The Trump administration is dipping into a very familiar well in order to fill one of its vacancies. According to Bloomberg, Fox & Friends anchor Heather Nauert will now officially shill for President Trump in her new role as State Department spokesperson. Grasswire’s Joanne Stocker tweeted the official media note.
Toner is out, former Fox News anchor Heather Nauert is in as US @statedept spokesperson pic.twitter.com/mMYJ3IhPqe
— Joanne Stocker (@joanne_stocker) April 24, 2017
Nauert may have to hit the ground running as, amid weeks of escalating tensions, North Korea detained a college professor and American citizen at Pyongyang Airport over the weekend.
Nauert has worked at Fox News or the local New York Fox affiliate for most of the last two decades, save a brief stint at ABC News. She’s now the second Fox News alum to join the Trump team after former UN correspondent Jonathan Wachtel was hired as the spokesperson for the U.S. mission to the United Nations.
The State Department has largely been quiet since Trump’s inauguration, with anonymous employees quietly freaking out, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has often acted as his own spokesperson. The State Department suspended daily briefings after Inauguration Day, and it’s not yet known what the frequency of Nauert’s briefings will be.
That this administration would hire someone from Fox & Friends is no surprise. President Trump is often influenced by the show, which could make future State Department briefings especially exciting, and praises it frequently. One can only hope that U.S. foreign policy will now feature more flying axes and clumsy attempts at changing tires, too.