Mark Meadows, the newly appointed White House chief of staff, is looking to replace press secretary Stephanie Grisham with one of two candidates, according to Axios.
Citing unnamed sources, Axios reports that Meadows, who started in his post earlier this week, has privately talked to Pentagon spokesperson Alyssa Farah and Trump campaign spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany. Farah was Meadows' communications director during his time as chair of the House Freedom Caucus, and she was also the press secretary to Vice President Mike Pence before joining the Pentagon last August. McEnany is the former national spokesperson for the Republican National Committee.
Grisham was made White House press secretary and communications director last July. Axios notes that it's unclear whether Meadows seeks to replace her entirely or if he wants to bring on a new press secretary and keep her on as communications director. It's also unclear if Meadows hopes to resume daily press briefings, which have not been given during Grisham's tenure — the exception has been the daily White House updates about the coronavirus crisis.
When asked for comment by Axios, Grisham said, "Sounds like more palace intrigue to me, but I've also been in quarantine. If true, how ironic that the press secretary would hear about being replaced in the press."
Meadows declined to comment to Axios.