Trump's liaison to Congress eyeing exit
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In recent weeks, White House Legislative Affairs Director Shahira Knight has taken a back seat to the stepped-up efforts of Vice President Mike Pence and senior adviser Jared Kushner. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo
WHITE HOUSE
Trump's liaison to Congress eyeing exit
White House legislative affairs director Shahira Knight is preparing to leave what many insiders call a thankless job.
By ELIANA JOHNSON and NANCY COOK
01/22/2019 05:42 PM EST
Updated 01/22/2019 06:37 PM EST
Shahira Knight, the president’s legislative affairs director and a central figure in the White House’s shutdown negotiations with Congress, is planning to leave the White House in the coming months, according to four sources familiar with her plans.
Knight’s talk of exiting a job she took less than seven months ago comes as she plays what some call a thankless role in talks between President Donald Trump and Capitol Hill lawmakers skeptical of cutting a deal with her erratic boss.
In recent weeks, she has taken a back seat to the stepped-up efforts of Vice President Mike Pence and Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner. She was not present, for example, at a meeting last Thursday between Pence, Kushner, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, when the Kentucky Republican said Trump should make clear what sort of a deal he was willing to strike with Democratic lawmakers in order to bring the monthlong shutdown to an end.
The White House pushed back on the notion that Knight was set to depart. “There is no truth to this rumor. Shahira is focused on being the director of the Office of Legislative Affairs,” said deputy White House press secretary Lindsay Walters.
Inside the White House, Knight has been widely praised for her competence. A former deputy director of the National Economic Council, she had announced in June that she would be leaving the administration for a job at a banking policy and lobbying group. She agreed to stay on at the urging of senior officials, including then-White House chief of staff John Kelly, and replaced Trump’s first legislative affairs director, Marc Short, who departed in July.
Knight has taken a far less public approach to the job than Short, who frequently defended the administration on television.
A former House Ways and Means Committee staffer and Fidelity Investments executive, Knight is considered a relative moderate Republican within the Trump team. During a White House conference call in late October, her sharp disagreement with senior policy adviser Stephen Miller over immigration policy led to a cursing match between the two, according to three sources briefed on the conversation.
With Trump considering a plan to end birthright citizenship through an executive order — something many legal experts call impossible — Knight argued on the call that the White House should warn Republican lawmakers about the idea. Miller, who prefers to keep a close hold on immigration policy changes, opposed such a move.
Mick Mulvaney intends to select Knight’s successor, according to sources close to the chief of staff, though his efforts have stalled during the shutdown. With a divided Congress likely to produce legislative gridlock for the duration of Trump’s term, the job may not be appealing to many qualified candidates.
“She is very good — a highly competent operator who knows members on both sides. But she not going to stay forever, and he’ll be involved in picking her successor if he is still there,” said one source close to Mulvaney. “He has been thinking about that role and how to fill the legislative affairs team with people who are more aggressive
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/22/shahira-knight-leaving-trump-administration-1119878
White House
House Ways And Means Committee
Mike Pence
National Economic Council
Mick Mulvaney
Jared Kushner
