Kayleigh McEnany was selected as the new White House press secretary Tuesday, according to the New York Times.
The news came hours after it was reported Stephanie Grisham was leaving the role and returning to her position as chief of staff to the first lady.
McEnany, currently serving as spokeswoman for Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign, was immediately identified in reports Tuesday morning as a contender for the suddenly-vacant job.
In a recent appearance on Fox Business Network, she defended the president’s response to the spread of COVID-19, saying, “We will not see diseases like the coronavirus come here.” A campaign spokesperson said that while the comment may have been “inarticulately worded,” according to CNN reporter Andrew Kaczynski, McEnany was not denying that coronavirus was in the U.S. but speaking in the context of the travel ban from China that Trump instated.
On the same day Larry Kudlow said coronavirus was “contained” on Feb. 25th, Trump’s campaign spox made an even more bold claim.
“We will not see diseases like the coronavirus come here..and isn't it refreshing when contrasting it with the awful presidency of President Obama." pic.twitter.com/O0DDH3Rvkw
— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) April 4, 2020
She is a familiar face to anyone who watched cable news in the lead- and follow-up to the 2016 election, as she was a Trump surrogate hired by CNN to be a contributor at the time. She’s continued to make headlines in the years since. Last August, once she was installed as spokesperson for the re-election campaign, CNN’s Chris Cuomo ended an interview with her abruptly when she continually asserted that Trump “doesn’t lie.”
During the toss from Cuomo to fellow CNN primetime anchor Don Lemon after the show, Lemon said this: “I don’t even bother anymore with that because you’ll never get a real, direct answer from someone like that. She has no credibility, Chris! She’s a nice woman. She used to be on this show as well as other CNN shows all the time, but someone like that has no credibility and the audience… Put whoever you want on your show, this isn’t chastising you, but the audience gets nothing from her because she does not tell the truth.”