President Donald Trump has officially hired former Fox News president Bill Shine to run communications at the White House, he announced Thursday.
“President Donald J. Trump announced today that Bill Shine will join the White House staff,” the White House said in a statement. “Mr. Shine will serve as Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications. He brings over two decades of television programming, communications and management experience to the role. Previously, Mr. Shine served as Co-President of Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network.”
Shine reportedly has been in discussions with Trump about taking the position for several weeks after he was ousted from Fox News in 2017 while the network was dealing with a slew of high profile departures. The departures came amidst allegations of sexual harassment and financial settlements.
A source familiar with Shine’s thinking told The Daily Caller he changed his mind recently about taking the position. Shine is a close friend of Fox News host Sean Hannity and went golfing with Trump as recently of March 2018.