Former Fox News executive to join White House

By Barry Eitel

SAN FRANCISCO (AA) - The White House announced Thursday that Bill Shine, the former co-president of Fox News, has been appointed as the new deputy chief of staff for communications and assistant to President Donald Trump.

“He brings over two decades of television programming, communications, and management experience to the role,” the White House said in a statement.

Shine left Fox News in May of 2017 amid sexual harassment scandals revolving around the network’s pundit Bill O’Reilly and its Chairman Roger Ailes. Both Ailes and O’Reilly left the network following an outpouring of accusations early last year.

Shine resigned soon after, although he was never directly accused of sexual harassment. Instead, several lawsuits against the network charged that he knew about inappropriate behavior at Fox News but did nothing to stop it.

Longtime Trump aide Hope Hicks left the deputy chief of staff for communications position in March and the role has been open for three months.

Shine is the fifth leader of the White House communications department – he follows Hicks, Anthony Scaramucci, Sean Spicer and Michael Dubke.

Dubke was in the position for just three months, while Scaramucci only worked at the White House for 10 days in the role.

In April of last year, former Fox News pundit Julie Roginsky filed a lawsuit against Shine, Ailes and the network alleging she was denied promotions because she refused to enter into a sexual relationship with Ailes.

Fox News settled with Roginsky in December for an unspecified amount.

Some of Trump’s loudest supporters have urged him to not to appoint Shine. Larry Klayman, a right-wing legal activist known for launching several lawsuits against Bill Clinton’s White House, argued this week that federal authorities should look into the allegations regarding Shine.

"The now fired Mr. Shine has been alleged to have been involved in some way in at least three lawsuits involving sexual harassment of women while he and Ailes were at Fox News,” Klayman said in a statement Tuesday. “The president does not need unnecessary controversy at this time by naming Shine to as what is in effect a deputy of chief of staff in charge of communications and messaging.”