One America News Network, a right-wing cable television station recently praised by President Trump, has hired a former member of his administration to cover it for the outlet.
Christina Bobb, a former executive secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, recently joined OAN’s reporting team, the network’s parent company announced Wednesday.
Ms. Bobb, who served in the Marine Corps before joining DHS in 2018, will cover breaking news involving the Trump administration for OAN, Herring Networks said in the announcement.
She quietly began reporting for OAN last month. Among her first contributions was an interview with acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf that was uploaded to the network’s YouTube channel afterward without making any mention of her previous job with the agency.
A self-described fan of the Trump administration, Ms. Bobb’s hiring comes as OAN faces criticism due to its unabashedly fawning coverage of the president and penchant for pushing unfounded right-wing conspiracy theories, including baseless claims it repeatedly amplified recently about an elderly protester injured by police last week in Buffalo, New York.
OAN has speculated that the protester, 75-year-old Martin Gugino, was a “provocateur” who may have been trying to interfere with law enforcement prior to being shoved by two members of the Buffalo Police Department in a viral video recorded last Thursday. Both officers involved have since been hit with criminal charges of second-degree assault.
Mr. Trump touted OAN’s report about the protester Tuesday on Twitter, prompting swift condemnation from Democratic critics including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, among others.
“To target him when everyone saw on video exactly what happened is just such a reprehensible act,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said Wednesday about Mr. Trump sharing the report.
Ms. Bobb’s job at DHS involved overseeing written communications intended for and originated by the secretary and deputy secretary, according to the agency’s website. It was not clear when she left DHS, and neither Ms. Bobb nor her former employer immediately returned messages seeking clarification.
Launched by Herring Networks in 2013, OAN caused a commotion last month when the network ran a report suggesting the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic is actually a “globalist conspiracy to establish sweeping population control.” Mr. Trump had praised OAN on Twitter days earlier, tweeting that the network is “Great News, not Fake News.”
Ms. Bobb recently made clear she is supportive of the administration that she has been hired to cover.
“I’m a fan,” she tweeted about the Trump administration last week.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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