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WASHINGTON – A day after Melania Trump took the extraordinary step of issuing a statement condemning Mira Ricardel, the deputy national security adviser who had made it all over the world, Ms. Ricardel was spotted in her office on Wednesday, packing her bags.
Hours later, the White House said that Ms. Ricardel was actually leaving her post but she would still work in the administration – just not under the first lady's roof.
"Mira Ricardel will continue to support the White House to transition to a new role in the administration," Sarah Huckabee Sanders, White House Press Secretary, said in a statement. "The president is grateful for Ms. Ricardel's continued service to the American people and her steadfast pursuit of national security priorities."
When a first lady is crossed by an help, she usually gets results when it comes time to oust that person. Michelle Obama did it. Hillary Clinton did it. But rather than working behind the scenes, Mrs. Trump had her own way of getting her point across.
"It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she deserves the honor of serving in this White House," Stephanie Grisham, the communications director for Mrs. Trump, said in a forceful statement on Tuesday about Ms. Ricardel.
Mrs. Trump, like President Trump, has used the power of her office her husband's talkative first wife, Ivana, and targeting Ms. Ricardel, who had gained a reputation throughout the White House for her sharp elbows.
Hours after the East Wing's statement on Tuesday, assisting the National Security Council, seeking to defend Ms. Ricardel, issued a series of talking points about her time there. Among the information distributed was that Ms. Ricardel had been confirmed by the Senate last year as under secretary for export administration. Before she served in the administration, she was a consultant for Trump for America.
Help also pointed out that she was one of the highest-ranking female members of the administration, and that she had never put her down. Trump.
It turns out she did not have to.
A dust-up between Ms. Ricardel and several East Wing senior staff members before and after the first lady. Trump's attention, and the conflict to an internal dispute that festered for weeks.
Among Ms. Ricardel's Offenses, Three People with the Situation said, was a dispute over airplane seating – she wanted to have a say in Africa. She grew angry when a seat for a National Security Council staff member on the plane was pulled to accommodate journalists.
Ms. Ricardel also traveled to Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Egypt last month, according to those people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Before and during the trip, Mrs. Trump's senior staff members working in the field of information and communication. They said Ms. Ricardel was the reason for the delay.
The episode so incensed Mrs. Ms. Ricardel was Trump that she brought up those offenses and others John F. Kelly, Mr. Trump 's Chief of Staff. Complaints from Mrs. Trump and her help, John R. Bolton, but the tension continued unaddressed until this week, when Mrs. Trump's office all but called for Ms. Ricardel's removal.
The White House and the National Security Council did not answer questions on Wednesday about Ms. Ricardel's reassignment. Four administration officials said they were unclear about her next move and speculated on themselves about where she helped her who had made allies during her time at the White House might land.
Mr. Trump was initially not happy to learn the rogue statement issued by the first lady's office, according to a senior management official familiar with the president's reaction. But he eventually came around.
The president, that person said, is proud of his wife's independent streak.
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