WASHINGTON - White House communications director Alyssa Farah resigned from her post Thursday after 3 1/2 years in the Trump administration.

Farah, 31, began her White House tenure as press secretary under Vice President Mike Pence, before joining the Defense Department as press secretary last September, and returned to the White House as communications director in April. She is the first person to serve in those three roles in one administration, and the youngest Pentagon press secretary.

Farah's departure, with little over a month remaining in President Donald Trump's administration, amounts to a tacit acknowledgment that despite his baseless and dangerous claims to the contrary, Trump lost the 2020 election, and much of his team is now pondering its post-White House future.

On the Saturday after the election, when the presidency was widely called for Democrat Joe Biden, Farah offered a call to unity on Twitter, writing, "There is more that unites as a Nation than divides us," along with three American flag emoji.

In her resignation letter, which she delivered Thursday, Farah called her time in the administration "the honor of a lifetime" and described herself as "deeply proud of the incredible things we were able to accomplish to make our country stronger, safer, and more secure."

"Under this Administration, the ISIS caliphate was destroyed, American hostages were returned home, NATO is stronger than ever, we've brokered historic Middle East peace deals, and I was on the ground in Kabul for the announcement of a historic peace deal between the Afghan Government and the Taliban aimed at ending America's longest war," Farah wrote.

Farah's last day is Friday, and she plans to start a consulting firm focusing on the corporate, political and defense realms. She had initially planned to leave before the election, according to one person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal private discussions.

During her time in the White House, Farah largely played a behind-the-scenes role, earning a reputation as a hard-working professional who generally had a strong relationship with the White House press corps.

Her return to the White House as communications director after her time at the Defense Department coincided with Mark Meadows's time as chief of staff. Farah had a long-standing relationship with Meadows from five years she spent on Capitol Hill, first as Meadows's communications director and later as the spokeswoman for the conservative House Freedom Caucus.

Much of Farah's final months was focused on the coronavirus pandemic, which has left more than 273,000 Americans dead as the nation heads into a winter season that experts predict will be especially brutal with death tolls continuing to spike.

"Finally, I'm honored to have worked with the entire team on Operation Warp Speed who helped usher in a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine in record time that will save countless thousands of lives," Farah wrote in her statement. "I'm forever grateful to have had the opportunity to serve my country."

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