Shine headed for the ice floe

Mr. Shine came into the White House with great fanfare last year, hired after an inglorious departure from a high-profile role at Fox News, where he had been the right-hand to Roger Ailes.

Initially, people in the White House — particularly those close to John F. Kelly, then the White House chief of staff — described Mr. Shine favorably, saying that he brought a mature presence to the team and, unusually for the White House, did not seem interested in seeking credit for himself.

But as time wore on, Mr. Shine never developed a close relationship with Mr. Trump. The president frequently criticized him to other advisers, saying that his own press coverage had not improved, according to several people familiar with Mr. Trump’s comments. And he was seen as ineffective, developing few ideas.

He attached himself to Ivanka Trump, and tried to help out with her media coverage. But an ABC News interview that she did included a question about how she and her husband obtained their security clearances, which multiple White House officials said rankled her.

Mr. Shine had spent more than a year searching for another job after he was ousted from Fox amid the scandal surrounding Mr. Ailes and allegations of sexual harassment. The White House became his potential for redemption, and for returning to the center of the action.

But Mr. Shine had increasingly been out of sight during key moments, including when the government shutdown began at the end of December. His wife, Darla, never relocated to Washington, and he was open about finding the travel away from her difficult.

As the president tweeted about legislators leaving town at the end of December, Mr. Shine was in Hawaii on a vacation with his wife. More recently, after telling people he was traveling to Vietnam for the president’s summit meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, last week, Mr. Shine ended up staying behind.