushner, who is closely involved with the campaign operation.

Gidley has been a prominent television presence for the Trump White House, particularly following the departure of former press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders a year ago. He is among the longest tenured officials in the White House press shop.

Gidley previously worked for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) and on former Sen. Rick Santorum’s (R-Pa.) 2012 presidential campaign.

His shift over to the campaign side marks the latest staffing change as the Trump campaign bolsters its ranks for the final months of the 2020 campaign.

The campaign earlier this month elevated Bill Stepien to deputy campaign manager and hired Jason Miller, who served in a communications role in 2016, to work on strategy for the 2020 race. Erin Perrine will shift from deputy communications director to head of press communications as part of Gidley’s arrival, the campaign said.

Speculation about further staffing changes intensified after Trump’s campaign rally in Oklahoma over the weekend. Several Trump campaign staffers tested positive for coronavirus while in Tulsa, and the venue contained swaths of empty seats for the president’s speech after officials touted that more than 1 million people had requested tickets.

Finger-pointing has ensued, with much of the scrutiny falling on Parscale. Still, officials cautioned that major staffing changes at the top of the campaign were not expected to be imminent.

Updated June 24 at 9:06 a.m.