Lara Trump Joins Fox News but Doesn't Rule Out a Senate Bid
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Fox News Lara Trump
Donald Trump's inner circle is becoming an even bigger part of the Fox News lineup after several staffing moves this week, as the family charts its post-White House future.
The network announced Monday that Lara Trump, the former president's daughter in-law and wife to his son Eric Trump, will be joining the cable news outlet as a paid contributor.
Then on Tuesday, former Trump White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany — who regularly made headlines sparring with reporters and who supported baseless claims of election fraud — was promoted to co-host of the network's Outnumbered after a few weeks working as a contributor.
Fox News' CEO, Suzanne Scott, said in a statement that McEnany's "unique background in politics and law coupled with her experiences confronting women's health challenges and life as a new mom" would add "robust insight" to the ensemble program, alongside anchor Harris Faulkner and co-host Emily Compagno.
Even before the latest hire and promotion, there had long been symbiosis between the Trump administration and Fox News' opinion staffers.
President Trump, a chronic cable news fan, has regularly appeared on the network for years and often reacted to its programming in real time before his social media accounts were banned.
Indeed, as Lara said after her hiring was announced on air during an interview Monday: "I sort of feel like I've been an unofficial member of the team for so long."
"It was kind of a joke over the past five years — I would come there so often that the security guards were like, 'Maybe we should just give you a key,' " Lara said.
The 38-year-old former TV producer, who also worked as a Trump campaign adviser, has been teasing a possible Senate run in her home state of North Carolina.
Samuel Corum/Getty Lara Trump
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany
With her father-in-law's election loss in November, her and the family's individual futures in politics have attracted greater attention.
Lara has been urged to run for office by some of the country's top Republicans, including longtime Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Graham, 65, said last month that Lara was "almost a certain nominee" for the soon-to-be vacant Senate seat in North Carolina, from which Sen. Richard Burr has said he will retire in 2022.
Lara, Graham said, "represents the future of the Republican Party."
Democrats are likely to make a major push to flip the seat after narrowly losing the 2020 Senate race there.
Lara told Fox News on Monday that "I still haven't officially made a decision" about running for office but will "hopefully sometime soon."
If Lara does announce a Senate bid, Fox News would cut ties with her, according to its policy. The network took a similar course in January when it cut ties with former contributor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who had announced a campaign to become governor of Arkansas.
She said the network had been "very generous" in being flexible with her schedule, if she does ultimately take up the 2022 campaign, and that she was "honored" by her new role.
"I never expected to be part of a family like the Trump family — certainly never expected to have the incredible opportunities I've had," she said.
Before joining other members of the Trump family as an adviser to the former president's failed re-election bid, Lara was a producer with Inside Edition from 2012 to 2016.
She and Eric have two young children and live in New York.
