Fact Check: Never Trumper Claims ‘Internet Troll’ Kayleigh McEnany Lacks Credentials

CLAIM: Prominent Never Trumper Tim Miller, writing for Rolling Stone, said White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany “never had a prominent role in a political campaign or in government” but rather “blazed the path to the podium on the back of her experience as an internet troll turned cable news pundit.”

VERDICT: False. McEnany, a Harvard Law School graduate, worked as a producer for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s show, an analyst for CNN, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee (RNC), the national press secretary for President Trump’s campaign, and more.

This month, the Rolling Stone featured a piece attempting to discredit McEnany, whom Trump selected to serve as the White House press secretary last month.

The piece, “With Kayleigh McEnany, the White House Isn’t Even Pretending the Truth Matters,” is authored by Tim Miller, a prominent Never Trumper, contributor for The Bulwark, and former communications director for Trump’s 2016 primary rival Jeb Bush. Miller also worked for Jon Huntsman’s and John McCain’s campaigns, served as the deputy communications director of the RNC, and previously worked as a senior adviser to the anti-Trump Our Principles PAC.

Miller admits in the piece that “there was a time, not that long ago I’m embarrassed to admit, when I would daydream about being the White House Press Secretary for a Republican president.”

“As a spokesperson for Jon Huntsman and Jeb Bush, it’s clear this was a rather ridiculous dream, given the outcome of those campaigns, but it was something I would think about nonetheless,” he said, proceeding in his attack of McEnany, who now holds the position he once dreamed of possessing.

“And when Kayleigh McEnany took the podium for the first time, it was clear that all the pretense of the past was long gone and that the game had changed, maybe for good,” he opined, ignoring her accomplishments and reducing her to nothing more than a “Trump shill”:

UNLIKE MOST OF HER PREDECESSORS as White House Press Secretary, Kayleigh McEnany didn’t come to the job with a background as a reporter or a career press secretary. She never had a prominent role in a political campaign or in government. Instead she is the first of a new type of press secretary, one that if current trends are any indication we will have to get used to. She blazed the path to the podium on the back of her experience as an internet troll turned cable news pundit. (Fun fact: McEnany was rejected by Fox before getting scooped up by CNN’s Jeff Zucker who was looking for a new “character in a drama” — his words — who was willing to defend Donald Trump on the network. And what a character she has become).

Many of Miller’s presumptions are incorrect. McEnany did not come into the job as the White House spokeswoman blind but with years of political experience. Even CNN admitted such:

McEnany comes to the role with a bevy of Republican communications and television experience, beginning with an internship during the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign, where she worked as an intern at a Tampa field office as a high school student. From there, she held internships at a gubernatorial campaign and with a Florida congressman.

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The new White House position is also a homecoming of sorts. McEnany interned in the Bush administration’s press shop as a Georgetown University sophomore, where she was responsible for scouring the news in southeastern US newspapers to help write a daily briefing for the chief of staff, she told the university’s podcast.

Through the years, McEnany worked as a producer on Huckabee’s show, and she also served as a political analyst on CNN. In 2017, she was selected as a national spokesperson for the RNC. She served as the Trump campaign’s spokeswoman as well.

The White House press secretary has sparred with the press in recent days. On Tuesday, reporters questioned her decision to not wear a mask during the briefing.

“It’s because I’m distanced from you,” she said. “You’d probably have a hard time hearing from me right now, should I have a mask on, and that would be muffled.”

“I’m delivering information to the American people,” she added. “I’m at an appropriate distance away.”

The criticism comes as footage shows reporters appearing to take their masks off when they believe the cameras are off.