Is yet another Fox News personality headed to the White House?
Kimberly Guilfoyle, who co-hosts the nightly Fox News show The Five, said she is in talks with the White House about joining the Trump administration’s communications team, possibly to replace Sean Spicer as press secretary. That’s according to an interview Guilfoyle gave to San Jose’s The Mercury News, which reported the news on Tuesday. The Fox News host told the newspaper that the prospect of her taking over as press secretary, or coming to the White House in another role, has been “raised by a number of people” in the administration, many of whom she speaks to regularly as part of her role at Fox News.
“I’m a patriot, and it would be an honor to serve the country,” Guilfoyle told The Mercury News. She also admitted that the role of press secretary is both a “fascinating” and “challenging job,” while noting that Spicer is in a “very tough position” and wishing him the best. Spicer has had an adversarial relationship with the White House press corps from the beginning, starting with a dispute over inauguration crowd sizes, and the GOP communications veteran has also reportedly drawn the ire of President Trump on various occasions.
Earlier this month, The New York Times reported that Trump has brought up the possibility of Guilfoyle replacing Spicer. The Fox News host was even floated as a potential press secretary before Spicer took on the role, with Politico reporting in December that Guilfoyle had been spotted meeting with Trump’s transition team at Trump Tower in New York City. Ultimately, Trump went with Spicer, who had served as communications director for the Republican National Committee since 2011.
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“Sean Spicer is a very nice man and a patriot; he’s dedicated himself to this public service,” Guilfoyle told The Mercury News.
It remains to be seen if Guilfoyle actually will join the White House communications team, or if she would replace Spicer. (Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House’s deputy press secretary, has filled in for Spicer on occasion recently and could be another candidate to take the job should Spicer be on his way out.)
A Fox News spokesperson responded to Coins2Day‘s request for comment on the matter with a statement: “Kimberly is a valued member of the Fox News primetime lineup, and is under a long-term contract with the network.”
Meanwhile, Guilfoyle told The Mercury News that she believes she has a strong relationship with the president. The former prosecutor, who has been a regular contributor and host for Fox News since 2006, said she has known Trump for more than a decade. “I think I enjoy a very straightforward and authentic, very genuine relationship, one that’s built on trust and integrity, and I think that’s imperative for success in that position,” she said.
She also told the newspaper that she loves working at Fox News and would be reluctant to leave the network. In a statement through a spokesperson provided to Coins2Day, Guilfoyle said: “As I stated in the interview, I really love what I do and my job co-hosting The Five is tough to beat.”
Guilfoyle would not be the first Fox News employee to end up with a job in the Trump administration. The administration tapped former Fox & Friends host Heather Nauert to be the U.S. State Department’s new spokeswoman earlier this year, while former Fox News national security analyst K.T. McFarland is currently serving as the president’s deputy national security adviser and will soon be nominated as the U.S. Ambassador to Singapore.
Fox News has long had deep ties to the GOP establishment (Utah Sen. Jason Chaffetz could be the latest Republican politician to transition to a role at Fox News), and the conservative-leaning cable news network has also enjoyed a cozy relationship with President Trump and his associates. Much has been made of the fact that the president regularly praises Fox News’ programs, and often parrots information from segments on shows like Fox & Friends, which has only helped the network improve on ratings that were already the best on cable news landscape.
