Some Fox News staff are furious that the right-wing news network has hired “mini-Goebbels” Kayleigh McEnany as a commentator, reports say.
The Rupert Murdoch-owned channel announced it had hired Donald Trump’s former White House press secretary as a contributor on Tuesday.
Ms McEnany was branded a “serial liar” by critics during her time in the Trump administration, and some of her new co-workers have spoken out about their unhappiness with the hire.
“It’s truly disgusting they fired hard-working journalists who did care about facts and news reporting only to turn around and hire a mini-Goebbels whose incessant lies from the White House helped incite an insurrection on our democracy that got five people killed, including a police officer,” a Fox News insider told The Daily Beast.
“Post-Trump Fox is quickly becoming a very scary place and quite dangerous for our democracy.
“It’s not even conservative news anymore. They’ve plunged into an alternate reality where extremist propaganda is the only course on the menu.”
The official announcement by Fox News comes weeks after it was reported they were in talks with Ms McEnany.
“It’s upsetting. So many good people are out of a job now and I’m sure she’ll get a huge contract,” another Fox News staffer told The Daily Beast.
Insiders say that the move made sense for the network after the departure of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who is running for governor in Arkansas.
“It bothers me in that it is basically a slap in the face to the hardworking journalists that value real news and facts,” said another Fox News journalist.
“But it also doesn’t surprise me because they have shown that they don’t give a damn about facts and real news.”
Ms McEnany used to work on Mike Huckabee’s Fox News show and appeared as a pundit on Red-Eye before leaving for CNN, and eventually was hired by the White House.
Following the presidential election Ms McEnany was a regular guest on Fox News, where she repeatedly falsely claimed that the election was “stolen” from Mr Trump due to voter fraud.
But she was unable to provide any evidence and the false claims were widely debunked.
Fox News is attempting to win back MAGA supporters that have become viewers of pro-Trump channels such as OAN and Newsmax.
