VP Kamala Harris’ Deputy Chief of Staff to Depart

One of Vice President Kamala Harris’ top aides is about to leave her staff, adding to a list of her staffers who have departed as the vice president takes on growing responsibilities.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that Michael Fuchs, the vice president’s deputy chief of staff, plans to leave his role in May. Fuchs joins other top level staffers who have left the VPs office, including former senior adviser and chief spokesperson Symone Sanders, who left in December, former communications director Ashley Etienne, who resigned the month prior, speechwriter Kate Childs Graham, who left in February and most recently, Nancy McEldowney, who stepped down as Harris’ national security adviser last month.

From Reuters

Fuchs, who served as a foreign policy advisor to former President Bill Clinton and worked in senior roles at the U.S. State Department under former President Barack Obama’s administration, advised Harris on domestic and international issues, helped manage staff and often accompanied her on foreign trips.

He will remain in his current role until early May to “ensure a smooth transition” and will announce his next steps at a later date, according to the memo to staff.

All the departures are part of a complex narrative about the early tenure of the nation’s first multi-ethnic and woman vice president. Harris’ staff has been plagued by rumors of dysfunction–excerpts from a book by New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns, slated for release in May, describe some unflattering anecdotes–while at the same time her portfolio of domestic and international responsibilities has expanded.Harris, whose father was Jamaican, met with Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness in Washington, as that country seeks stronger ties to the U.S. amid a possible break with the British Commonwealth of Nations.Harris traveled to Europe twice recently to speak with heads of state and security officials about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and was the first in the administration to publicly call for a war crimes investigation into Russian President Vladamir Putin. She announced a round of federal grants to HBCUs for security after a series of bomb threats last month.

She worked with Director of Domestic Policy Council Susan Rice on the administration’s “PAVE” initiative, which this morning announced a series of policies aimed at reducing the impact of institutional racism in home appraisals.