Michelle Obama: I never had a presidential staffer fired
Former first lady Michelle Obama joked on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Thursday that she never pushed for the firing of a presidential adviser, referring to the exit of White House aide Mira Ricardel.
“If you wanted to get someone in your husband’s administration fired, how would you do that?” Kimmel asked the first lady, to laughter from the audience.
“We had wonderful people in our administration,” Obama said.
{mosads}Kimmel though pressed her on whether she ever “had a situation” that was similar to Ricardel’s without mentioning the ousted adviser by name.
“Not once,” Obama responded, shaking her head.
Ricardel’s exit from the White House grabbed headlines this week after a high-profile clash with first lady Melania Trump.
Amid speculation about Ricardel’s future, the first lady’s office took the unprecedented public step of calling for the top deputy to national security adviser John Bolton to go.
Trump’s spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said Ricardel “no longer deserves the honor” of serving the White House.
Ricardel reportedly butted heads with the first lady’s office over seating on the plane during Trump’s visit to several African countries last month.
The White House said Thursday that Ricardel would transition to a new role in the administration.
In a statement Thursday, Ricardel wrote that it was an “honor” to serve the White House and praised the first family.
“I admire the president and first lady and have great respect for my colleagues who are dedicated to supporting the president’s policies, and I look forward to working with them in the months ahead,” Ricardel said in a statement.
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