Donald Trump hires former Fox News executive Bill Shine as top communications aide

David Jackson | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON -- President Trump has hired Fox News executive Bill Shine to head up the his communications team, the White House said Thursday.

Shine, who lost his job at Fox amid criticism of how the company handled sexual harassment complaints, will hold the title of Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications.

Trump has described Fox as his favorite news network.

The president considered numerous candidates for the communications slot since longtime aide Hope Hicks left the White House in March.

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A veteran executive at Fox, Shine left the company a year ago amid a scandal at the news organization over a string of sexual harassment complaints. He departed 10 months after former Fox chairman Roger Ailes was removed over harassment allegations.

Shine himself was never accused of harassment, but lawsuits accused him of helping to cover up Ailes' behavior and disregarding the claims of women who came forward.

Shine has denied any wrongdoing.

Shine's hiring was the latest staff change in a White House marked by a series of shakeups.

Former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer initially held the the communications director title as well. His replacement in the latter role, Mike Dubke, lasted a little less than three months.

Trump appointed supporter Anthony Scaramucci to the job a year ago, but he lasted only 10 days after giving an interview to a journalist with the New Yorker in which he used crude language to disparage his colleagues.

Overall, the Trump administration has had the highest turnover rate among top-level staff members of any recent president, said a new report from Martha Joynt Kumar, a political science professor at Towson University who specializes in White House transitions and staffing.

By the 17-month mark, Trump lost 61% of of high-level staff members, Kumar said, topping President Bill Clinton's 42% turnover rate among the last five presidents.