Karl Rove, U.S. President George W. Bush's top political advisor and close friend, will step down from his White House post at the end of the month, senior administration officials confirmed on Monday.
"Obviously, it's a big loss to us," Deputy White House press secretary Dana Perino said in a statement.
"He is a great colleague, good friend and a brilliant mind," she added.
Perino said Rove "wouldn't be going if he wasn't sure this is the right time to be giving more time to his family."
The president and Rove are expected to speak before boarding Marine One at the White House at 11:35 a.m.
Bush will head to his Crawford, Texas, ranch where he will remain for the rest of the week.
Rove, announced his decision in an interview published by the Wall Street Journal on Monday.
"I just think it's time," Rove said.
"There's always something that can keep you here, and as much as I'd like to be here, I've got to do this for the sake of my family," he added.
Bush nicknamed Rove "the architect" for creating the plan that won the White House in 2000 and 2004.
Rove told the newspaper that he would leave Washington to return to Texas and that he had first suggested the idea of leaving a year ago.
However, a series of problems for the Bush administration, starting when the Democrats took control of Congress last November and then as immigration and the Iraq war topped the agenda, forced him to stay on, he said.
Rove also claimed his hand was forced when White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten announced that any senior staff that were working past Labor Day (Sept. 3) would be expected to stay on until the end of Bush's term in January 2007.
He said he will write a book once he returns to Texas.
Known as "the architect" inside the White House, Rove is one of the most powerful figures in the Bush administration.
He played an important role in Bush's victory in the two presidential elections and was involved in key decisions of the Bush administration.
Rove, 56, was also a central figure in a series of scandals that rocked the administration.
Announcing his resignation, he is joining the exodus of senior officials who left the administration since Democrats won control of Congress in November.
Among those who have left are former White House counselor Dan Bartlett, former budget director Rob Portman, former White House chief attorney Harriet Miers, former White House political director Sara Taylor, former deputy national security advisors J.D. Crouch and Meghan O'Sullivan, and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Source: Xinhua
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