Fox News host says she may be in line for press secretary job
NEW YORK — Kimberly Guilfoyle, the former first lady of San Francisco and current Fox News host, is in conversations with the Trump administration about becoming White House press secretary, she said in an exclusive interview with the Bay Area News Group.
Guilfoyle said the idea of her taking the job or another press role in the White House has been “raised by a number of people” in the Trump administration, although she declined to go into specifics. She said she’s regularly in touch with members of the administration in the course of her job.
“I’m a patriot, and it would be an honor to serve the country,” Guilfoyle said. “I think it’d be a fascinating job. It’s a challenging job, and you need someone really determined and focused, a great communicator in there with deep knowledge to be able to handle that position.”
Guilfoyle is a former San Francisco and Los Angeles prosecutor who was married for four years to former San Francisco mayor and current Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom. The two separated in 2005 when she moved to New York to start a career in television. She’s now one of the co-hosts of the Fox News show “The Five.”
She was originally considered for press secretary during the presidential transition, but the job went to Sean Spicer, the former spokesman for the Republican National Committee.
Now, with rumors boiling in Washington, D.C., about a broad shakeup to Trump’s press team following a drumbeat of controversies, Guilfoyle’s name has resurfaced. The New York Times reported on Friday that Trump had suggested Guilfoyle for the press secretary job in conversations with political allies.
If she joined the administration, Guilfoyle could come aboard amid other changes at the press office. In an interview with Fox News released over the weekend, Trump floated the possibility of canceling the daily news briefings and just releasing written statements or holding a personal news conference every couple of weeks.
On her show last week, Guilfoyle — while not mentioning anything about herself — said she thought “there is room for improvement with the roll-out” by the press team, citing the furor over the travel ban and the firing of FBI Director James Comey.The White House did not respond Tuesday morning to a request for comment about the speculation over Guilfoyle.