Donaldson Exits White House

01/12/1999 at 12:00 AM EST

ABC Newsman Sam Donaldson is stepping down as the network's lead White House correspondent "in the next couple of weeks, although he will still report from there on occasion," said ABC News spokeswoman Eileen Murphy. There is no official word on his next assignment. Contrary to speculation, Donaldson's recent throat surgery to remove a benign polyp had "absolutely nothing" to do with his decision to change jobs, Murphy said. "He feels the time is right to move on." Donaldson covered the White House from 1977 to 1989 and returned there in January 1998 to lead ABC's coverage of the Monica Lewinsky scandal.