The White House And Its ‘Shadow Cabinet’ Of Fox News TV Hosts

In July 2018, former Fox News co-President Bill Shine joined the White House staff as deputy chief of staff for communications and assistant to President Trump.

He wasn’t the first — or only — Fox News personality to align with the president. In November, Fox News host Sean Hannity, who reportedly speaks to Trump “almost daily,” faced criticism after joining Trump onstage during a rally. And New Yorker journalist Jane Mayer reports that 21st Century Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch speaks to Trump on a weekly basis and that Fox Business Network anchor Lou Dobbs has been “patched into” Oval Office meetings.

“In past White Houses there have been favored members of the press, but nothing where someone is so close in that they are coordinating on a daily basis with the president,” Mayer tells Fresh Air.

She adds: “Some of the people who are still hosting shows on Fox are seen by many of the people who are in and around the White House — including some of the White House staff — as basically being a 'shadow cabinet.’ ”

Mayer’s latest New Yorker article, “The Making of the Fox News White House,” describes the ways in which the network has bolstered the president — and vice versa. One of the stories she uncovered involves Trump’s attempt to get the Justice Department to stop AT&T from acquiring Fox News rival CNN’s parent, Time Warner.

Mayer also reports that Fox News had the Stormy Daniels story before the 2016 election — and killed it because it would have hurt Trump’s chances of winning. In this respect, Mayer says, the network is “not a regular news organization. … What its critics say is that Fox is an arm of the White House. It’s a mouthpiece for Trump.”