WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — Kellyanne Conway, one of President Donald Trump’s longest-serving advisers, announced Sunday she would be leaving the White House at the end of the month.
Conway, Trump’s campaign manager during the stretch run of the 2016 race, was the first woman to successfully steer a White House bid, then became a senior counselor to the president. She informed Trump of her decision in the Oval Office, the Associated Press reported.
Conway cited a need to spend time with her four children in a resignation letter she posted Sunday night. Her husband, George, had become an outspoken Trump critic and her family a subject of Washington’s rumor mill.
“We disagree about plenty but we are united on what matters most: the kids,” she wrote in a statement. “For now, and for my beloved children, it will be less drama, more mama.”
She is still slated to speak at the Republican National Convention this week. Her husband, an attorney who denounced Trump after the 2016 campaign, had become a member of the Lincoln Project, an outside group of Republicans devoted to defeating Trump.
George Conway also announced Sunday that he was taking a leave of absence from both Twitter and the Lincoln Project.
Kellyanne Conway worked for years as a Republican pollster and operative and originally supported Sen. Ted Cruz in the 2016 Republican primary.
Conway cited a need to help her children’s remote learning during the coronavirus pandemic as a need to step away from her position.
Full statement from Kellyanne Conway
Geroge Conway statement on Twitter
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Reporting by Jonathan Lemire.