WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump has accepted the resignation of communications director Mike Dubke, according to a White House official.
His departure after just over three months on the job came early Tuesday morning after a wave of weekend reports that the president was poised to shake up his senior West Wing staff amid a series of missteps and the Russia scandal that has dominated the news cycle in recent weeks and could threaten the presidency.
Dubke, a longtime Republican strategist, joined the Trump White House in mid-February after the administration's sluggish start. His departure could be just the first move in a possible West Wing staff overhaul at a time when Trump reportedly is frustrated with how his still-young presidency is going.
Dubke follows Michael Flynn, the embattled retired three-star general who was Trump's first national security adviser, and several lower-level senior aides out the door before the 200th day of the administration. More departures could be coming as soon as this week.
During his brief tenure, Dubke's performance was something of a mixed bag. On one hand, he helped give journalists access to senior White House and Cabinet-level officials on a regular basis.
But on the other hand, Trump was angry that Dubke and others struggled to craft communications plans to defend the president and push back at allegations stemming from the ongoing investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
For instance, several GOP sources grumbled last week to a Roll Call reporter that the White House continued to ignore their offers to help with communications-related things like getting surrogates on television news programs to defend Trump.
Politico first reported Dubke's resignation.
It was not immediately clear when his last day will be, and he told the publication his reasons for leaving are "personal" and that he intends to return to his communications firm, the Black Rock Group.
The White House official who confirmed the departure had not responded to an inquiry about whether a search is already underway for a new communications director.
Republican and Democratic operatives in recent days have said the problem with a West Wing makeover will be finding qualified and capable Republican hands who are willing to work for a president and administration that are under federal and congressional investigation _ and that have struggled to produce clear domestic victories while also angering longtime U.S. allies like Germany.
