Cheung Steven
===
pow
11 24 i missed something on him
---
an 8 26
Trump communications director put on blast for profane attack on US senator
---
deflect crit eg of rAcism or errors bc he is most transparent or unfiltered thus authentic AND HONEST, NOT LIKE A POL
an 5 26
Natalie Harp has become one of the most influential figures in shaping President Trump's public messaging, yet few Americans know her name. The executive assistant operates largely behind the scenes, serving as the critical filter between the president's impulses and the millions of followers who consume his Truth Social feed each day.
Her role has expanded dramatically since Trump's return to the White House, according to a new, wide-ranging report in the *Wall Street Journal*, making her instrumental in the nearly 8,800 posts published to the president's account since the start of his second term. While Trump personally approves all content, Harp controls much of what reaches his desk for approval in the first place.
Each evening, Harp arrives with stacks of printed-out draft posts—material she and other advisers believe will appeal to the president. These proposed messages often recycle content from fringe social media accounts, partisan commentators, and anonymous users across X and other platforms. According to people familiar with the process, Harp scours the internet for videos, images, and text that align with Trump's grievances and worldview.
Once Trump approves the selections, Harp logs into the president's account—often during late-night and early-morning hours when most White House staff have gone home. She then posts batches of messages in rapid succession, contributing to the frenetic posting patterns that have characterized Trump's Truth Social presence.
On a single night in December, Trump's accountposted nearly 160 times between 8:17 p.m. and midnight. Such bursts have occurred 44 times since Trump returned to office, with dozens or more posts frequently published between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., according to the Journal's analysis.
Harp's influence extends to some of the most controversial content to appear on Trump's account. Earlier this year, at the president's direction, she posted a video containing racist imagery depicting former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama as apes, as well as an AI-generated image portraying Trump as a Christ-like figure. Both posts were later deleted after bipartisan backlash.
Trump later told reporters he had not seen the offensive portion of the video before approving it, blaming an editing error. However, the episode raised questions about how thoroughly the president reviews content before it reaches his followers.
What distinguishes Harp's role is her apparent autonomy in the process. Unlike typical White House operations, she does not share draft posts with the chief of staff's office, communications aides, or national security officials before they are posted. When questioned about this lack of coordination, Harp has told colleagues she works directly for Trump and only answers to him.
This approach has frustrated some White House officials who worry about the absence of institutional checks on the content being published under the president's name.
The lack of broader review means that some of the most divisive presidential messaging bypasses traditional White House communication channels entirely. The posts often amplify conspiracy theories, including false claims about the 2020 election being stolen. They describe migrants as existential threats, call for the arrest of political opponents, and mock critics—all without input from seasoned communications professionals or policy experts.
Much of the content Harp selects comes from obscure or anonymous accounts. The Wall Street Journal found that significant portions of Trump's Truth Social feed consist of reposts from accounts like @TheSCIF, @WallStreetApes, and @NathanielSami—users whose identities and motivations are largely unknown to the general public.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheungdefended the arrangement, stating that "Truth Social has never been hotter" because it allows Trump to offer "unfiltered and direct thoughts to the American people, without the biased media taking him out of context." He declined to discuss internal deliberations about how the posting process works.
---
---
an 10 25
A profile in The New York Times says that Shirish Dáte, a White House reporter for HuffPost who goes by the byline S.V. Dáte, "gets clobbered" when he reaches out to the Trump administrationfor comment.
"Top Trump officials, Mr. Dáte said, tend to reply with insults, often bundled with praise for their boss. Never were they more newsworthy than a recent back-and-forth that spread across the internet," the Times writes.
When Dáte asked the administration who recommended Budapest for the now-canceled meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt now infamously replied, "Your mom did," in a text message that has since gone viral.
Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, texted the same reply to him moments later.
“I was kind of like, this is a serious war that’s going on that has killed tens of thousands of Ukrainians in their homes,” Dáte, also the author of the 2020 book "The Useful Idiot: How Donald Trump Killed the Republican Party with Racism and the Rest of Us with Coronavirus", told the Times.
“And then your response is, ‘Your mom?'” he asked.
While the Times notes that Trump and his aides "regularly bad mouth the press," they say that in a White House press room filled with hand-picked acolytes, it's different when it comes to Dáte.
"They show less restraint in their pushback against Mr. Dáte, accentuating his somewhat lonely professional existence — reporting for a progressive publication in a building increasingly populated by right-wing outlets supportive of the current administration," the Times says.
