Trump senior aide Dina Powell to resign, will retain Middle East diplomacy role
US President Donald Trump's Deputy National Security Adviser for strategy, Dina Powell, plans to resign early next year but will continue to have a role in Middle East diplomacy, the White House said on Friday.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Powell, a key player in US diplomatic efforts in the Middle East, had always planned to stay one year at the Trump White House and then return to her home in New York.
Powell could be one of several administration officials to leave at the one-year mark of Trump's presidency. Speculation has centered on Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who officials say could be replaced by CIA Director Mike Pompeo, and top economic adviser Gary Cohn may possibly leave also.
Powell's replacement is likely to be Nadia Schadlow, a National Security Council aide who has been working with Powell on a new US national security strategy expected to be released in the next couple of weeks, a senior administration official said.
Powell has been one of Trump's inner circle and a key aide to National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster. She engaged in diplomacy throughout the Middle East with Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
