Fox & Friends holds auditions for possible Trump staffers

Bossie and Lewandowski have been floated as possible additions to the Trump administration

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

Fox & Friends hosted former campaign manager for President Donald Trump Corey Lewandowski and Trump's former deputy campaign manager David Bossie after reports that they are both being considered for jobs in the White House. Bossie is also a Fox News contributor, which was not disclosed in the segment. In the wake of White House communications director Mike Dubke's resignation, The Daily Beast reported that Trump “has been strongly considering signing on campaign aides David Bossie and Corey Lewandowski as war-room 'crisis managers' to assist in grappling with the Russia-related fallout and mounting scandals.” As cable news regulars, Bossie and Lewandowski have gone to impressive lengths to mislead and lie to protect Trump, and Lewandowski was accused of forcibly grabbing a reporter during the campaign. Fox & Friends hosts asked both if they were considering positions at the White House, though Bossie and Lewandowski responded with vague replies and praise for Trump.

From the May 31 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:

CLAYTON MORRIS (CO-HOST): We were asking you over the past few weeks, Corey, whether or not you would go back to work at the White House. You said you like your life up there in New Hampshire, but if called upon, that you would be hard-pressed to not turn it down. Now there's a communication shake up at the White House, and it started yesterday morning, on Tuesday morning. And we've been hearing about possible shake-ups coming over the next few days. Mike Dubke has resigned as President Trump's communications director. What do you make of this? Are you in the mix at all for this job?

COREY LEWANDOWSKI: Look, that's a decision for the president to make and his team. If I can be helpful -- I've been very clear. I want to make sure that this president's agenda gets done, which is tax reform, and health care reform, and building a wall on our Southern border, and all the things that he pledged during the campaign that he gets to execute.

MORRIS: Have they called you?

LEWANDOWSKI: It's very important to know that I can be helpful on the outside. If they want me to be helpful on the inside and the right role is there, I'd be willing to consider that. But the most important thing is you have to have people who surround the president who are on his agenda. And what that also means is when you have a communications team, they have to have that relationship with the president to understand how he communicates. Because he is the greatest communicator as a president we've ever had. He's better than the staff. He knows the media.

[...]

AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): Corey, you are so loyal to him. You are so tough, and you supported him. He supports you. It seems like if you were part of that original group, then you all have all stuck together, and you've remained so tight, even if you're not working in the White House. 

From the May 30 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:

BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): So we understand, and Kellyanne [Conway] confirmed with us, there's going to be a war room-like thing set up immediately to rapid respond to all the other media outlets that seem to be running with unnamed sources, for example. And among the names brought up, David, are you and Corey Lewandowski. I guess you can speak for yourself. Is that something you're considering?

DAVID BOSSIE: I hate to speak for myself, Brian.

KILMEADE: Well, through your spokesperson.

BOSSIE: Through a spokesperson, I'll say. It's an honor and a privilege to consider the president of the United States your friend. He's somebody I've known for a long time. I worked on his campaign. I worked on the transition. And so, for me to be reached out to to talk about opportunities that present themselves at the White House is kind of a heady thing for a little guy like me. And so, I just -- I don't know what's going to happen, but the White House needs good people who mean well for the country and who want to do the right thing for the country. And so they've talked to many people, including me. 

PETE HEGSETH (CO-HOST): David, is that a yes? Have you been asked? 

BOSSIE: No. I'm not going to say that there's a something sitting on the table for me to pick. That would be a little, I think that's -- it's an ongoing conversation, and I think that that's a fair way to put it.