>>12724524 (lb)
UPDATED: McEnany, Fox News talks on pause
BY BRETT SAMUELS - 01/26/21 11:45 AM EST
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/535878-mcenany-to-join-fox-news-financial-disclosure-report-shows
Former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany in financial disclosure documents published Tuesday indicated that she had an agreement in place to join Fox News this month, but a source familiar with the matter says those discussions are now paused.
McEnany listed an "employment agreement with Fox News, starting work in January" on her termination report upon leaving the government. The report was obtained and published by watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
A Fox News spokesperson said McEnany "is not currently an employee or contributor" at the network.
McEnany and Fox held initial conversations after the 2020 election about a role, but those discussions were paused, according to a source familiar with the matter. The network remains open to hiring her in the future, however, the source said, given it does "not condone cancel culture."
McEnany did not respond to a request for comment.
Should the former press secretary land at Fox, it would mark the latest instance of a Trump administration official joining the conservative-leaning network.
One of McEnany's predecessors, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, took a role as a Fox contributor after leaving the White House in 2019. Sanders has since launched a bid for Arkansas governor and is no longer working at the network.
Senior Trump adviser Hope Hicks took a job at Fox Corp. upon leaving the White House in 2018, only to return to working for Trump later in his term.
Trump had also hired Bill Shine from Fox News to work as White House communications director ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. Former Trump administration officials John Bolton, Scott Atlas and others made frequent appearances on the network before joining the government.
McEnany previously worked as a contributor at CNN and as a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee before taking the press secretary job in the spring of 2020.
She was a fierce and unflinching advocate of the president in her taxpayer-funded role, defending him from the podium through his missteps in the coronavirus pandemic response, his forceful removal of peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square for a photo op and his efforts to sow doubt about the outcome of the 2020 election.
McEnany made frequent appearances on Fox News over the past two years, including several on prime-time opinion programming where she pushed unsubstantiated claims about widespread election fraud.
Trump himself had been at odds with Fox in the weeks before and after the election, regularly complaining that the outlet was not being sufficiently supportive of him.
Left-leaning group to track which companies hire former top Trump aides
BY ZACK BUDRYK - 01/26/21 11:55 AM EST
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/535876-liberal-group-to-track-which-companies-hire-former-top-trump-aides
A left-leaning advocacy group has announced it will create a list tracking former Trump administration officials’ future endeavors.
The Campaign Against Corporate Complicity has committed to tracking former administration personnel since fall 2020, but said the initiative has gained steam in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, according to Bloomberg.
The group is a collaboration between public interest organizations Accountable.US and American Oversight. While the group has labeled itself as nonpartisan, it does not officially disclose its funding and has major staffing overlap with Democratic and liberal groups, according to the news outlet.
The organization will specifically track several Trump administration officials associated with Trump’s immigration policies, including former acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and former top Trump adviser Stephen Miller. It will also monitor onetime counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway and former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt.
“As people leave government, we expect them to show up on the doorsteps of corporate America,” American Oversight Executive Director Austin Evers told Bloomberg.
In a statement Tuesday officially announcing the initiative, Evers and Accountable.US President Kyle Herrig called on major corporations’ CEOs not to hire the officials in question.
“The people who companies hire reflect their corporate values. If companies hire senior level officials that engaged in Trump’s attempts to undermine and violate the rule of law, they are complicit in the cruel, undemocratic, and dangerous policies and rhetoric of his administration,” Herrig said in a statement.
In the statement, the group said it would specifically apply pressure to CEOs of major media organizations, publishers and public speaking firms.
“Government service does not guarantee private employment. In fact, it should not. And American business should not reward the behavior of the Trump administration with the well-oiled revolving door that traditionally spins at moments of transition,” the organization said in a statement.
DC National Guard commander says Pentagon restricted his authority before riot
BY REBECCA KHEEL - 01/26/21 12:16 PM EST
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/535888-dc-national-guard-commander-says-pentagon-restricted-his-authority-before-riot
Pentagon officials restricted the commander of D.C. National Guard’s authorities ahead of the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, the commander told The Washington Post in an interview published Tuesday.
Normally, a local commander would be able to make decisions on taking military action in an emergency when headquarters approval could take too much time.
But Maj. Gen. William Walker, the commanding general of the D.C. National Guard, told the Post the Pentagon took that power away from him ahead of the Capitol riot, which meant he could not immediately deploy troops when the Capitol Police chief called asking for help as rioters were about to breach the building.
“All military commanders normally have immediate response authority to protect property, life, and in my case, federal functions — federal property and life,” Walker told the Post. “But in this instance, I did not have that authority.”
Instead, Walker needed approval from then-Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy and then-acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller before deploying troops.
Asked how quickly guardsmen could have arrived at the Capitol, which is two miles from the D.C. National Guard's headquarters, without the higher-level approval, Walker told the Post, "With all deliberate speed — I mean, they’re right down the street.”
The restriction was placed on Walker after the Guard’s heavy-handed and widely criticized response to racial justice protests over the summer. In June, hundreds of guardsmen from around the country poured into the nation's capital at former President Trump’s request, despite objections from local authorities.
A National Guard helicopter also hovered low over protesters as a show of force, a move that drew widespread scrutiny and rebuke.
“After June, the authorities were pulled back up to the secretary of defense’s office,” McCarthy told The Post. “Any time we would employ troops and guardsmen in the city, you had to go through a rigorous process. As you recall, there were events in the summer that got a lot of attention, and that was part of this.”
Authorities were pushed back down to Walker ahead of President Biden’s inauguration, McCarthy added.
The inauguration saw an influx of roughly 25,000 guardsmen from around the country to create a security zone around the Capitol and National Mall for fear of a repeat of the Jan. 6 insurrection. About 5,000 guardsmen are expected to stay around the Capitol through at least mid-March as the Senate holds Trump’s impeachment trial for the charge of inciting the riot.
The House Appropriations Committee was set to receive closed-door testimony Tuesday from McCarthy and Walker as it probes security failures that led to the Capitol riot.
Pentagon officials, local D.C. authorities and the Capitol Police have traded accusations about who is to blame for the Guard’s slow response once rioters breached the Capitol. The Pentagon has said Capitol Police denied offers of Guard assistance in the days before the attack. A Pentagon timeline of events says it took roughly an hour and a half to approve the Guard’s deployment on Jan. 6 after requests were made by Capitol Police and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D).
Also under scrutiny in the Pentagon’s response is the phone call in which then-Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund requested assistance. Sund previously told the Post that Army staff director Lt. Gen. Walter Piatt said on the call he didn’t like the “visual” of the Guard policing the Capitol, a comment Piatt initially denied before backtracking last week.
Walker told the Post there was discussion of optics but said he could not attribute the comments to a particular person.
“There was some talk about optics, but I can’t assign that to one person,” Walker said. “From the Army leadership, there were quite a few people on the call. … It’s clear that somebody talked about the optics. Who said that? I’m not sure.”
Q, if you are still with us…..send us some type of message. Thanks for your consideration. Miss you & Potus!