Shahira Knight (left) will replace Marc Short, the White House’s longtime liaison to Capitol Hill, when he steps down later this month. | Getty Trump economic adviser to become his new top Hill aide

The White House announced on Thursday that Shahira Knight, a top economic adviser to President Donald Trump who played a central role in shepherding the Republicans’ tax bill through Congress, will replace Marc Short as legislative affairs director.

Short, the White House’s longtime liaison to Capitol Hill, announced Thursday that he is leaving the administration. He is taking a position at Guidepost Strategies consulting firm and will teach at the University of Virginia’s business school, where he received his MBA, and will also serve as a senior fellow at the university’s Miller Center.


The decision to tap Knight for the job comes as the White House is preparing for a fight with Democrats over the president's nominee to the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, and as Trump looks ahead to November’s midterm election.

Knight, a deputy director of the National Economic Council, announced in June that she would be leaving the administration for a job at the Clearing House, a banking policy and lobbying group. But she agreed to temporarily extend her tenure in the administration in the aftermath of NEC director Larry Kudlow’s recent heart attack.

Since then, Knight has been in quiet discussions with the White House to take over for Short, and Trump had started publicizing the move internally.

During a recent meeting at the White House, Trump went off topic and told people in the room that Knight would be taking the legislative affairs director job and starting in the coming weeks, according to one person familiar with the matter.

POLITICO first reported Short’s imminent departure and that Knight would replace him. The White House subsequently announced the moves.

“Marc was an integral part of the White House staff,” White House chief of staff John Kelly said in a statement. “He and his team helped the President rebuild the military, pass historic tax reform and achieve unprecedented legislative successes. We will miss his profound expertise, commitment to the taxpayers, and leadership.”

Short, in his own statement, added, “I will be forever indebted to President Trump and Vice President Pence for the opportunity to join their campaign in 2016 and be part of an Administration that has worked with Congress to pass the largest tax relief in American history, to rebuild our military with the largest funding increases since the Reagan years, and to confirm more appeals court judges than any Administration in its first two years.”

Knight, a former House Ways and Means Committee staffer, was a regular presence on the Hill during the debate over the Republican plan to rewrite the federal tax code. She was one of the administration’s point people on the bill, regularly coordinating with top lawmakers.

Before joining the White House, Knight was a vice president at Fidelity Investments and the managing director of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, a trade group representing securities firms.

