Fox News says it has hired former Trump White House press secretary and campaign advisor Kayleigh McEnany, just one day after she whitewashed the former president’s reaction to the January 6 insurrection he incited. Massive online outrage followed, with some media watchers calling McEnany a “known liar and propagandist.”
“Former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has joined the Fox News family,” Fox News stated in a news article, not an official company announcement.
“Harris Faulkner informed viewers on Tuesday during an exclusive interview with McEnany on ‘The Faulkner Focus,'” the article adds. “It is my distinct pleasure today to welcome Kayleigh McEnany to the Fox family. We will be seeing much more of her in the future,” Faulkner, a Fox News host, said.
No role or area was announced for McEnany.
NBC News adds that the announcement “comes after weeks during which the network had equivocated about McEnany’s role at the network.”
Strangely, a Fox News spokesperson “declined to comment beyond Faulkner’s statements.”
In an interview that aired Monday and Tuesday McEnany falsely told Faulkner “everyone” at the White House was horrified when they say the violent insurrection. It was a direct attempt to whitewash President Donald Trump’s behavior, which has been described as “delighted” and gleeful.
Fox News has become a landing zone for former Trump officials. McEnany joins one of her predecessors, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who became a Fox News contributor in August of 2019. More recently, former Director of the Trump White House’s National Economic Council, Larry Kudlow, landed at Fox with his own show on Fox Business Network. In between two stints at the Trump White House Hope Hicks served at Fox’s corporate parent as an executive vice president.
The outrage was palpable, including from media watchers and experts, and even inside Fox News.
Here’s CNN’s chief media correspondent:
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