White House communications chief to step down

Anita Dunn

White House communications director Anita Dunn, on whose comments about President Obama's "control" of the media WND reported, is slated to step down from her post at the end of the month, according to sources talking to the Washington Post.

Dunn had been leading a campaign against Fox News Channel, slamming the top-rated network as an "arm of the Republican Party" and "opinion journalism masquerading as news."

Last month, WND posted a video of Dunn in which she disclosed to the Dominican government that President Obama's presidential campaign focused on "making" the news media cover certain issues while rarely communicating anything to the press unless it was "controlled."

That video subsequently was quoted widely by the news media.

Dunn took over the communications director job on an interim basis earlier this year. According to sources speaking to the Washington Post, Dunn's deputy, Dan Pfeiffer, will take on her position.

The Post reported the "passing of the baton from Dunn to Pfeiffer long had been expected within White House circles" as she had made clear when she took the job that the "interim" in her title was meant to be taken literally.

Dunn will remain as a consultant to the White House on communications and strategic matters, the Post added.

Dunn has been facing some criticism since her attacks on Fox News began last month.

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Fox hit back, releasing a video of Dunn speaking to high school students last June in which she lists her two "favorite political philosophers," including Communist Chinese leader Mao Zedong, whose draconian policies are blamed for the deaths of tens of millions of people.

Also, WND posted a video of Dunn speaking at a Jan. 12, 2009, event focusing on Obama's media tactics and hosted by the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development, which seeks to promote collaboration between the U.S. and the Dominican Republic.

"Very rarely did we communicate through the press anything that we didn't absolutely control," said Dunn to the audience.

"One of the reasons we did so many of the David Plouffe videos was not just for our supporters, but also because it was a way for us to get our message out without having to actually talk to reporters," said Dunn, referring to Plouffe, who was Obama's chief campaign manager.

"We just put that out there and made them write what Plouffe had said as opposed to Plouffe doing an interview with a reporter. So it was very much we controlled it as opposed to the press controlled it," Dunn said.

Dunn's impending departure makes her the second Obama administration official to step down following controversies on which WND has reported.

In September, Van Jones, Obama's special adviser for green jobs, enterprise and innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, quit following reports Jones founded a communist organization in the 1990's and signed a statement implying the Bush administration was complicit in the 9/11 attacks.

WND reported that Jones in 1994 founded the communist revolutionary organization Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement.

Subsequent WND revelations reported by WND about Jones included: