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A comprehensive review of the revolving door between Fox and the second Trump administration

Trump has picked 9 former Foxers -- so far

Written by Matt Gertz

Research contributions from Harrison Ray

Published

Updated

Incoming president Donald Trump’s unprecedented relationship with Fox News is once again creating a revolving door between the right-wing propaganda network and his administration. Trump has named nine current or former Fox employees to high-ranking positions since he was elected president — and more seem sure to follow.

Trump, an obsessive Fox viewer whose worldview is shaped by the network’s programming, stocked his first-term White House and federal agencies with familiar faces from the network. At least 20 people with Fox on their resumes joined his administration over the course of his tenure, including Cabinet secretaries, top White House aides, and ambassadors. 

Trump also consulted privately with an array of Fox stars, creating a shadow Cabinet of advisers with immense influence over government affairs whose key credential was their ability to attract attention via right-wing bombthrowing. And he frequently made important decisions based on what people were telling him on his favorite network — at times with disastrous results.

As Trump ramps up his second term, he is once again plucking top administration officials from the network’s stable. 

The list below will be updated as additional former Fox employees join or leave the Trump administration.

Select a Trump appointee

  • Sean Duffy, secretary of transportation

    Duffy stepped down from his fifth term as a Republican congressman from Wisconsin to become a CNN political contributor in 2019, joined Fox as a contributor in 2020, and became a co-host of Fox Business’ The Bottom Line in 2023. He met his spouse, Fox & Friends Weekend co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy, when they were both contestants on the MTV reality show The Real World. Trump announced Duffy was his pick for secretary of transportation on November 18, 2024.

  • Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence.

    Gabbard is a former Democratic member of Congress who ran a quixotic campaign for the party’s presidential nomination in 2020. Fox hired her as a contributor in 2022 amid a political transformation that saw her become a favorite of Tucker Carlson and the MAGA movement, adopt increasingly hard-right rhetoric, and ultimately endorse Trump’s presidential run. Trump announced on November 13, 2024, that he plans to nominate Gabbard as director of national intelligence, a position that oversees the 18 U.S. intelligence agencies.

  • Sebastian Gorka, Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Counterterrorism

    A bombastic, self-proclaimed national security “expert” with dubious credentials, a proclivity for anti-Muslim conspiracy theories, and ties to foreign extremist groups, Gorka made frequent appearances on Fox News during the 2016 presidential campaign and was briefly hired by the network before decamping for the Trump White House, where he served as deputy assistant to the president. His job was ill-defined, and he apparently did little other than go on television to support the president before he was canned in August 2017. He then returned to Fox as a full-fledged contributor — albeit one who was reportedly banned from appearing on the network’s “hard news” programming. In March 2019, he left Fox for Sinclair Broadcast Group; in 2021, he became a Newsmax host. Trump announced Gorka’s role in his second White House on November 22, 2024. 

  • Pete Hegseth, secretary of defense.

    After serving in the Army National Guard and as executive director of a right-wing veteran’s organization, Hegseth joined Fox as a contributor in 2014 and subsequently became a co-host of Fox & Friends’ weekend edition. In that role he caught Trump's eye, with the then-president reportedly considering him for secretary of veterans affairs and taking the Fox host’s advice in granting executive clemency to several service members accused or convicted of war crimes. On November 12, 2024, Trump announced that he plans to nominate Hegseth for defense secretary, which would give the cable news figure oversight of a sprawling bureaucracy staffed by nearly 3 million military and civilian employees that spends hundreds of billions of dollars each year.

  • Tom Homan, “Border Czar.”

    Homan joined Fox as a contributor in August 2018, two months after his retirement as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (where he reportedly served as the “intellectual ‘father’” of Trump’s family separation policy). As a Fox employee, he staunchly supported Trump’s immigration policies and statements and called for draconian responses to the purported migrant “invasion.” Trump announced on November 10, 2024, that he is naming Homan “Border Czar” and giving him responsibility for the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.

  • Mike Huckabee, ambassador to Israel.

    Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, hosted a weekly Fox program for more than six years before stepping down in 2015 to explore a presidential run. He subsequently rebooted his show for the Christian cable network Trinity Broadcasting Network and has remained a frequent Fox commentator who the network sporadically identifies as a contributor. Trump announced on November 12, 2024, that he plans to nominate Huckabee as U.S. ambassador to Israel.

  • Dr. Marty Makary, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner

    Makary, a surgeon, professor, and health policy researcher at Johns Hopkins University, joined Fox as a contributor near the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. In that role, he criticized public health officials for warning of new strains of the virus in the months leading up to the emergence of the deadly delta variant and criticized vaccine mandates, particularly for children, citing the vaccine’s purported health risks. Trump announced Makary as his pick to lead the FDA on November 22, 2024. 

  • Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, Surgeon General of the United States

    Nesheiwat, the medical director of a chain of New York urgent care centers, joined Fox as a medical contributor near the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. In that role, she promoted the use of supplemental zinc as a COVID-19 treatment and repeatedly highlighted the purported health risks of vaccination. Trump announced her as his pick for surgeon general on November 22, 2024. 

  • Michael Waltz, national security adviser

    An Army veteran and Republican member of Congress from Florida who served as an adviser in the Pentagon and White House, Waltz became a paid Fox contributor in 2017, the year before he was first elected to the U.S. House. He still touts that credential on his campaign website. Waltz made at least 569 Fox appearances between August 2017 and Election Day 2024. His 176 appearances from January 2023 to that date were more than any other member of Congress over that period. On November 12, 2024, Trump named Waltz as his national security adviser.

  • Frequent Fox guests

    Several other people Trump plans to nominate for high-ranking positions in his administration have spent the last several years regularly appearing on the president-elect’s favored network. 

    According to the Media Matters database, from August 2017 through Election Day 2024:

    • Stephen Miller, Trump’s pick for deputy White House chief of staff for policy, made at least 374 weekday Fox appearances, including 174 since January 2023.
    • Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Trump’s initial pick for attorney general, made at least 347 weekday Fox appearances, including 26 since January 2023. He subsequently withdrew from consideration.
    • Former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), Trump’s pick for administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, made at least 307 weekday Fox appearances, including 92 since January 2023. 
    • Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, Trump’s second pick for attorney general, made at least 276 weekday Fox appearances, including 64 since January 2023.
    • Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Trump’s pick for secretary of state, made at least 263 weekday Fox appearances, including 70 since January 2023.
    • Former Trump Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, Trump’s pick for CIA director, made at least 180 weekday Fox appearances, including 71 since January 2023.
    • South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Trump’s reported pick for secretary of homeland security, made at least 135 weekday Fox appearances, including 46 since January 2023. 
    • Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Trump’s pick for ambassador to the United Nations, made at least 108 weekday Fox appearances, including 32 since January 2023.