Washington, June 21: US President George W Bush has named Scott McClellan as chief White House spokesman in place of Ari Fleischer, who resigned last month. McClellan had been Fleischer's deputy since Bush assumed office in January 2001 and will take up his new job in July.
Bush announced the decision yesterday at the White House.
He said Fleischer has "done a fabulous job" as press secretary and expressed confidence that McClellan "...will be able to do the job like Ari did, with the highest amount of professionalism and class."
"I've known Scott for a long time," Bush said adding, "I look forward to working closely with him to make sure that the American people, and of course, the Press Corps, gets the information that's needed to reflect the philosophy and the decision making of this administration."
A native of Austin in the Texas state, McClellan has been a long-time associate of Bush.
He worked with Bush, when the latter was Governor of Texas and has been his spokesman since 1999, including Bush's presidential campaign.
Fleischer had announced his resignation on May 19.

Bureau Report