The Department of Homeland Security’s top spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, is stepping down, a Trump administration official told CNN.
McLaughlin is expected to leave her position as assistant secretary next week.
Her departure comes on the heels of high-profile shootings in Minnesota, where conflicting accounts called into question the department’s credibility. McLaughlin was one of the agency’s most vocal — and, apart from Secretary Kristi Noem, most visible — defenders, making appearances across news networks to defend President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda and taking to social media to blast reporting on the agency.
CNN has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
McLaughlin started to plan her departure in December but stayed in the aftermath of the shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, according to a source familiar. Her plans to leave the administration were first reported by Politico.
She is the latest top DHS official to leave about a year into the new administration. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Deputy Director Madison Sheahan announced last month she would also step down from her position to run for Congress in her native Ohio.