Statement on the Death of Ann Devroy

Hillary and I were deeply saddened to learn that Ann Devroy, longtime White House correspondent for the Washington Post, passed away earlier today.

For more than a decade, no journalist dominated and defined the White House beat with the kind of skill, shrewd analysis, and gruff grace that Ann brought to her reporting. As the saying goes, she always knew how to afflict the comfortable—and she made more than one President squirm—but she did comfort the afflicted. When White Houses did not get a fair shake in the press, Ann would often be the first to set the record straight. And she always wrote and reported with the interests of her readers first in her heart, trying always to make the White House story easier for a citizen to grasp.

Her friends in the press, her friends here at the White House, and all those who admired her tough but fair reporting will join me and Hillary in extending to Mark, Sarah, and Ann's family our deepest condolences.