MEDIA/MELANIA/TRUMP PEOPLE/WHITE HOUSE STAFF: “Stephanie Grisham, Melania Trump’s communications director, will replace Sarah Huckabee Sanders as White House press secretary, continuing the ascent of a former campaign aide who established herself as a loyal and at times combative defender of the Trump family. Ms. Grisham will also take on the added role of communications director, a job that has been vacant since the departure of Bill Shine in March, and will keep her role in the East Wing. Mrs. Trump made the announcement Tuesday [6-25-19] on Twitter. While other names were initially floated for the job, President Trump’s choice of Ms. Grisham ensured that another loyalist would become the public face of an administration that has been defined by its pugilistic relationships with journalists. But Ms. Grisham’s appointment — to a three-in-one role that will include managing overall communications strategy, daily relations with the news media and incoming requests for the East Wing — also crystallizes how much the nature of those jobs have changed under Mr. Trump.”
–Katie Rogers and Annie Karni, “Trump Names Stephanie Grisham, Aide to First Lady, as Sarah Sanders’s Successor,” The New York Times online, June 25, 2019