President Joe Biden’s trusted aide Kate Bedingfield is leaving the White House, the latest in a series of significant departures from the administration.
“Without Kate Bedingfield’s talent and tenacity, Donald Trump might still be in the White House…” White House chief of staff Ron Klain said in a statement to reporters reacting to the news.
Bedingfield has a long history with Biden’s political operation, serving him as communications director when he was Vice President.
She also joined Biden’s 2020 campaign as the deputy campaign manager and director of communications.
News of Bedingfield’s departure broke after White House press secretary Jen Psaki also left her position, which sparked additional departures.
Four other press staffers also left the White House in recent weeks after Psaki left.
Bedingfield made headlines when she stepped into the briefing room to fill in for Psaki but refused to answer any questions about growing reports of Hunter Biden’s corruption.
When Biden was vice president, Bedingfield served as Biden’s point person on the issue of Hunter Biden’s corrupt ties to the Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
She notably forcefully lied about the authenticity of Hunter Biden’s laptop during the 2020 campaign.
Questions about Hunter Biden’s corruption, she argued before a presidential debate, were only “amplifying Russian misinformation.”