Sarah Sanders could act as a potentially valuable informal liaison who has maintained strong relationships with White House aides and other administration officials. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Exclusive Sarah Sanders in talks with consulting firm founded by former Clinton aides Sanders’ potential work with Teneo would mark a lucrative opportunity as she weighs a run for Arkansas governor.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, President Donald Trump’s former press secretary, has held discussions with Teneo, a global consulting firm started by former Clinton aides, about working together to advise corporate clients about the Trump administration, according to a former Teneo employee and two other people familiar with the matter.

Sanders would serve as an independent contractor and would not be employed by Teneo, these people said.


But she would act as a potentially valuable informal liaison who has maintained strong relationships with White House aides and other administration officials.

“They’ve got to walk into the room with someone who knows the White House,” said one of the people familiar with the arrangement. “They need someone to explain how the Trump thing operates.”

Teneo and Sanders both declined to comment.

Sanders left the White House at the end of June and has been spending time with her family in Little Rock as she considers a run for Arkansas governor in 2022. Trump has endorsed such a move, and Sanders this week launched a slick website that further fueled speculation. In the meantime, she signed on to Fox News as a contributor — a move that will keep her in the public eye.

Her website also notes that she “advises major companies and non-profits.”

Sanders’ potential work with Teneo would mark a lucrative opportunity and provides a path that has generally been closed to many other top former Trump officials. The situation marks a contrast to Obama White House officials, who landed high-profile gigs at corporations like McDonald’s, United Airlines, Amazon and Uber.

“Corporate America have basically banned Trump people from making a payday afterwards,” said the person familiar with the matter. Sanders is “still getting corporate America, but she’s got to do sleight of hand … Nobody in Corporate America will ever pay a Trump person.”

Teneo, which has more than 800 employees with around 20 offices around the world, was founded in 2011 by Declan Kelly, who worked in Hillary Clinton’s State Department, and Doug Band, a close aide for former President Bill Clinton, as well as Paul Keary.

It also has attracted controversy, including for hiring Huma Abedin, a close aide to Hillary Clinton, while Abedin simultaneously worked in the State Department.

The CEO advisory firm has evolved and worked actively to build contacts in the Trump era. Jason Miller, a former top staffer on Trump’s campaign who worked at Teneo after the 2016 election, recently left the firm after leveling crude personal insults on Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) on Twitter.

Ken Kurson, who was the editor of the Jared Kushner-owned New York Observer, also joined Teneo as a senior managing director, but is no longer at the firm.

Teneo’s major clients include Dow Chemical, Coca-Cola, Weight Watchers, Delta and GE.

Six Teneo employees recently registered as foreign agents as part of the Foreign Agent Registration Act in their work for Neom, a $500 billion effort to build a new city in Saudi Arabia that describes itself as the “world’s most ambitious project.” Neom is controlled and funded by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.

One of Sanders’ major assets is her close relationship with Trump. The president sung her praises when he announced she was leaving the White House, calling her “a very special person with extraordinary talents, who has done an incredible job! I hope she decides to run for Governor of Arkansas — she would be fantastic.”

“Trump loves her,” said one of the people familiar with the Teneo arrangement. “He doesn’t love many people. He loves her. He loves her. She’s his girl.”

