Fox News ends Lara Trump's employment after Donald Trump launches 2024 bid for White House
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Fox News, which has a longstanding policy of not employing anyone linked to an active campaign, ends employment of Lara Trump after her father-in-law, Donald Trump, launched his 2024 bid for White House. During his 2020 presidential campaign, Lara served as a senior consultant and surrogate.
The network confirmed on Saturday, December 2, that it has parted ways with Lara, the former president’s daughter-in-law. Lara became a paid contributor for the conservative-leaning network only a year ago. As reported by the Daily Mail, in the wake of Donald announcing his 2024 bid for the White House in November, it now rules Lara out from continuing to receive a paycheck from the news network. Moreover, she has effectively declared she'll be part of the latest Trump White House bid and has taken the decision to step down.
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"We appreciate Lara's valuable contributions across Fox News Media programming," stated a Fox News Media representative. Her departure from the network is reportedly on good terms and solely based on the company’s protocol. As per the LA Times, former White House officials and political operatives have normally been welcomed as contributors at cable networks. However, Fox News has made it obligatory to not employ people running for office or directly connected to active campaigns.
"I sort of feel like I've been an unofficial member of the team for so long. You guys know, 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. So to be part of the team I am so, so excited," she said to Fox & Friends when she joined the channel in 2021.
While Lara, who is married to Eric Trump, is allowed to appear on the channel as a guest without pay, she has chosen not to since Donald made his announcement to run on November 15. Lara is highly supportive of her father-in-law and would avidly defend him during her appearances on Fox News. When asked about Donald’s attempting a third run with a lack of luster on Fox Business Network, Lara was quick to counter that statement. "I'm sure you're very supportive of your father-in-law, but to those of us on the outside looking at it, it didn't seem as though he's got the old magic, you know what I mean?" asked Anchor Stuart Varney. "Oh, well, I highly disagree with that," she said in response.
On-air criticism of Donald has been narrowed to a minimum on Fox News. However, the pages of its sister newspaper publications such as The New York Post and Wall Street Journal have been openly critical of Donald, his chances of winning, and the impact that his second term left, as per the outlet. It is suspected that Lara's exit comes after Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of Fox News parent Fox Corporation made it clear that he does not support the former president's decision to make a third run for the White House.