Shahira Knight worked closely with former National Economic Council head Gary Cohn on President Donald Trump's tax plan. | Zach Gibson/Getty Images Shahira Knight leaving White House for Clearing House banking group

Shahira Knight, a top economic adviser to President Donald Trump, is leaving the White House to join the Clearing House, a banking policy and lobbying group.

Knight served as deputy director of the National Economic Council and played a critical role in the administration’s biggest legislative achievement, the sweeping rewrite of the tax code the president signed into law last year.


Along with former NEC Chairman Gary Cohn, Knight helped coordinate both the policy and politics of the tax bill, often shuttling between the White House and Capitol Hill, where she emerged as a favorite among Republican lawmakers.

Knight will join the Clearing House as it merges with another bank lobbying group, the Financial Services Roundtable. She will serve as executive vice president and head of public affairs. Knight will report to Greg Baer, who is currently president of the Clearing House Association and will become CEO of the newly created organization.

“We are delighted that Shahira has chosen to join our new venture, as she is not only a brilliant legislative strategist but also someone with considerable knowledge of financial services issues,” Baer said in a statement. “She will fit perfectly with an organization dedicated to taking first-rate research and analysis and ensuring it has a policy impact.”

Knight said said her own statement: “While it has been an honor to serve on the White House National Economic Council, I am excited for the opportunity to help launch a new organization that will advance thoughtful policies for an industry so critical to the growth of our economy.”

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Knight’s biggest claim to fame during the Trump administration was the way she helped shepherd the Republican tax bill through Congress in the summer and fall of 2017. She directly briefed the president on tax policy and was a key staffer to advise the so-called Gang of Six, a group of administration officials and lawmakers who developed a working framework for how the tax bill would broadly look during the summer of 2017.

Well liked by downtown and Capitol Hill aides, Knight was one of the few administration officials well versed in both tax policy and the machinations of Congress, a rarity in a government stocked with new residents to Washington. This helped her to play a central role in the largest legislative achievement of the Trump White House, expected to be heavily touted heading into the midterms elections. Since then, she has been courted by several firms and even a hedge fund eager to hire one of the administration’s top experts who had banked a tangible policy achievement in the often chaotic Trump orbit.

Early in 2018, she was promoted to deputy director of the National Economic Council, where she started to focus more on energy and trade issues and helped new NEC director, Larry Kudlow, transition into his office.

On Monday, Kudlow praised Knight.

“Shahira has been a valued leader and member of the NEC team,” he said in a statement sent by the White House. “Not only did she play a central role in developing and enacting historic tax reform last year, but she also helped coordinate and drive the president’s economic growth agenda. She was invaluable during my transition to the NEC, and I thank her for her dedication, service and knowledge on economic policy issues.”

Knight previously served as a senior staffer on the House Ways and Means Committee and as a vice president in the public affairs and public policy group at Fidelity Investments, among other jobs.

She will now work on behalf of a group that advocates in favor of policies pushed by some of the nation’s largest banks and produces voluminous amounts of research.

“Shahira brings her record of leadership in creating pro-growth economic policies to our organization,” Brian Moynihan, chairman of the Financial Services Roundtable and CEO of Bank of America, said in a statement. “She exemplifies the top talent financial services companies are investing in to advocate policies to help drive the U.S. economy forward.”

