Fox News has ended the paid contributor role of Lara Trump, the wife of former president Donald Trump’s son, Eric, following the announcement of her father-in-law’s re-election campaign.
The network confirmed Saturday that the former president’s daughter-in-law will no longer be a paid employee at the network, the Los Angeles Times first reported. Trump joined the network as a paid contributor in March 2021, two months after her father-in-law left office.
“We appreciate Lara’s valuable contributions across Fox News Media programming,” a Fox News spokesperson said in a statement, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Her departure came in compliance with the network’s protocol, which states it cannot employ figures running for office or with close connections to candidates. Fox News executive chairman Rupert Murdoch has also publicly expressed his opposition to her father-in-law’s decision to run again, the outlet reported.
Fox News parts ways with Lara Trump as a contributor, citing father-in-law’s presidential campaign https://t.co/FLCfU7KSE5
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) December 4, 2022
She has not appeared on the network since her father-in-law announced his third presidential bid in a Nov. 15 speech at his Mar-a-Lago residence. She commonly joined programs on the network to defend her father-in-law against criticism surrounding January 6 and the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago. (RELATED: ‘A National Security Issue’: Lara Trump Lambastes DOJ, Says Hunter Biden Probe Needs ‘Oversight’)
The network terminated the employment of former Trump-era White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders once she announced her gubernatorial bid in Arkansas, which she recently won. The former president’s daughter-in-law was hired to be a contributor despite hinting at the idea of running for Senate in North Carolina.
Trump administration veterans on the network include former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who hosts the program “Outnumbered,” and paid contributor Kellyanne Conway.