Trump's Cabinet fixer exits White House amid upheaval to lead $100 million midterm machine

By JON MICHAEL RAASCH, US POLITICAL REPORTER Published: 16:46, 14 April 2026 | Updated: 16:47, 14 April 2026 Donald Trump's White House staff is experiencing a shake-up before the midterm elections later this year.  Lea Bardon, the White House Director of Cabinet Affairs, had her last day in the Trump administration on Friday.  Her departure comes after two of Trump's top Cabinet members, Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem, were ousted from the President's inner-circle. She is going to The Sovereign Advisors, a DC-based public affairs firm, Politico first reported.  The firm is led by another former Trump White House employee Taylor Budowich, who served the President as an adviser and deputy chief of staff before departing last fall.  She will bring a wealth of knowledge about the White House's inner-workings and key players to her new role outside of the executive branch.  Having been the top liaison for Cabinet members' chiefs of staff, Bardon was responsible for making sure that the agency heads were aligned with White House policy, were invited to executive events and fulfilled the President's directives. She will now lead Budowich's Innovation Council Action, a Trump-aligned outside group responsible championing de-regulation in critical technology, like AI.  Two Trump employees have announced recent departures from the executive branch Lea Bardon, the White House Director of Cabinet Affairs, had her last day in the Trump administration on Friday. She is going to The Sovereign Advisors, a DC-based public affairs firm, Politico first reported White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair will leave the West Wing to help with Trump's political operation ahead of the midterms. The President said Blair will return to the White House after Election Day The group has made a $100 million commitment to support candidates and policies in the upcoming midterms.  The shake-up comes on the heels of another top Trump lieutenant's departure. White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair will temporarily depart the West Wing to help with Trump's campaign efforts ahead of the midterms, the President announced on Friday.  'James Blair, my Deputy Chief of Staff, is one of the brightest political minds in the Country who has done tremendous work to prepare Republicans to defy longstanding history and win the Midterms, just as he helped me do in 2024, by a landslide,' Trump wrote.  He said Blair will take 'a short leave of absence' to help with the midterms and after the election he will 'return again to the White House, so we can finish the job.'    Blair ran Trump's 2024 campaign and headed up the White House's political operation.  Before that the Trump lieutenant was the deputy chief of staff for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the political director of the state's 2016 GOP statehouse election team.  Though Trump initially believed Blair was 'quiet' and questioned his prowess, the President warmed to the operative and has since praised him publicly.   'I’d hear from other people he’s a total political genius,' Trump said last year. 'But I didn’t see it. And you know what? He’s not quiet. He’s incredible — the job you’ve done, thank you, James.' The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.