Incoming President Donald Trump’s unprecedented relationship with Fox News is once again creating a revolving door between the right-wing propaganda network and his administration. Trump has named multiple current or former Fox employees to high-ranking positions in the week since he was elected president — and more seem sure to follow.
During Trump’s first administration, at least 20 people with Fox on their resumes joined the administration. Trump also consulted privately with an array of Fox stars, creating a shadow cabinet of advisers with immense influence over government affairs whose credential was their ability to attract attention via right-wing bombthrowing.
As Trump ramps up his second term, he is once again plucking top administration officials from the network’s stable. Media Matters will update this list as former Fox employees join or leave the Trump administration.
Trump has chosen Fox & Friends Weekend co-host Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense. During his tenure as a Fox host, Hegseth endorsed a “preemptive strike” against North Korea, voiced support for American soldiers committing war crimes, smeared veterans applying for government benefits as “dependent,” said January 6 rioters “love freedom,” and repeatedly railed against a supposedly “woke” military.
Hegseth demonstrated his influence over Trump in 2019 by aggressively lobbying for Trump to intercede in the cases of various accused or convicted war criminals. This follows a pattern of Hegseth advocating for aggressive military action and championing war crimes. He also has a long history of racist rhetoric. In his book, Hegseth complained about “Muslims’ birth rates” and praised “crusaders who pushed back the Muslim hordes.”
Media Matters compiled this guide to Hegseth’s on-air rhetoric. Stay tuned for more.
Trump announced that Fox News and Project 2025 contributor Tom Homan will serve as “The Border Czar” with responsibility for “our Nation’s Borders” as well as “all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin” in a Sunday post to Truth Social. Homan joined Fox two months after his June 2018 retirement as acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director during Trump’s first term.
As a member of the Trump administration, Homan made the case for the then-president’s anti-immigrant agenda on Fox while reportedly serving as the “intellectual father” of Trump’s cruel family separation policy. On Fox’s airwaves, Homan regularly fomented fear of immigrants and demanded radical and inhumane policies in response to their purported invasion. Trump has had many opportunities over the years to see Homan on Fox’s platforms — Homan made at least 441 weekday appearances on Fox from August 2017 through Election Day 2024.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Homan promised that if Trump were elected, Homan would “run the biggest deportation operation this country has ever seen” in which “no one’s off the table.”
