Top aide to Kamala Harris will depart for role at Defense Department: report

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A top aide to Vice President Kamala Harris will leave her role to take a new position at the Defense Department, adding to a pattern of departures from Harris’ office in recent months.

Sabrina Singh, Harris’ current deputy press secretary, will vacate the office and take on a new role with the U.S. Defense Department, according to an internal email detailing staff changes in Harris’ office that was obtained by CBS News.

Vice President Kamala Harris talks about the effect of pollution on her sight and taste at the Prince George’s County Brandywine Maintenance Facility Dec. 13, 2021, in Brandywine, Maryland.
(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Jamal Simmons, who serves as communications director for the vice president, wrote about the “sad news” of Singh’s departure in the memo. “We will miss her institutional knowledge, strategic counsel and rapid-fire e-mail fingers,” Simmons said, as reported by the outlet.

Singh, a key adviser to Harris, whom she worked alongside during the general election and the presidential transition, was first hired by Harris in March 2020 to operate her communications for political matters. Singh had served in her current role since the Biden administration first took office in January 2021.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a virtual meeting with the Ebenezer Baptist Church in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., Jan. 17, 2022.
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Harris’ new deputy press secretary will be Ernesto “Ernie” Apreza, according to the report. Apreza had been serving in the White House Office of Public Engagement and worked on the 2020 Biden-Harris campaign. She also assisted with Harris’ presidential campaign in 2019.

Simmons said the new press secretary had already been hired and that “she will be a fantastic leader” of the communications team, according to the report. A source who spoke with the outlet said Harris has plans to “reconfigure” her communications department.

In January, Harris was forced to select a new communications director following an onslaught of departures from her office.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to members of the press as Symone D. Sanders looks on at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport in Greer, South Carolina, before she boards Air Force Two to return to Washington June 14, 2021.
(Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Harris’ chief spokesperson, Symone Sanders, resigned in December. Vincent Evans, who served as the vice president’s deputy director of public engagement and intergovernmental affairs for nearly a year, announced in a statement to CNBC in January his intent to leave the office to serve as executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Peter Velz, director of Harris’ press operations, also served his last day on the job in January. Velz took on a new role at the State Department and announced his decision to leave Harris’ office in November.

Fox News did not receive an immediate response from the White House.

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