CONGRESS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “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 [1-17-19] 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.”
–Eliana Johnson and Nancy Cook, ” Trump’s liaison to Congress eyeing exit,” Politico, January 22, 2019 6:37 pm