WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY JAY CARNEY STEPPING DOWN

Washington, 1 Sya’ban 1435/30 May 2014 (MINA) – The US President Barack Obama has announced that White House press secretary Jay Carney is leaving his post.

Obama said on Friday that Carney had initially informed him of his decision to resign in April, adding he had accepted it with reluctance. Press TV reported as quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA).

Carney has been Obama’s press secretary since 2011. Before that Carney served as spokesman for Vice President Joe Biden and also worked as a journalist for Time magazine.

During a farewell ceremony, Obama called Carney one of his closest advisers and friends at the White House.

“He’s got good judgment. He has good temperament and he’s got a good heart, and I will miss him a lot,” Obama said.After the announcement Carney told reporters, “It’s been an amazing experience.”

“In midlife you don’t often make a whole new set of friends, and not just friends, but people you would fight by and for under any circumstances and that’s certainly what I have been lucky enough to get over these past five and a half years,” he added.

Carney would be replaced by deputy Josh Earnest.Obama described Earnest as “honest and full of integrity” and “a straight shooter.”

Earnest — “his name describes his demeanor,” the president said — has been an aide to Obama since the early days of his 2008 presidential campaign. “Josh and I have an incredible history going all the way back to the Iowa caucuses,” the US president said.

The announcement came a short while after Obama confirmed during a separate press conference that he had moments earlier accepted the resignation of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki in the midst of a high-profile scandal. (T/P012/P04)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)