Twitter messages apparently posted by one of President-elect Donald Trump’s aides have added some intrigue to the sudden resignation of Jason Miller, Trump’s choice for communications director.
A tweet from the account of A.J. Delgado, an adviser to Trump’s campaign and a member of the transition team, appeared Thursday with the message: “Congratulations to the baby-daddy on being named WH Comms Director!”
Delgado also appeared to call Miller “The 2016 version of John Edwards,” a reference to the former U.S. senator and Democratic presidential candidate who carried on an extramarital affair with his campaign videographer. Two other tweets called on Miller to resign – which he did.
“When people need to resign graciously and refuse to, it’s a bit ... spooky,” one tweet read. It was followed by another saying Miller, the former Mark Sanford campaign chief “needed to resign ... yesterday.”
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Delgado deactivated her Twitter account Saturday and could not be reached for comment Sunday.
Miller, who had been named Thursday to the high-level post of overseeing White House communications strategy, unexpectedly announced Christmas Eve that the West Wing job would be too demanding and he wanted to focus on his family.
The departure of Miller, one of Trump’s top campaign advisers and a leading spokesman for his transition efforts, has been an unwelcome distraction for the transition team as it assembles a government.
“After spending this past week with my family, the most amount of time I have been able to spend with them since March 2015, it is clear they need to be my top priority right now and this is not the right time to start a new job as demanding as White House Communications Director,” Miller said in a statement.
He added: “My wife and I are also excited about the arrival of our second daughter in January, and I need to put them in front of my career. I look forward to continuing to support the President-elect from outside after my work on the Transition concludes.”
Contacted on Sunday about the Twitter messages, Miller said in an email that “I’ll let my previous statement stand at this time.”
Delgado, an attorney, is a former columnist for Mediaite and was one of Trump’s staunchest defenders during the campaign. In early October, as some Republicans abandoned Trump after a videotape revealed lewd talk years earlier by the GOP nominee, Delgado tweeted: “Trump’s talk has zero impact on how his policies would affect Americans. But sure, let’s waste a day in the Ivory Tower feigning outrage.”
She frequently defended him in TV appearances during the campaign.
Sean Spicer, a veteran GOP operative who was named White House press secretary, will take over what were expected to be Miller’s duties and will also have the title of communications director, Miller said in the statement.
According to the New York Post, Delgado, Miller and another Trump aide were seen in a Las Vegas Strip club on the night before the final presidential debate in October with three employees from CNN, NBC and ABC.
Miller, who has worked as a political consultant at Jamestown Associates, has a long history in GOP politics.
Miller joined Trump’s campaign as senior communications adviser shortly before the Republican National Convention, after serving as a top communications aide for the presidential campaign of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. He oversaw the Trump campaign’s communications throughout the general election. He continued in that role during the transition, sharing lead spokesman duties with Spicer.
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