Kamala Harris aide to step down from post to join Defense Department

Following the departure of several top aides, another aide will be stepping down from their position in Vice President Kamala Harris’s office. Harris’s deputy press secretary Sabina Singh will be leaving to serve in the Pentagon.

Singh’s departure was revealed in an internal email obtained by CBS News, revealing more staff changes in Harris’s office. Harris’s communications director, Jamal Simmons, wrote in the memo the news of Singh’s departure.

“We will miss her institutional knowledge, strategic counsel, and rapid-fire e-mail fingers,” said Simmons.

Singh’s departure follows several other top Harris aides who left Harris’s team, including Symone Sanders and Ashley Etienne, who stepped down last year. Singh is also one of the longest-serving aides of the vice president, having been hired by Harris back in March 2020, running the communications of her political operations.

Singh also played a key role as Harris’s adviser during the silent campaign to become Joe Biden’s running mate for the Democratic ticket during the elections. Singh also worked for Harris during the general election and the transition period and has been deputy press secretary since the beginning of the administration.

Ernesto “Ernie” Apreza, who serves in the White House Office of Public Engagement, will be taking Singh’s place as Harris’s deputy press secretary. Apreza worked on the Biden-Harris campaign and on Harris’s 2019 presidential campaign.

Herbie Ziskend, who is currently Harris’s deputy communications director, will become the vice president’s senior communications adviser. Rachel Palermo will be taking Ziskend’s place as the new deputy communications director.

In other related news, Biden made another gaffe regarding Harris at the recent White House event marking Equal Pay Day. Harris was initially set to attend the event with her husband, Doug Emhoff but ended up not attending when Emhoff tested positive for COVID-19. The US leader mistakenly referred to Harris as “first lady,” drawing laughter from the audience present.

“There’s been a little change in the arrangement of who is on the stage because of the first lady’s husband contracting COVID-19,” said Biden during the event, leading some people to point to him as his statement meant that he was the one who tested positive.