Bill Shine, who allegedly sought to suppress reports against Roger Ailes and Bill O’Reilly, is new deputy communications chief

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Former Fox News co-president Bill Shine has been appointed as the White House’s deputy chief of staff for communications and assistant to the president, it was announced Thursday.

Shine’s hiring comes more than a year after he resigned from Fox News in the wake of the sexual assault allegations against Roger Ailes, the network’s late former chairman.

Shine had been accused of covering up the allegations against Ailes and former host Bill O’Reilly, who faced his own accusations of sexual misconduct and subsequently departed Fox News in April of 2017. While Shine was never accused of sexual harassment himself, several women alleged in court documents that he ignored or sought to suppress their charges of misconduct at the network. Shine, who resigned in May of 2017, has denied those allegations.

In announcing Shine’s new position, the White House cited his tenure at Fox News while stating: “He brings over two decades of television programming, communications and management experience to the role.”

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Fox News has been a high profile proponent of Donald Trump, often lavishing the president and his administration with positive coverage across its programming. Sean Hannity, an especially vocal supporter of Trump’s, is said to have a close rapport with Shine.

Shine had long been rumored as a contender for a role within the White House, which has been operating without a communications director following Hope Hicks’ exit earlier this year.

Trump’s communications team has seen a series of departures over the last year and a half.

Sean Spicer, the former White House press secretary, resigned last July amid disagreements over the hiring of Anthony Scaramucci, who had newly been tapped as director of communications. Scaramucci infamously lasted just 10 days in the role after being forced out for an expletive-filled interview with the New Yorker, in which he derided other White House aides.



Hicks, who assumed the communications role from Scaramucci, announced her resignation in March, one day after she testified before the House intelligence committee for nine hours as part of the panel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.