Trump with TV's tuned to Fox News

Molly Butler / Media Matters

Research/Study Research/Study

Key Trump officials appeared on Fox News 124 times in the first month of his presidency

Fox News persists as the administration's mouthpiece

  • Top Trump administration officials have appeared on Fox News 124 times since President Donald Trump was sworn in. At least one key nominated or appointed official appeared nearly every day of the past month.

    Trump's “border czar,” Thomas Homan, has been the most prominent administration official on the network, appearing 20 times in total, on over half of the days of the month. Counselor to the president Alina Habba (15 appearances), White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt (12), and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller (11) were also prominently featured. 

    Four of the 10 most-featured top officials were former Fox News employees: former contributor Homan, former Fox & Friends Weekend co-host Pete Hegseth (6 appearances), former contributor Michael Waltz (6), and former network host Sean Duffy (5). (Trump has tapped many other former Fox News employees to be part of his second administration.)

    President Donald Trump himself has also appeared on the network several times since inauguration, appearing 4 times in 2 multiepisode interviews on Hannity and 1 time on Special Report with Bret Baier.

  • Trump official Fox appearances
    Thomas Homan 20
    Alina Habba 15
    Karoline Leavitt 12
    Stephen Miller 11
    Kristi Noem 8
    Pete Hegseth 6
    Michael Waltz 6
    Donald Trump 5
    Sean Duffy 5
    Lee Zeldin 5
    Doug Burgum 5
    Peter Navarro 4
    Pam Bondi 4
    Brendan Carr 4
    J.D. Vance 3
    Scott Bessent 2
    Marco Rubio 2
    Chris Wright 2
    Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 1
    John Ratcliffe 1
    Howard Lutnick 1
    Doug Collins 1
    Brooke Rollins 1
    TOTAL 124
  • The network's opinion shows Hannity (25 appearances), The Ingraham Angle (14), and Fox & Friends (14) featured the most appearances by key Trump officials along with so-called “news-side” shows The Story with Martha MacCallum (11), America Reports (11), and America's Newsroom (10). Overall, the network's opinion shows had 70 appearances from top Trump officials while the “news-side” shows had 54 appearances from top Trump officials.

  • Show Trump official appearances
    Hannity 25
    The Ingraham Angle 14
    Fox & Friends 14
    The Story with Martha MacCallum 11
    America Reports 11
    America's Newsroom 10
    Jesse Watters Primetime 8
    Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo 7
    The Will Cain Show 6
    The Faulkner Focus 4
    Special Report with Bret Baier 4
    Fox News Sunday 3
    Fox & Friends Weekend 2
    The Big Weekend Show 1
    Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy 1
    Gutfeld! 1
    Fox Report with Jon Scott 1
    Fox & Friends First 1
    TOTAL 124
  • By providing a friendly and frequent platform to the administration, the network bolsters the visibility and influence of key figures in the Trump circle — and furthers its own outsized role in shaping the broader political landscape. This symbiotic relationship underscores Fox’s  continued function as a key propaganda outlet for the Trump administration.

  • Methodology

  • Media Matters searched transcripts in the SnapStream video database for all original weekend and early morning programming on Fox News Channel for any of the terms “Bessent,” “Bishop,” “Bondi,” “Burgum,” “Carr,” “Collins,” “DeRemer,” “Duffy,” “Gabbard,” “Gorka,” “Greer,” “Habba,” “Hassett,” “Hegseth,” “Homan,” “Kennedy,” “Leavitt,” “Loeffler,” “Lutnick,” “Makary,” “McMahon,” “Miller,” “Navarro,” “Noem,” “Oz,” “Patel,” “Ratcliffe,” “Rollins,” “Rubio,” “Stefanik,” “Turner,” “Vance,” “Vought,” “Waltz,” “Wright,” and “Zeldin” within close proximity to any of the terms “phone,” “guest,” “spoke,” “interview,” “in studio,” “with us,” “with me,” “bring in,” “to discuss,” “to talk,” or “calling in” or any variation of the terms “speak,” “react,” or “join” from January 20, 2025, when Donald Trump was inaugurated as president, through February 19, 2025.

    We included guest segments, which we defined as instances when Fox News hosted any key member of the Trump administration on one of its shows. Their appearances could be as solo interviews or as a part of panels.

    Media Matters also searched our internal database of all original weekday programming on Fox News Channel (shows airing from 6 a.m. through midnight) for segments that analysts determined to include any of the key members of the Trump administration.

    We included the following key administration officials: Scott Bessent, Dan Bishop, Pam Bondi, Doug Burgum, Brendan Carr, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Doug Collins, Sean Duffy, Tulsi Gabbard, Sebastian Gorka, Jamieson Greer, Alina Habba, Kevin Hassett, Pete Hegseth, Thomas Homan, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Karoline Leavitt, Kelly Loeffler, Howard Lutnick, Marty Makary, Linda McMahon, Stephen Miller, Peter Navarro, Kristi Noem, Mehmet Oz, Kash Patel, John Ratcliffe, Brooke Rollins, Marco Rubio, Elise Stefanik, Donald Trump, Scott Turner, J.D. Vance, Russ Vought, Michael Waltz, Chris Wright, and Lee Zeldin.