Another member of President Joe Biden’s administration is leaving, and she is also leaving the government.
Mariel Saez, a senior communications director for President Biden, announced her resignation on Monday, CNN reported.
Mariel Saez, the White House director of broadcast media, will leave government for the private sector after serving as the administration’s point person on a critical component of its wide-ranging messaging strategy: television.
Saez, who was well known on Capitol Hill as a constant presence by the side of House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer during her 10 years working for the Maryland Democrat, had roles on Biden’s presidential campaign and in the Presidential Inaugural Committee before taking over the broadcast role on Inauguration Day in 2021.
“It has been an honor to serve the President as Director of Broadcast Media, and I am grateful to my talented and dedicated colleagues at the White House and across the Administration who worked hand-in-hand with me to communicate the President’s priorities across broadcast media,” she said.
Some White House officials said to CNN that they expect more people to leave the White House in the coming weeks as, this is the time that staff generally begins to leave administrations.
They believe the departures may come after President Biden gives the State of the Union address on March 1.
They said that they do not believe any members of the president’s senior staff would be resigning.
Though largely absent from public view, Saez’s role is a critical one for an administration pressing to get its message out across television platforms and special events including presidential town halls. It’s comprised of both internal strategy and the external management of the constant battle for interviews with high-profile administration officials, from Biden on down, between television networks large and small.
Over the course of her time in the White House, Saez served as the administration point person for more than 2,7000 interviews with administration officials as Biden sought to address Covid-19, the economic recovery and several major legislative efforts.
“Mariel has been an invaluable member of our team, and her strategic advice and counsel, close relationships with the networks, hard work, and dedication served the President, the Vice President and the entire Biden-Harris Administration so well,” White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said. “She is a tremendous talent and an incomparable teammate, and we will miss her dearly.”
The news comes a week after Dr. Eric Lander, who served as director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), resigned on Monday after a White House investigation found credible evidence that he harshly and disrespectfully spoke to colleagues in front of other colleagues,” Fox News reported.
“I am devastated that I caused hurt to past and present colleagues by the way in which I have spoken to them,” he said. “But it is clear that things I said, and the way I said them, crossed the line at times into being disrespectful and demeaning, to both men and women. That was never my intention. Nonetheless, it is my fault and my responsibility. I will take this lesson forward. I believe it is not possible to continue effectively in my role, and the work of this office is far too important to be hindered.”
An email he sent to colleagues, that was obtained by Fox News, showed that he had apologized to them for the way he spoke to them.
“The president accepted Dr. Eric Lander’s resignation letter this evening with gratitude for his work at OSTP on the pandemic, the Cancer Moonshot, climate change, and other key priorities,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. “He knows that Dr. Lander will continue to make important contributions to the scientific community in the years ahead.”
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