Former Fox Executive Raj Shah Named Speaker Mike Johnson’s Chief of Staff for Communications
- The Indian American made headlines earlier this year when his texts and emails were exposed to Dominion Voting Systems’ lawsuit against the network, which was settled for more than $787 million in April.
Former Fox executive Raj Shah has been named chief of staff for communications to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). The Indian American made headlines earlier this year when his texts and emails were exposed to Dominion Voting Systems’ lawsuit against the network, which was settled for more than $787 million in April. He left the company in May.
According to a report in The Daily Beast, “Dominion said in a filing that those communications showed Shah knew claims the election had been stolen from Donald Trump were bogus,” and yet, when Fox repeatedly aired clearly false allegations about Dominion, Shah ignored the truth and sat on his ability to intervene.”
In a March 12 report, The Washington Post noted how Shah “privately derided the White House’s narrative of a stolen election. But he also pushed back on efforts to dispute the claims.” Citing text messages and other records obtained by the publication, The Post said Shah complained to deputy executives and some talent at Fox News over guests who looked “awful” during segments where election-related matters. “This is the kind of sh-t that will kill us,” Shah texted a deputy executive at Fox News, according to some records reported by the Post. “We cover it wall-to-wall, and then we burn that down with all the skepticism.”
Politico notes that in his new role, Shah will “among other things, help run messaging for House Republicans.”
In a post on X, Matt Campbell, an investigative reporter at the Arkansas Times,
Alexa Henning, communications director for Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who applied to be Johnson’s comms director, “was passed over for a much better liar in Shah.”
Before joining Fox Corp., Shah was a partner at Ballard Media Group. Previously, he served in the White House as Principal Deputy Press Secretary and Deputy Communications Director. He was also a Research Director and Deputy Communications Director at the Republican National Committee.