WASHINGTON — Former Fox News executive Bill Shine will join the White House in a top communications job, an administration official said Wednesday.
Shine is expected to receive the title of deputy chief of staff for communications, but will perform many of the duties of the vacant communications director job, the official said.
Trump has considered numerous candidates for the communications slot since longtime aide Hope Hicks left the White House in March.
The White House may get some pushback for appointing Shine, a close friend of supportive Fox News host Sean Hannity.
A veteran executive at Fox, Shine lost his job a year ago over how the company handled a string of sexual harassment complaints against Fox employees. He left 10 months after former Fox chairman Roger Ailes, an ally, was removed over harassment allegations.
Shine himself was never accused of harassment, but lawsuits claimed he tried to cover up Ailes' behavior and disregarded the claims of women who protested it.
Shine denied any wrongdoing.
Communications director has been a difficult post at this White House.
Former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer initially held the the communications title as well. His replacement in the latter role, Mike Dubke, lasted a little less than three months.
Most famously, Trump appointed supporter Anthony Scaramucci to the job, but he lasted only 10 days after being caught on tape talking provocatively about colleagues he believed were leaking to the news media.
During that tirade, published in The New Yorker, Scaramucci complained in particular about a leak that he and Trump where having dinner with a couple of Fox employees: Sean Hannity and Bill Shine.
