Two of White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s staffers are simultaneously departing the White House Press Office on Wednesday.
Jean-Pierre announced that press assistant Megha Bhattacharya and her assistant and Chief of Staff Robbie Dornbush are leaving the White House Press Office’s staff in the latest series of press team departures. She gave a farewell statement to the two “valued members” of her team.
“Megha has been with our team since February of last year and I don’t think she stopped smiling since. I’ve never seen someone so happy and so, just really wonderful,” the press secretary said. “And she always has a smile on her face. Megha has yelled ‘thank you press’ in every room of the White House and on three different continents. She’s done it all with grace, a great sense of humor, and grade A outfits. She’ll be missed by our team and much of the Press Corps as well.”
“Robbie Dornbush needs no introduction. As chief of staff for the press office, Robbie quite literally keeps the trains running. He’s the bridge between myself and many of you in the room and also, no matter how early call time really is, I can always guarantee you Robbie is in the building before you,” she continued. (RELATED: Kamala Harris’ Chief Of Staff Set To Depart White House Post)
The press team witnessed a major staff shakeup in early June as three of the press office’s top staffers — Vedant Patel, Mike Gwin and Amanda Finney — departed the White House in a single week. The White House announced that assistant press secretary Vedant Patel was slated to serve as the deputy spokesperson for the State Department, and the press office’s former chief of staff, Amanda Finney, left to become a senior communications director at the Energy Department.
Gwin joined the Treasury Department to serve as the deputy assistant secretary of public affairs. Jean-Pierre soon announced the departure of a fourth staffer — White House press assistant Michael Kikukawa — who also joined the Treasury Department as a spokesperson.