President Donald Trump‘s administration lost its second top official in just as many days on Friday, with White House deputy national security adviser Andy Baker confirming his departure some 48 hours after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced hers.
“This has been an amazing journey,” Baker told Axios in a statement Friday. “I’m proud of everything we’ve achieved and, of course, am incredibly grateful to the President, Vice President [JD Vance], and Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio.”
The news comes on the heels of Leavitt confirming her own exit Wednesday on social media, similarly stating how “incredibly grateful” she was to the president and describing her tenure in the administration as “the adventure of a lifetime.”
Leavitt gave birth to her second child in May and explained in her announcement Wednesday that she is leaving to be with her family. A source close to Baker told Axios Friday that he similarly plans to spend more time with his family.
Baker has been personally involved in negotiations with Iran to end the ongoing war, and Vance named him as his point of contact in March in a leaked group chat about U.S. military strikes on Yemen in 2025.
Politico reported earlier this year that Baker “emerged as a key figure in Vance’s orbit,” molding the vice president’s foreign policy thinking and some of the administration’s “most consequential national security decisions,” including America’s shifting stance on longtime European allies.
Baker served as national security adviser to Vance since the beginning of the administration and became deputy national security adviser in May. He is now reportedly entering the private sector, like countless other former Trump officials.
Among them are former deputy White House press secretary Abigail Jackson, who left in July to join the lobbyist group OnMessage Public Strategies, and Lea Bardon, the former White House director of Cabinet affairs, who left in April to join public affairs firm The Sovereign Advisors.
Daniel Torok/The White House/Getty Images
Top Trump administration officials lauded Baker on Friday, including Rubio, who told Axios in a statement that he was “an invaluable asset and key member of the President’s national security team who has greatly advanced the America First agenda.”
Vance told the outlet in a statement of his own, “Andy is an exceptionally gifted, deeply thoughtful advisor who has served the President and me with distinction. He has been an indispensable member of our administration’s national security team.”
Multiple officials told the Politico Playbook on Friday that more exits from the Trump administration are coming before the year is up.
Republicans are facing a potential disaster in the upcoming midterm elections this November.