Sarah Sanders is leaving White House at the end of the month

Sarah Sanders, the combative White House press secretary whose tenure was marked by controversy and questions about her credibility, will be leaving after 22 months on the job, President Donald Trump announced Thursday.

Trump announced her departure on Thursday on Twitter, the presidential tweet having supplanted the role that a White House press secretary played in previous administrations. He later praised her for her grit, her heart and her loyalty to him and his goals.

“We’ve been through a lot together. She’s tough and she’s good,” the president said as he brought Sanders onstage at an unrelated event in the East Room of the White House. “She’s a warrior,” he added, kissing her affectionately on the side of the head.

Sanders appeared emotional as she joined him unscheduled at the event, which was officially devoted to criminal justice policy, and she praised Trump and his team. “I’ve loved every minute, even the hard minutes,” she said. “I love the president. I love the team that I’ve had the opportunity to work for.”

No successor was announced, but the next press secretary will take over just as Trump is heading into the thick of a re-election campaign that will determine the fate of his presidency. The job of communications director has been vacant since the departure of Bill Shine, who left in March.

While Sanders said she planned to spend more time with her three children, Trump urged her to run for governor of Arkansas, an ambition she has quietly nurtured for some time. Her father, Mike Huckabee, served as governor from 1996 to 2007. The current governor, Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, was just re-elected last year but cannot run again in 2022 because of term limits.

Sanders, 36, rose from a campaign spokeswoman to one of Trump’s top lieutenants in three years, navigating an era of toxic media relations that shocked even the most seasoned Washington veterans. She ascended to the role of press secretary in mid-2017 at a time of staff turmoil and public spats between her predecessor, Sean Spicer, and Anthony Scaramucci, who briefly served as communications director.