Fox News Adds Prominent Democrat Donna Brazile as Contributor

"I know I'm going to get criticized from my friends in the progressive movement for being on Fox News," the former Democratic National Committee chair said.

Fox News Channel, the television network criticized for favoring the Republican Party, is adding the woman who once led the Democrat Party as a paid contributor.

Former Democratic National Committee chairwoman Donna Brazile will offer analysis on both Fox News and the Fox Business Network, it was announced on Monday morning. Brazile, who once ran Al Gore's unsuccessful presidential campaign, is no stranger to the networks — she made several appearances in the fall of 2017 to promote her book Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House.

Brazile pre-empted the criticism she might receive for her new role. "I know I'm going to get criticized from my friends in the progressive movement for being on Fox News," she said in the announcement. "My response is that, if we've learned anything from the 2016 election, it is that we can't have a country were we don't talk to those who disagree with our political views."

Brazile continued: "There's an audience on Fox News that doesn't hear enough from Democrats. We have to engage that audience and show Americans of every stripe what we stand for rather than threat into our 'safe spaces' where we simply agree with each other. For there is no safety in self-limiting numbers. You can be darn sure that I'm still going to be me on Fox News. I'm going to do what I always do: and dish it out straight, exactly as I see it, with just as much New Orleans hot sauce as folks expect."

Fox News' last two contributor hires were conservatives: former congressman Trey Gowdy and popular pundit Dan Bongino.

Brazile, a controversial figure in liberal circles, will make her first appearance as a paid pundit on Dana Perino's afternoon news show on Monday.

She was a CNN contributor until resigning in October 2016 amid controversy about her role in a debate question-sharing scandal that roiled the network.