White House hiring new staff to handle impeachment inquiry response

October 25, 2019

The White House is looking to bolster its communications efforts by bringing in new communications staff dedicated to dealing with the impeachment inquiry, CBS News confirms.

Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, who is also President Trump’s son-in-law, has been pushing these efforts for some time. Several administration sources told CBS News that Tony Sayegh, the former spokesman for Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, is being pushed by Kushner to lead the team.

The staff shakeup was first reported by The New York Times. Sayegh did not respond to a request for comment from CBS News.

There has been dissent and criticism in the White House ranks, and among Trump allies, over the communications efforts from the president during the impeachment inquiry. Senior administration officials and former senior White House officials have confided to CBS News that they believe the White House has been losing the communications battle over messaging to the Democrats during the impeachment inquiry.

There were several meetings at the White House this week led by Kushner, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and White House counsel Pat Cipollone to specifically discuss improving the strategy for addressing the impeachment inquiry, according to White House officials.

Kushner was a strong proponent of Sayegh, a former Fox Business Network contributor, during the internal discussions over replacing press secretary after Sarah Huckabee Sanders left. Kushner had advocated for Sayegh, but the spokeswoman for the first lady, Stephanie Grisham, was instead chosen to be White House press secretary.

Grace Segers contributed to this report