Raj Shah (born c. 1985)[1] is an American political aide who served as the White House Deputy Press Secretary and Deputy Assistant to the President from 2017 to 2019. Before joining the Trump administration, Shah was in charge of opposition research at the Republican National Committee. He is currently deputy chief of staff for communications for House Speaker Mike Johnson.[2]
Raj Shah | |
|---|---|
 | |
| White House Deputy Press Secretary | |
| In office September 12, 2017 – January 14, 2019 | |
| President | Donald Trump |
| Leader | Sarah Sanders |
| Preceded by | Sarah Sanders |
| Succeeded by | Hogan Gidley |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1985 (age 38–39) Connecticut |
| Political party | Republican[1] |
| Education | Cornell University (AB) |
Early life
editShah's parents immigrated to the US from Mumbai.[1] He was born and raised in Connecticut,[3] where his father worked as an engineer and his mother as a dentist.[1]
Shah attended Brien McMahon High School, and was named an Ettinger Scholar in Norwalk, Connecticut. In 2006, he graduated from Cornell University with a bachelor's degree in government.[1]
Career
editShah volunteered in Bridgeport for U.S. Representative Chris Shays during high school, and interned for U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman and others in Washington, D.C. as his interest in politics developed. Finding that he disagreed with Democrats in his family and those he met during internships, Shah cast his first vote for George W. Bush in 2004, and interned in the White House in 2005.[1] While working as a campaign spokesman for New Mexico Republican gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez in 2010, he was arrested for DWI and reckless driving, and was immediately terminated from his position.[4][5]
By the 2012 presidential election cycle, Shah was deputy research director at the Republican National Committee (RNC). He has said that he learned in that job what not to do in the 2016 election. He worked with the campaign staff and manager of the Mitt Romney campaign and others to plan how to defeat Hillary Clinton well before she announced her candidacy. Shah co-founded America Rising, "a right-leaning political action committee that produces opposition research on Democratic candidates". According to Shah, the playbook on the Clinton campaign was
very deep, it's very broad. We had the time and resources to dig through it all and kind of pick and choose how we wanted to go about the general election. I think it played to our benefit. When the email issue broke, we knew what buttons to push. When issues surrounding the foundation came up we knew where to look. We filed over 550 FOI requests and we sued the government half a dozen times to release records. All these sorts of things were years in the making. It was a huge coordinated effort.[1]
As the RNC's head of opposition research in 2016, Shah led a team of experts to carry out research against Clinton. Then-incoming White House Chief of Staff and outgoing RNC head Reince Priebus said that Shah would be among the key leaders in helping to implement Trump's agenda.[6] Before the election, Shah called Trump "deplorable" and the release of the Donald Trump Access Hollywood tape "some justice"; he also helped get embarrassing footage of Trump for a Jeb Bush campaign commercial.[7]
Shah was one of the early staffers on duty in the White House on Inauguration Day, attending to reporters' inquiries and beginning establishment of the communications apparatus (emails of 'OCIO' distributions of the address and the first White House pool report were early to go out) in the West Wing and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.[8]
Shah left the White House in January 2019. In July 2019, Fox Corporation announced that he had joined the company as a senior vice president.[9] The New York Times reported in 2020 that he had been tasked with running a project to discredit critics of Fox News.[10]
As vice president at Fox News, Shah wrote a memo for Tucker Carlson Tonight announcing that anchors should immediately label President Joe Biden's policy announcements "socialism", writing: "Framing any and all policy announcements as “socialism” and taken from an AOC-Bernie Sanders playbook will likely animate Tucker’s core audience".[11]
In November 2023, Shah was appointed deputy chief of staff for communications for Mike Johnson.[2]
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g Krasselt, Kaitlyn, "Norwalk’s Raj Shah forged his own political path", The Hour (Norwalk, Connecticut), January 16, 2017. Aged 32 at time of story; with picture. Retrieved 2013-03-31.
- ^ a b Isenstadt, Alex. "Speaker Johnson taps veteran GOP operative as chief spokesperson". Politico. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
- ^ "Raj Shah becomes first Indian-American to hold press gaggle aboard Air Force One". The Times of India. Washington, D.C. November 30, 2017.
- ^ "Susana Martinez Spokesman Charged With DWI". Abqjournal.com. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
- ^ "Martinez spokesman fired over DWI arrest". Nmpolitics.net. 12 July 2010. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
- ^ "Donald Trump appoints Indian-American Raj Shah to key White House position", PTI via The Financial Express, January 5, 2017. Echoing much of the January 4 Washington Free Beacon article. Retrieved 2017-03-27.
- ^ Nuzzi, Olivia (February 5, 2018). "White House Official Called Trump 'a Deplorable'". New York.
- ^ Wheaton, Sarah, "Trump staff arrives at the White House", Politico, January 20, 2017. Retrieved 2017-03-27.
- ^ Stelter, Brian (20 July 2019). "Former White House spokesman Raj Shah is now a senior VP at Fox". CNN.
- ^ Smith, Ben (31 May 2020). "Record Ratings and Record Chaos on Cable News". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
- ^ Alex Griffing (March 31, 2023). "'Any and All' Biden Policies Should Be Labeled 'Socialism': 4 New Revelations From Fox News-Dominion Lawsuit". Mediaite. Retrieved April 3, 2023.