Politico reports:
Speaker Mike Johnson has tapped veteran Republican operative Raj Shah to build and oversee his communications operation, according to a person familiar with the move. Shah is expected to serve as Johnson’s deputy chief of staff for communications, where he will, among other things, help run messaging for House Republicans.
Shah previously spent four years as senior vice president for public affairs at Fox Corporation. Before that, he served as a top communications official in the Trump White House, and was research director at the Republican National Committee during the 2016 campaign.
Raw Story reports:
When Shah worked communications at the White House, he was known for a number of controversies, including his claim that adult film star Stormy Daniels was lying about the alleged hush payment to her from Trump and that “The president is the only one who has been consistent.”
More recently, when Shah was working at Fox News, he was caught at the center of the fury surrounding the network’s $800 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems for defamation about their voting equipment, having allegedly helped push the false claims, and left the company shortly after.
One of Donald Trump’s first press hires in the White House and one of the most egregious liars who worked for him. They don’t call this guy “MAGA Mike” Johnson for nothing folks https://t.co/ADSdTbxi26
— Aaron Fritschner (@Fritschner) October 31, 2023
You may recall Shah, a former Fox exec who served as Tucker Carlson’s personal henchman, from the Dominion filings, which showed him encouraging the network to promote election denial to stave off pro-Trump competitors https://t.co/1m2hbphJkY https://t.co/HDtlB1t2eV
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) October 31, 2023
Thus is Raj Shah, a new top aide to Speaker Mike Johnson.
“The emails & text messages involving Shah…demonstrat[e] how elements of Fox, the GOP and [Trump] staffers spent years accommodating some of Trump’s worst impulses & amplifying some of his lies.” https://t.co/UPI3wfGfqh
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) October 31, 2023