WASHINGTON — Stephanie Grisham, longtime spokeswoman and confidante to Melania Trump, will succeed Sarah Sanders as White House press secretary, the first lady announced Tuesday. Grisham is jumping into her new role by accompanying President Donald Trump on a trip to Asia starting Wednesday.

Grisham is one of the few campaign officials still at the White House and is someone the president trusts.

“Stephanie has been with me from the beginning, as most of you know,” Trump told reporters during an unrelated White House event. “And then over the last couple years she’s worked for the first lady, done a fantastic job. The first lady loves her, thinks she’s been, you know, just incredible. She’s very talented.”

In addition to becoming White House press secretary, Grisham will also take on the role of White House communications director, a strategic and forward-looking role that has been vacant since March, when former Fox News Channel executive Bill Shine departed.

Grisham will be introduced to the demands of her new role when she travels with Trump to Japan and South Korea on a five-day trip that includes the president’s highly anticipated meetings with the leaders of China and Russia.

The first lady tweeted the news of Grisham’s promotion, saying she “can think of no better person to serve the Administration & our country.”

Grisham started in the White House as a deputy press secretary in the West Wing but within months had relocated to the East Wing, where first ladies are based, after she was tapped to oversee communications for Mrs. Trump, whom Grisham will continue to serve.

“Excited to have Stephanie working for both sides of the @WhiteHouse,” Mrs. Trump said.

Grisham will be the fourth woman to hold the title of White House press secretary when she officially takes over on July 1.

Sanders, whose last day at the White House is Friday, will be remembered mostly for ending daily White House briefings and sparring with reporters. Trump seemed to suggest relations would not be as contentious under Grisham. He did not indicate whether briefings will resume.

“She actually gets along with the media,” the president said of Grisham. She accepted the job after he offered it to her Tuesday morning, he said.

Grisham is a known quantity among White House reporters who covered the campaign, where she functioned as a press aide or “wrangler” — the staffer who travels with the media and helps lead journalists where they needed to be for events.