Former Fox News Executive Leaving White House After Less Than a Year
Former Fox News executive Bill Shine is leaving his White House communications director job, but he will continue to serve President Donald Trump as the senior adviser to his re-election campaign.
Press secretary Sarah Sanders announced the deputy chief of staff’s departure in a statement released Friday.
“Bill Shine has been a great leader on our team and someone we have all loved working with every day. He has brought a tremendous amount of talent and expertise to the Administration,” Sanders said. “It is a big loss for the White House, but a huge gain for the President’s reelection campaign.”
Shine said that serving the president and the country “has been the most rewarding experience” of his entire life.
“To be a small part of all this President has done for the American people has truly been an honor. I’m looking forward to working on President Trump’s reelection campaign and spending more time with my family,” Shine said, according to the statement.
Trump said that he is looking forward to working with Shine on the 2020 campaign.
“Bill Shine has done an outstanding job working for me and the Administration. We will miss him in the White House, but look forward to working together on the 2020 Presidential Campaign, where he will be totally involved,” the president said.
Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale praised Shine’s “wealth of experience from cable news and the White House” in a statement.
President’s Re-Election Campaign Welcomes Bill Shine as Senior Adviser pic.twitter.com/0RXUS0KFtb
— Official Team Trump (@TeamTrump) March 8, 2019
Although the White House did not indicate who might replace Shine, his successor will be the sixth person to have the role, The Hill reported.
The New York Times and The Washington Post reported that the change was “abrupt” and the result of Trump’s unhappiness with Shine’s work.
“There’s only one communications director, and he’s not mapping things out on a spreadsheet,” said Jen Psaki, President Barack Obama’s White House communications director, referring to Trump.
Shine had spent more than 20 years with Fox News but was ousted amid the reverberations of a sexual harassment scandal at the network. Shine came to work for the White House in July.
During his time as deputy chief of staff for communications, Shine co-authored the letter reinstating CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta’s press pass but laying out new rules that would be put in place.
Although he was received warmly at first, Trump criticized Shine for not helping improve the president’s media coverage, The New York Times reported.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
