Irish Beth
04-19-2006, 08:06 AM
White House Press Secretary Resigns
POSTED: 9:42 am EDT April 19, 2006
UPDATED: 10:00 am EDT April 19, 2006
WASHINGTON -- White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Wednesday he is resigning.
McClellan said he's "ready to move on."
President George W. Bush said he accepts his resignation but added that Scott would be hard to replace.
The pair appeared on the White House South Lawn just before the president boarded a helicopter at the start a trip to Alabama.
"I have given it my all sir and I have given you my all sir, and I will continue to do so as we transition to a new press secretary," McClellan told Bush.
Meanwhile, as he considered more staff changes in an ongoing shakeup, Bush said it's a game of musical chairs that people love to follow.
The president said everything beyond official announcements is speculation. There have been reports swirling about Treasury chief John Snow and others since Joshua Bolten's arrival as White House chief of staff. The president has said there will be "changes," but he hasn't defined what they will be.
He did say Donald Rumsfeld will stay on as defense secretary. Rumsfeld said he's not thinking of quitting, and he called criticism of him by former generals an example of a difference of opinion that is "a healthy thing in this country."
Source: Rove Changes Duties
In another move in the ongoing staff shakeup, longtime confidant and adviser Karl Rove is giving up oversight of policy development to focus more on politics with the approach of the fall midterm elections, a senior administration official said Wednesday.
He will be replaced by Joel Kaplan, currently the White House's deputy budget director, according to a White House source who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the president had not yet made the announcement.
Rove served as chief strategist for the Bush-Cheney 2000 presidential campaign and as president of Karl Rove & Company, an Austin, Texas-based public affairs firm. He previously served as a member of the Board of International Broadcasting, which oversees operations of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, and served on the board of the McDonald Observatory. Rove also taught at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and in the Journalism Department at the University of Texas at Austin, according to the White House.
Rove was promoted to deputy chief of staff in charge of most White House policy coordination about a year ago.
The change signals a possibly broad effort to rearrange and reinvigorate Bush's staff by new chief of staff Joshua Bolten. Bolten moved into his position last week; Kaplan was his No. 2 person at the Office of Management and Budget.
The promotion of Kaplan would leave Bush with three deputy chiefs of staff: Rove, Kaplan and Joe Hagin, who oversees administrative matters, intelligence and other national security issues.
POSTED: 9:42 am EDT April 19, 2006
UPDATED: 10:00 am EDT April 19, 2006
WASHINGTON -- White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Wednesday he is resigning.
McClellan said he's "ready to move on."
President George W. Bush said he accepts his resignation but added that Scott would be hard to replace.
The pair appeared on the White House South Lawn just before the president boarded a helicopter at the start a trip to Alabama.
"I have given it my all sir and I have given you my all sir, and I will continue to do so as we transition to a new press secretary," McClellan told Bush.
Meanwhile, as he considered more staff changes in an ongoing shakeup, Bush said it's a game of musical chairs that people love to follow.
The president said everything beyond official announcements is speculation. There have been reports swirling about Treasury chief John Snow and others since Joshua Bolten's arrival as White House chief of staff. The president has said there will be "changes," but he hasn't defined what they will be.
He did say Donald Rumsfeld will stay on as defense secretary. Rumsfeld said he's not thinking of quitting, and he called criticism of him by former generals an example of a difference of opinion that is "a healthy thing in this country."
Source: Rove Changes Duties
In another move in the ongoing staff shakeup, longtime confidant and adviser Karl Rove is giving up oversight of policy development to focus more on politics with the approach of the fall midterm elections, a senior administration official said Wednesday.
He will be replaced by Joel Kaplan, currently the White House's deputy budget director, according to a White House source who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the president had not yet made the announcement.
Rove served as chief strategist for the Bush-Cheney 2000 presidential campaign and as president of Karl Rove & Company, an Austin, Texas-based public affairs firm. He previously served as a member of the Board of International Broadcasting, which oversees operations of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, and served on the board of the McDonald Observatory. Rove also taught at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and in the Journalism Department at the University of Texas at Austin, according to the White House.
Rove was promoted to deputy chief of staff in charge of most White House policy coordination about a year ago.
The change signals a possibly broad effort to rearrange and reinvigorate Bush's staff by new chief of staff Joshua Bolten. Bolten moved into his position last week; Kaplan was his No. 2 person at the Office of Management and Budget.
The promotion of Kaplan would leave Bush with three deputy chiefs of staff: Rove, Kaplan and Joe Hagin, who oversees administrative matters, intelligence and other national security issues.