White House Press Secretary Jay Carney is resigning from his post, President Obama said in a surprise appearance at the regular daily press conference Friday.
Deputy Josh Earnest will replace Carney, who plans to leave in mid-June.
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The president jokingly asked the press to be nice to Carney on his farewell tour.
“I’m going to miss him a lot,” Obama said about Carney, adding that the press secretary has become a good friend and one of his closest advisors since he replaced longtime Obama communications strategist Robert Gibbs in February 2011.
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This has been a busy day for resignations within the administration, as Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki also resigned from his post amid scandal within the VA hospital system.
Earnest, who joined then-Senator Obama’s presidential campaign in March 2007, had been serving as Obama’s special assistant and principal deputy press secretary.