National Security Council principal spokesman Michael Anton plans to leave the White House, he said, according to Politico Sunday night.
The announcement of Anton’s departure coincides with that of outgoing National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, whose last day was Sunday. Anton is expected to leave the White House in the coming weeks, though a specific date has not been set.
Anton reportedly plans to join Hillsdale College’s Kirby Center as a writer and lecturer. The center is a Washington, D.C., extension of the conservative Michigan college.
“I will be forever grateful to President [Donald] Trump for the opportunity to serve my country and implement his agenda,” Anton said, according to Politico.
Anton first made waves during Trump’s candidacy as the pseudonymous author of the widely circulated “Flight 93” essay, a searing polemic on the failures of establishment conservatism and the necessity of voting for Trump over Hillary Clinton. Trump’s first national security advisor, Michael Flynn, brought Anton into the president’s administration. Anton stayed on as a spokesman for McMaster.
Aside from his role as the principal communicator of Trump’s “America First” foreign policy, Anton is valued in the White House for giving intellectual heft to Trump’s worldview and attacks on the Washington establishment.
His departure comes as incoming National Security Advisor John Bolton takes over at the NSC. One of Bolton’s mandates as the top national security official in the White House is to stop leaks of national security information to the media, The Daily Caller reported on March 26.
Anton was one official in McMaster’s circle who was suspected of leaking details of Trump’s call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which Trump ignored instructions to not congratulate Putin on his recent re-election victory, according to The National Interest.
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