An administration official has confirmed that Angella Reid, the first female chief usher to work at the White House, is “no longer employed by the White House.”
Reid was fired, according to sources. One administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, cited “issues with the staff.”
The departure which is unusual for a White House Usher which does not change with administrations was first reported by Washington Post.
Only nine people have held the job in the last 132 years.
“We are very grateful for her service,” the official said. White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters today that Reid “left on very good terms and [we] wish her the very best.”
“It’s not uncommon that you might have a transition of staff when a new administration comes in. And it’s simply nothing more than that,” she added.
Reid, a former general manager of The Ritz-Carlton in Pentagon City in Virginia, was hired by President Barack Obama in 2011.
She was the second African-American to serve in the position and only the ninth chief usher since 1885.
Although Reid has made no comments about having to end her tenure this way, she always enjoyed her time at the White House. She said in 2016, “What I think about most when I walk around the house is who has been here, how had sone what in this particular space. Because, you know, just to think that I am able to walk here now when 100 years ago, a president or first lady did, or other guests did, or some of my ancestors did… It gives me a sense of awe, the fact that slaves built this house and I now work in this house as a leader, something out of my wildest dreams“.
An insider at the White House revealed that Angella Reid is a Hillary Clinton-loyalist and since President Donald Trump took over at the Washington seat of power, she respected him always but “never went above and beyond”. A presidential historian at Rice University, Douglas Brinkley told The Washington Post that the possible reason for firing Reid was because the Trump administration was worried about Obama’s spies and may have been suspicious of her.