Morgan Ortagus is the latest to go through the revolving door from Fox News to the Trump TV administration. Unlike her predecessor, Fox News host Heather Nauert, Ortagus appears to be qualified for the position of State Department spokesperson.
You may recall that Nauert abruptly announced she would leave the position “to spend more time with family” after her nomination to be ambassador the U.N. (for which she was even less qualified) ran into trouble.
Today, NBC reported that three sources told the network Ortagus will replace Nauert. She has remained on staff at the State Department but has not conducted a televised briefing since her decision to leave.
I have to wonder whose idea it was to hire Ortagus given that she’s not the usual Fox hire in that she’s both qualified and not a complete loyalist. In fact, she once worked for the Obama administration. From NBC News:
Ortagus previously served as a public affairs officer for the U.S. Agency for International Development, an independent agency that takes direction from the State Department, according to a biography posted on the website of her consulting firm, GO Advisors. Her tenure included work in Iraq.
She also worked for the Treasury Department in the first term of the Obama administration as an intelligence analyst and as Treasury's deputy U.S. attaché to Saudi Arabia, where her GO Advisors bio says she worked on countering illicit finance.
On Fox, Ortagus has occasionally abandoned the party line. Although a public Trump supporter, she was mildly critical of Trump’s behavior toward Russia, e.g. However, she’s a big supporter of the wall (that Mexico was supposed to pay for) and, likely mindful that her future boss was watching yesterday, she gave a thumbs up to Trump’s effort to do away with millions of Americans’ health insurance. I'll bet Trump never bothered to read Oratgus' CV.
Watch Ortagus cheerlead Trump’s sabotage of Americans’ health insurance below – and suck up to Trump by urging Republicans to emulate him and “not to run” from repealing Obamacare below, from the March 27, 2019 Special Report.