(Headline USA) Vice President Kamala Harris’ national security adviser, Nancy McEldowney, became the latest in a long list of Harris staffers to resign when she announced that she will step down this week.
McEldowney most recently accompanied Harris on her trip to Poland and Romania, as Harris has taken on a more visible role in the Biden administration’s efforts to navigate the Russia-Ukraine crisis. The trip was littered with verbal blunders and embarrassing answers from Harris, like when she burst out laughing after being asked about the ongoing flood of refugees from Ukraine into Poland.
.@VP Harris awkwardly starts laughing when asked about the Ukrainian refugee crisis pic.twitter.com/SIHhiLbK6X
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) March 10, 2022
Harris’ office praised McEldowney’s work in a statement, saying she “made a significant positive difference” and has been a “close and trusted advisor to the vice president and a valued member of this administration’s national security team.”
Neither Harris’ office nor McEldowney went into details about why she was stepping down. McEldowney said in a memo that she was resigning to “focus on some pressing personal matters.”
“This was a difficult decision because I am so deeply committed to the work we do and the crucial national interest we serve,” she wrote. “But after more than a year, this is the right decision for my family.”
Harris’ office has experienced a surge of resignations over the past several months amidst reports that tensions between Harris’ team and President Joe Biden’s team are high.
Nine other key officials have resigned from Harris’ team since June, including director of digital strategies Rajun Kaur, director of advance Karly Satkowiak, communications director Ashley Etienne, and chief spokesperson Symone Sanders.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki has defended the sudden departures as “natural.”
“Working in the first year of a White House is exciting and rewarding but it’s also grueling and exhausting,” Psaki said in December.
“If you look at past precedent, it’s natural for staffers who have thrown their heart and soul into a job to be ready to move on to a new challenge after a few years and that is applicable to many of these individuals,” she said.
“It’s also an opportunity, as it is in any White House, to bring in new faces, new voices and new perspectives,” she continued.
