White House communications director resigns, to join Trump re-election campaign

Bill Shine, the White House communications director and deputy chief of staff, has stepped down to join President Donald Trump's 2020 re-election campaign as a senior adviser.

"Serving President Trump and this country has been the most rewarding experience of my entire life. To be a small part of all this President has done for the American people has truly been an honour. I'm looking forward to working on President Trump's re-election campaign and spending more time with my family," Shine said in a statement on Friday.

Shine, a former Fox News executive, joined the White House in July 2018, the sixth person to fill or be tapped for the top communications role after Jason Miller, Sean Spicer, Mike Dubke, Anthony Scaramucci and Hope Hicks, CNN reported.

Trump said in a statement later Friday that Shine "has done an outstanding job working for me and the administration".

"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," Trump said.

Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called it a "big loss for the administration, but a huge gain for the President's re-election campaign", reports CBS News.

Brad Parscale, the campaign manager for Trump's re-election campaign, called Shine "an incredible professional" and praised his "wealth of experience from cable news and the White House".

Shine's sudden resignation comes after an article in The New Yorker magazine detailed the ties between Trump and Fox News.

He had been slated to travel with Trump to Vietnam for the second North Korea summit but unexpectedly dropped off the trip two days before, according to an administration official.

Shine, who helped build Fox News into a cable news juggernaut at the right hand of the network's founding executive, Roger Ailes, resigned from the network in May 2017.

A close ally of Ailes, Shine was accused in lawsuits of helping his boss cover up allegations of sexual harassment, although he was never directly accused of any wrongdoing.

Shine continued to receive a payout from Fox News after he resigned of roughly $15.4 million in severance pay and bonuses, according to federal financial disclosure documents.

He also received an $8.4 million severance payment, with roughly $3.5 million in bonus options due in 2018 and 2019.

--IANS

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