Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson is leaving the White House later this month for a Republican consulting firm, the latest in a string of communications staff departures under Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Jackson, 29, announced her exit on X, saying she plans to join OnMessage Public Strategies, the consulting arm of Republican political firm OnMessage Inc. The firm works with Fortune 500 companies and advises GOP campaigns. Axios first reported Jackson's departure.
Lauren Bis, currently the Department of Homeland Security's Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, will step into Jackson's role. Jackson had handled press operations covering DHS, the Department of Justice, and Congress.
Jackson posted a farewell on X:
"President Trump is the greatest President of my lifetime, it's been a tremendous honor to work for his Administration and alongside such talented colleagues on behalf of the American people. Looking forward to this next chapter!"
Leavitt called Jackson a "workhorse" who "played an invaluable role on my team, working closely with senior administration officials to shape press coverage, and deliver President Trump's message at the highest level." Senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller told the Daily Mail that Jackson is "a communications powerhouse, demonstrating at all times the highest degree of tenacity, integrity, professionalism and talent."
Those are not the words of people parting on bad terms. Every public statement surrounding Jackson's move reads like a standard transition from government service to the private sector, the kind that happens in every administration.
Jackson's departure follows a pattern. Between August and September 2025, three senior communications officials left the White House for private-sector positions: Taylor Budowich, the Deputy Chief of Staff; Alex Pfeiffer, the Principal Deputy Communications Director; and Harrison Fields, the Principal Deputy Press Secretary. Sonny Joy Nelson, the Special Assistant to the President and Director of Media Affairs, left in May.
That is a lot of turnover in one shop over a short window. But turnover in White House communications is not unusual by the second year of any administration. The pace is grueling, the pay is modest compared to what these staffers can command in the private sector, and the political consulting world is eager to hire people with West Wing credentials.
The communications reshuffling sits alongside higher-profile changes across the administration. Several Cabinet members have either resigned or been pushed out, including former Attorney General Pam Bondi, former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-Deremer. Former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard stepped down in June to care for her husband during cancer treatment.
Cabinet departures carry different weight than staff-level moves. Bondi, Noem, and Chavez-Deremer left under circumstances the available reporting does not fully clarify, whether each resigned voluntarily or was pushed out remains ambiguous. Gabbard's reason, by contrast, was personal and plainly stated.
Lumping a 29-year-old deputy press secretary's jump to a consulting firm together with Cabinet-level shakeups, as some coverage has done, blurs the distinction between routine staff churn and genuine institutional disruption. A young staffer cashing in her White House experience at a Republican firm is not the same story as a Cabinet secretary getting shown the door.
Administrations that can't keep anyone are in trouble. Administrations where mid-level staffers rotate out to better-paying jobs after a year or two are functioning normally. The question worth asking is whether the replacements, like Bis, who already works inside the federal apparatus at DHS, are competent picks who keep the operation running. On that front, the White House named a successor before Jackson even left.
Staff turnover only becomes a crisis when nobody qualified wants the job. So far, that is not the story here.
