The Shadiest Things Former Donald Trump Ally Kayleigh McEnany Has Done
Kayleigh McEnany has garnered a lot of media attention since entering the political spotlight. She went from being a vocal critic of Donald Trump to serving as a key figure for his second presidential campaign and ultimately took on the role of the final White House Press Secretary under Trump. Her rapid rise to political prominence has raised eyebrows, especially given her controversial tenure at the White House, which was overwhelmingly characterized by spreading misinformation.
From implying that Barack Obama rejected the presidential election results in 2016 to claiming electoral fraud when Joe Biden defeated Trump in 2020, there have been plenty of shady things McEnany was caught doing. However, she always maintained that she never lied in the briefing room, citing her higher education and religion as proof. In January 2021, McEnany's time in the White House came to an end, which didn't stop her from making stir-causing statements about Trump's presidency, like suggesting that the United States could've had it worse during the coronavirus pandemic.
Despite her time rubbing shoulders with Trump, McEnany ultimately found herself at odds with him after she suggested that former presidential candidate Ron DeSantis might be "closing the gap" with Trump in Iowa's Republican primary in May 2023, per Newsweek. Even though she might have shifted her political alliances in the meantime, McEnany's shady moments, largely stemming from her defense of Trump, are going to be hard to forget.
She lied about Barack Obama refusing to accept Donald Trump's 2016 presidential victory
Although she had been an outspoken critic of Donald Trump during his first presidential campaign, Kayleigh McEnany falsely referenced the circumstances of his 2016 presidential victory to publicly defend him following his defeat in the 2020 election.
During a White House press conference, as the press secretary at the time, McEnany addressed the Trump administration's efforts to block the transition to President-elect Joe Biden and the purported election fraud. "It's worth remembering that this president was never given an orderly transition of power. His presidency was never accepted," McEnany told the reporters (via YouTube). Her statement clearly implied that Obama had rejected or at least objected to the 2016 election results in some capacity, which was not the case.
In the wake of McEnany's false claims, a recording of a White House meeting between Obama and Trump resurfaced, held just two days after the election results, where Obama can be heard saying, "My number one priority in the coming two months is to try to facilitate a transition that ensures our president-elect is successful" (per The New York Times). Even Trump himself acknowledged the Obamas' assistance during the transition in his inaugural address on January 7th, 2017, proving McEnany's comment was a blatant lie and marking one of her most awkward moments caught on camera.
The former White House secretary justified Donald Trump's inappropriate advances
Donald Trump's "Access Hollywood" tape instantly went viral after it was published by The Washington Post in 2016. Recorded a decade earlier during Trump's preparations for an episode of the entertainment news show, the tape captured him making vulgar remarks about women and bragging about engaging in sexual assault. "I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait," Trump said, infamously adding, "When you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything ... Grab 'em by the pu**y."
The recording caused a national scandal as Trump was a presidential candidate at the time, but he vehemently denied engaging in such behavior and called it "locker room talk" (via YouTube). However, the incident prompted several women to step forward with their stories of Trump's unwanted sexual advances, which, naturally, meant Kayleigh McEnany had to jump in to defend him.
Days after the tape's release, McEnany appeared on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360," arguing that Trump's words were inaccurately interpreted by everyone, The Washington Post reported. "I don't think he was condoning sexual assault," McEnany stated, adding, "He said he starts to kiss a woman, and then they let him do X, Y, or Z. That implies consent." McEnany evidently forgot the concept of genuine consent, opting instead for yet another transparent attempt to suck up to Trump.
When Joe Biden talked about his late son, Kayleigh McEnany called him 'a wounded animal'
Kayleigh McEnany stooped to a new low when she decided to use the death of President Joe Biden's son, Beau, to insult him. In February 2024, a lengthy investigation into Biden's alleged mishandling of classified documents was concluded, but a report by prosecutor Robert Hur sparked fresh controversy. According to AP News, Hur claimed that Biden's memory lapses were so severe that he sometimes couldn't recall the year his son passed away.
Biden addressed the issue during a subsequent press conference, stating, "How in the hell dare he raise that?" Visibly emotional, he firmly continued, "I don't need anyone to remind me when he passed away" (via YouTube). Later, during an appearance on Fox News' "Jesse Watters Primetime," McEnany criticized Biden's response to the report, branding it "an unmitigated disaster." She further commented, "We just watched a wounded political animal hobble to a podium and react with defensiveness [and] anger." Notably absent from her shady rant was any acknowledgment of the topic that angered Biden — the politicization of his son's death. Curiously, McEnany never found it necessary to address Donald Trump's numerous outbursts of anger before, during, and after his presidency, seeming to justify them regardless of how trivial the reasons behind them may have been.
She was outright racist on multiple occasions
After leaving the White House in 2021, Kayleigh McEnany took on a new role as an on-air commentator for Fox News in early March of that year. Shortly thereafter, it was announced that she would also be co-hosting the Fox News daytime show "Outnumbered." However, her previous experience in front of the camera was not enough practice for McEnany to not be racist on-air.
In May 2023, during an episode of "Outnumbered," McEnany made racially charged comments while discussing the tragic killing of Jordan Neely, a Black homeless man in New York City. Reacting to footage of protestors demanding justice for Neely, as reported by The Independent, McEnany thought it would be a good idea to throw in a racially offensive remark, with a smile nonetheless. "Justice or burn it down — well at least they have rhythm," she said, perpetrating a hurtful stereotype about Black people, who were clearly visible among the protesting crowd.
The incident wasn't the only time McEnany was outright racist in public. During President Barack Obama's first term, McEnany decided to weigh in on the so-called birther conspiracy theory, which falsely claimed that Obama was not born in the United States. McEnany took to her X (formerly Twitter) in 2012 to share a racist attempt at a birther joke, writing, "How I Met Your Brother — Never mind, forgot he's still in that hut in Kenya," referring to Obama's brother, who lived in Kenya at the time.
The former Trump ally continuously downplayed the coronavirus pandemic
Prior to her tenure as White House Press Secretary under Donald Trump, Kayleigh McEnany already demonstrated a Trump-esque approach in her public statements. While serving as a spokesperson for Trump's 2020 presidential campaign, McEnany continuously downplayed the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic with eyebrow-raising statements.
In February 2020, during an appearance on Fox Business' "Trish Regan Primetime," she began her confusing COVID-19 rant by praising Trump's patriotism, suggesting somehow that his love for the United States could prevent an airborne virus from spreading. "We will not see diseases like the coronavirus come here," she boldly stated. Just two days later, on Fox News, McEnany implied that the soaring pandemic was a tactic employed by Democrats to undermine Trump. "What is so sick to me is that what is bad for America is good for Democrats," she remarked, continuing, "They root for [COVID-19] to take hold. They have a demented dream of taking down President Trump. It doesn't matter how many Americans they destroy in order to get there."
McEnany reiterated her stance a month later, when it was already clear that Trump didn't have control over the spread of COVID-19. During a radio interview on the "Pat Miller Show," McEnany once again accused Democrats of encouraging the spread of coronavirus in hopes of a recession.