Bill Shine, the White House communications director, will be leaving to join Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign as a senior advisor, the Trump administration said today.
Shine has lasted longer than any of his predecessors as Trump’s top communications person, a job that’s said to be especially difficult because the president considers himself his own best public relations manager.
Shine, a former veteran Fox News executive who resigned in the wake of sexual harassment scandals at the network in May 2017, joined the White House last July. He replaced Hope Hicks, who left the White House in March of 2018. About six months later, Hicks joined Fox News as their top communications person.
The White House statement was vague about Shine’s departure date, but if it is immediate, he will have stayed in the job for 246 days, a Trump administration record. That’s 22.3 times the length of Anthony Scaramucci’s stint. Scaramucci’s name has become slang for a short job tenure, because he only served as communications director for 11 days.
“Serving President Trump and this country has been the most rewarding experience of my entire life” Shine said in a statement, adding he was looking forward to spending time with his family, and working on Trump’s reelection campaign.
Speculation swirled in Washington that Shine’s move was an indication that the Trump reelection campaign needs help, rather than the result of internal White House friction.
Brad Parscale, the Trump 2020 campaign manager, said Shine will “bring insight and talent as we build a world-class campaign,” adding that the “President’s re-election effort just got stronger.”
President Trump said “We will miss him in the White House, but look forward to working together on the 2020 Presidential Campaign, where he will be totally involved.”