Rahm Emanuel Is Leaving The White House To Run For Mayor Of Chicago

Well, it’s official—after weeks of speculation, President Barack Obama‘s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel will be stepping down tomorrow in order to launch his campaign for mayor of Chicago. Obama is expected to name Pete Rouse, a senior adviser, as his new chief of staff.

Here’s more from the NYT report:

The White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, at his daily briefing on Thursday afternoon said that the president will give two personnel announcements on Friday morning from the East Room of the White House. Mr. Gibbs, admitting that he was being purposely “oblique,” would not confirm whether the announcements would concern Mr. Emanuel.

The two officials, who declined to be named in advance of the official announcement, confirmed that Mr. Obama plans to name Pete Rouse, a senior adviser, to replace Mr. Emanuel. Mr. Rouse has been at the president’s side since Mr. Obama arrived in Washington nearly six years ago as a senator, serving as his chief of staff.

Here’s video of Gibbs being evasive when questioned about Emanuel’s announcement:

Follow us on Twitter.

Sign up for Mediaite's daily newsletter.