Daughter of former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, Sanders took over from Spicer in July 2017 and was the third woman to hold the position. She was a close and trusted White House aide and one of the few remaining who worked on Trump’s campaign.

Sanders provided stability after Spicer’s series of wayward gaffes and, unlike some of Trump’s officials, stayed in his good graces with her unswerving, often ostentatious shows of loyalty. In January she told Christian television network CBN that “God wanted Donald Trump to become president”.

Sanders amplified Trump’s attacks on the media, sometimes clashing with CNN correspondent Jim Acosta in the briefing room, and notoriously made false claims on behalf of the president, deepening questions about the administration’s credibility.

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s report revealed that Sanders admitted to investigators she made an unfounded claim that “countless” FBI agents got in touch to express support for Trump’s decision to fire FBI director James Comey in May 2017. She later claimed her comments were “a slip of the tongue” and made in “the heat of the moment”.

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It was also on her watch that the daily press briefing, a staple of past administrations, became irregular and all but petered out. There has been no briefing for the past three months, effectively replaced by impromptu gatherings with reporters in the White House driveway, and by Trump’s own question-and-answer sessions on the South Lawn.

Brian Stelter, CNN’s chief media correspondent, offered this epitaph via Twitter: “Sarah Sanders’ primary legacy as White House press secretary will be the death of the daily press briefing.”

CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta frequently challenged her at briefings.

While on camera she could be pugnacious, combative and sardonic; off camera, she could be warm, folksy and down to earth, according to Acosta. In his new book, he tells how she met reporters for drinks and could “throw back her Maker’s and Coke with the best of them”.

Sanders is the latest in a long list of White House departures. Trump has presided over a record turnover of staff and has not announced a successor.

At the press conference on Thursday, Trump summoned Sanders to join him at the podium. The 36-year-old beamed as the president said: “She’s going to be leaving the service of her country and she’s going to be going – I guess you could say private sector … She comes from a great state, Arkansas, that was a state that I won by a lot, so I like it.”

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“If we can get her to run for the governor of Arkansas, I think she’ll do very well. I’m trying to get her to do that,” he went on. “She’s a very special person, a very, very fine woman, she has been so great, she has such heart, she’s strong but with great, great heart, and I want to thank you for an outstanding job.”

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Trump kissed Sanders on the head amid applause. She took the podium, visibly holding back tears, and said her job had been “the honour of a lifetime, the opportunity of a lifetime” and she “loved every minute, even in the hard minutes”.

“I love the president. I love the team that I’ve had the opportunity to work for. The president is surrounded by some of the most incredible and most talented people you could ever imagine and it’s truly the most special experience. The only one I can think of that might top it just a little bit is the fact that I’m a mom. I have three amazing kids and I’m going to spend a little more time with them.”