It’s not yet clear why White House Communications Director Bill Shine cleared out his desk and left Friday. But it is plain his departure, like his hiring, was sudden and unexpected.
Shine, 55, a wealthy, silver-haired former top TV executive who left Fox News after helping obscure #MeToo allegations of sexual misconduct there, resigned Thursday night. Friday is his last day.
The timing indicates he either gave or was given 24 hours’ notice. He wanted to “spend more time with my family,” he said, the scarcely believable departing signature of so many White House officials over the years who fell out with their boss.
Everyone issued rosy statements suggesting Trump had been delighted with Shine, in turn, and Shine was delighted with his job, which he was quitting after just eight months. He would be parked over at the Trump campaign instead of the White House.
But one of the statements all but gave the game away with a typo revealing a rush to get the news out. Shine, wrote acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, possessed “unmatched talent, expertise and, and skills.”
According to some reports, Trump grew annoyed with Shine and was unhappy that his relations with the press were as bad as ever.
His departure came days after The New Yorker published an article delving into the links between the president and Fox News, branding the network as the propaganda arm of the White House.
The news of Shine’s shock exit broke as Trump was aboard Air Force One, en route to tour tornado damage in Alabama. There was no White House event at which the president lavishes praise on a departing senior aide.
Shine worked largely out of view, rarely speaking on the record, while applying know-how from two decades in cable news.
Around the West Wing, he was an often jovial presence, once smacking his belly and joking with colleagues he would eat McDonald’s for lunch because he needed to fatten up for winter.
But Trump’s decision to hire Shine, 55, raised eyebrows. The former Fox honcho arrived at the White House at the height of the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct. He had left Fox News about a year earlier amid sex scandals involving senior leadership, including former CEO Roger Ailes, whom Shine served for years as he climbed the corporate ladder, beginning as a producer for “Hannity & Colmes.”
Former Fox News booker Laurie Luhn, contributor Julie Roginsky, and hosts Andrea Tantaros and Gretchen Carlson said in lawsuits that Shine either abetted or helped cover up misconduct by Ailes.
Former reporter Kelly Wright, meanwhile, alleged in a racial discrimination lawsuit that Shine “demonstrated an obsession with race when it comes to discussions with Mr. Wright, including regularly asking him, ‘how do black people react to you’ and ‘how do you think White viewers look at you?'”
A government financial disclosure form released in November revealed that Shine, who briefly served as Fox News co-president, received a golden parachute including $15.4 million in severance and bonuses. The top salary for White House staffers, by contrast, is $180,000.
It is unclear who will replace Shine, who joined the White House after the departure of Communications Director Hope Hicks.
Shortly after he arrived at the White House, reporters noticed apparent Shine innovations, including Trump speaking directly to Twitter followers in short videos filmed outside the Oval Office.
During his tenure, televised press briefings given by press secretary Sarah Sanders tapered off, nearly ceasing altogether this year, with White House representatives saying it was more valuable for reporters to hear directly from the president.
