White House Communications Director Bill Shine Resigns, Takes Campaign Post--4th Update
09 March 2019 - 7:08AM
Dow Jones News
By Rebecca Ballhaus
WASHINGTON -- President Trump on Thursday accepted the
resignation of Bill Shine, a top White House official overseeing
communications, the White House said Friday -- less than a year
after the former Fox News executive joined the White House
staff.
Mr. Shine will now serve as a senior adviser to the president's
re-election campaign, the White House said.
"Serving President Trump and this country has been the most
rewarding experience of my entire life," Mr. Shine said in a
statement. "I'm looking forward to working on President Trump's
reelection campaign and spending more time with my family."
The president said in a statement that Mr. Shine would be
"totally involved" in his campaign.
A person close to the White House said there was no blowup
between the two, but that the president was experiencing a
"simmering frustration" with Mr. Shine. Mr. Trump felt the
communications chief wasn't able to turn around negative news
coverage cycles quickly enough to focus on more favorable stories,
the person said. Mr. Shine is leaving the White House after a week
in which cable news coverage has largely focused on explosive
testimony in which Mr. Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen,
accused the president of committing crimes and on the sentencing of
Mr. Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort.
His departure from the White House is the latest exit of a
top-level staffer. Mick Mulvaney has been serving as acting chief
of staff since January, after the president announced the departure
of then-chief of staff John Kelly late last year.
His departure also once again leaves open the job of White House
communications director, which has been held by five people during
Mr. Trump's two years in office. Hope Hicks, who previously held
the job, left the White House last spring.
Mr. Shine joined the White House staff in July as deputy chief
of staff for communications. He discussed the job of communications
director with the president last spring, but Mr. Shine wasn't
interested at the time, people familiar with the matter said. Fox
News host Sean Hannity, who is close to Mr. Shine and to the
president, had played a key role in orchestrating the process, one
person familiar with the discussions said.
Mr. Shine joins the Trump campaign as it has added new staff in
recent weeks. Headed by longtime Trump adviser Brad Parscale, the
campaign last month hired a communications director, Tim Murtaugh;
a press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany; and a strategic communications
director, Marc Lotter, who previously served as an aide to Vice
President Mike Pence.
Mr. Shine, among the longest-serving executives at Fox News,
left the company in 2017 in one of a string of high-profile
departures amid a sexual-harassment controversy that led the
company to part ways with its former chairman and chief executive,
the late Roger Ailes, and prime-time star anchor Bill O'Reilly.
Both men had, at times, advised the president.
Mr. Shine was never accused of harassment. In lawsuits, some Fox
News employees and former executives have alleged that Mr. Shine
ignored complaints of bad behavior by Mr. Ailes and enabled an
environment that was hostile to women.
In a lawsuit against Mr. Ailes, Mr. Shine and other Fox News
executives filed last August in the Supreme Court of the State of
New York, on-air personality Andrea Tantaros said she was told by
Mr. Shine that she would "need to let this one go" after
complaining of harassment by Mr. Ailes.
Mr. Ailes, who died last May, denied any wrongdoing, as has Mr.
O'Reilly. Fox News denied any wrongdoing by Mr. Shine.
News Corp, which owns The Wall Street Journal, and Fox News
parent 21st Century Fox Inc. share common ownership.
Write to Rebecca Ballhaus at Rebecca.Ballhaus@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 08, 2019 14:53 ET (19:53 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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