UPDATE (4:54 PM): In today’s White House press briefing Robert Gibbs confirmed he was leaving the White House and when asked about leaving and what his next steps were, Gibbs responded, “that is it is an honor and a privilege to stand here, to work inside this building, to serve your country, to work for a President that I admire as much as President Barack Obama. I’ve been a member of his staff for almost seven years, and it’s — again, it’s a remarkable privilege.  It is in many ways the opportunity of a lifetime, one that I will be forever thankful and grateful for. What I’m going to do next is step back a little bit, recharge some.  We’ve been going at this pace for at least four years.  I will have an opportunity I hope to give some speeches. I will continue to provide advice and counsel to this building and to this President.  And I look forward to continuing to do that.”

To view the full press briefing and Gibbs statement click here.

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs will be leaving the White House briefing room podium in early February according to a New York Times article from this morning.

Gibbs will continue to be an adviser to President Obama and will work on his re-election campaign as well as hit the speaking circuit.

President Obama commented on Gibbs’ departure to the New York Times in a brief phone interview, saying: “We’ve been on this ride together since I won my Senate primary in 2004… He’s had a six-year stretch now where basically he’s been going 24/7 with relatively modest pay. I think it’s natural for someone like Robert to want to step back for a second to reflect, retool and that, as a consequence, brings about both challenges and opportunities for the White House.”  The President declined to comment on who would be replacing him but said “You’ll be seeing announcements in due course.”