A 29-year-old communications operative who spent months navigating some of Washington’s fiercest political battles is walking away from the West Wing.
Abigail Jackson built her career inside the Trump administration by tackling assignments few staffers want — messaging around the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and volatile clashes with Congress.
Her next stop lands squarely in Republican political circles.
Jackson is headed to OnMessage Public Strategies, an arm of the GOP consulting firm OnMessage Inc., a shop that counts Fortune 500 companies among its clients while also steering strategy for Republican campaigns nationwide.
News of the move surfaced through Jackson’s own words on X, where she framed her departure less as an exit and more as a tribute to the president she served.
“President Trump is the greatest President of my lifetime — it’s been a tremendous honor to work for his Administration and alongside such talented colleagues on behalf of the American people,” Jackson wrote. “Looking forward to this next chapter!”
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt won’t have to look far for a replacement.
Lauren Bis, currently serving as DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, is expected to step into Jackson’s vacated role, according to published reports.
Bis arrives with battle scars of her own, having spent time defending the administration’s immigration and homeland security agenda — a background that hands Leavitt another communicator already fluent in the administration’s toughest talking points.
Jackson’s exit doesn’t happen in isolation. It’s the newest entry in a lengthening list of departures from the White House communications operation.
Just two months earlier, in May, Sonny Joy Nelson exited her post as special assistant to the president and director of media affairs.
A wider wave hit roughly a year before that, when three senior communications figures left government altogether for private-sector opportunities.
That group included former Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications and Personnel Taylor Budowich, former Principal Deputy White House Communications Director Alex Pfeiffer, and former White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Harrison Fields, all of whom departed in August and September of 2025.
Jackson’s colleagues didn’t let her leave quietly. Senior adviser Stephen Miller offered a statement to the Daily Mail praising her performance inside the messaging operation.
“Abigail is a communications powerhouse, demonstrating at all times the highest degree of tenacity, integrity, professionalism and talent,” Miller said.
Leavitt echoed that sentiment, describing Jackson as a “workhorse” who has “played an invaluable role on my team, working closely with senior administration officials to shape press coverage, and deliver President Donald Trump’s message at the highest level.”
Communications turnover is just one thread in a much larger pattern of exits across Trump’s second-year administration.
Cabinet-level departures have piled up as well. Former Attorney General Pam Bondi, former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer have all left their posts in recent months.
Former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard stepped away in June for personal reasons, choosing to care for her husband as he undergoes cancer treatment.
Jackson’s situation carries a different tone than some of those exits, though. Her path — from a demanding West Wing post into political and corporate consulting — follows a well-worn Washington script rather than signaling internal turmoil.
During her tenure, Jackson helped shape the administration’s response to some of its most contentious fights, spanning border enforcement policy, tension with the Justice Department, and repeated skirmishes with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Her departure now hands the baton to Bis, a spokeswoman already tested by the administration’s homeland security messaging demands, as Leavitt works to keep her press operation running without missing a beat.
