White House

Dina Powell, Goldman Sachs veteran, is stepping down as White House deputy national security advisor

Key Points
  • Deputy National Security Adviser Dina Powell will depart the Trump White House early next year, the White House says.
  • Powell will move back to New York, where she will "continue to support the president's agenda and work on Middle East policy," according to the White House.
  • Powell joined the Trump administration from Goldman Sachs, where she ran the Goldman Sachs Foundation.
Dina Powell, deputy national security adviser for strategy.
Rex Features | AP Images

Deputy National Security Adviser Dina Powell will depart the White House "early next year," press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday.

In a statement, the White House spokeswoman called Powell "a key, trusted advisor in this administration," but said "she has always planned to serve one year before returning home to New York." Sanders said Powell would "continue to support the President's agenda and work on Middle East policy" from New York.

Powell served under National Security Advisor Gen. H.R. McMaster. Within the West Wing, Powell was considered a close ally of President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who has taken a lead role in the administration's Middle East policy, and of Kushner's wife, Ivanka.

Kushner praised Powell as a "valued member of the Israeli-Palestinian peace team," and said she would "continue to play a key role in our peace efforts, and we will share more details on that in the future."

In a statement, McMaster said Powell's "sage advice helped provide options to the President and her strong relationships across the U.S. government and internationally helped drive execution of the President's decisions."

The White House praise of Powell was in sharp contrast to the terse statements made upon the departures of such top Trump aides as Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon.

Powell joined the administration from Goldman Sachs, where she became a partner in 2010. There, Powell oversaw the Goldman Sachs Foundation and ran the bank's 10,000 Women program, which helped provide women entrepreneurs in the developing world with access to capital. She joined Goldman Sachs in 2007 after a stint in the George W. Bush administration that included a high-profile position in the State Department.