Following the "your mom" texts, Leavitttold Dáte via text that he was a “far left hack who nobody takes seriously, including your colleagues in the media, they just don’t tell you that to your face.”
After reporting on a story about Trump deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, Dáte received "an expletive-laden text from Mr. Cheung chiding his physical stature and his masculinity."
“In nine years, have I ever insulted you?” Dáte responded. Cheung then wrote that Mr. Dáte was “being a moron.”
Dáte, who has covered politics for years, including in Florida, says he's never experienced anything like this.
“Things got testy at times with Jeb Bush’s staff,” Dáte said. “But never like this.”
Dáte covered Trump's legal troubles and documented the "sprawling aftermath" of Jan. 6 during the Biden administration, the Times explains.
"That was my choice,” said Dáte, who wrote an opinion piece arguing that "the media scandal of the 2024 presidential campaign related not to coverage of Mr. Biden’s age, but to 'normalizing' coverage of Mr. Trump," the Times says.
Dáte is “alarmed” by Trump "not because he’s a Republican, but rather because his actions 'are breaks from precedent and oftentimes massive shifts in how this president is operating,'" Kevin Robillard, HuffPost’s political editor, told the Times.
HuffPost's editor-in-chief thinks he knows why they go after Dáte.
“Their response to [Dáte] was ridiculous, but it doesn’t bother us,” said Whitney Snyder, HuffPost’s editor in chief. “Maybe he’s gotten under their skin.”
He's also gotten more subscribers. According to a HuffPost spokesperson, following the Leavitt "your mom" incident, "the site received 66 percent more revenue for the program than it does on a typical day, according to a spokeswoman for the site."
Dáte believes that uptick is due to many things.
“I would guess that our core audience does not like Donald Trump for a variety of reasons,” Dáte said, “and I hope my stories have informed them as to why they might oppose him.”
---
---
an 10 25
A profile in The New York Times says that Shirish Dáte, a White House reporter for HuffPost who goes by the byline S.V. Dáte, "gets clobbered" when he reaches out to the Trump administrationfor comment.
"Top Trump officials, Mr. Dáte said, tend to reply with insults, often bundled with praise for their boss. Never were they more newsworthy than a recent back-and-forth that spread across the internet," the Times writes.
When Dáte asked the administration who recommended Budapest for the now-canceled meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt now infamously replied, "Your mom did," in a text message that has since gone viral.
Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, texted the same reply to him moments later.
“I was kind of like, this is a serious war that’s going on that has killed tens of thousands of Ukrainians in their homes,” Dáte, also the author of the 2020 book "The Useful Idiot: How Donald Trump Killed the Republican Party with Racism and the Rest of Us with Coronavirus", told the Times.
“And then your response is, ‘Your mom?'” he asked.
While the Times notes that Trump and his aides "regularly bad mouth the press," they say that in a White House press room filled with hand-picked acolytes, it's different when it comes to Dáte.
"They show less restraint in their pushback against Mr. Dáte, accentuating his somewhat lonely professional existence — reporting for a progressive publication in a building increasingly populated by right-wing outlets supportive of the current administration," the Times says.
Following the "your mom" texts, Leavitttold Dáte via text that he was a “far left hack who nobody takes seriously, including your colleagues in the media, they just don’t tell you that to your face.”
After reporting on a story about Trump deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, Dáte received "an expletive-laden text from Mr. Cheung chiding his physical stature and his masculinity."
“In nine years, have I ever insulted you?” Dáte responded. Cheung then wrote that Mr. Dáte was “being a moron.”
Dáte, who has covered politics for years, including in Florida, says he's never experienced anything like this.
“Things got testy at times with Jeb Bush’s staff,” Dáte said. “But never like this.”
Dáte covered Trump's legal troubles and documented the "sprawling aftermath" of Jan. 6 during the Biden administration, the Times explains.
"That was my choice,” said Dáte, who wrote an opinion piece arguing that "the media scandal of the 2024 presidential campaign related not to coverage of Mr. Biden’s age, but to 'normalizing' coverage of Mr. Trump," the Times says.
Dáte is “alarmed” by Trump "not because he’s a Republican, but rather because his actions 'are breaks from precedent and oftentimes massive shifts in how this president is operating,'" Kevin Robillard, HuffPost’s political editor, told the Times.
HuffPost's editor-in-chief thinks he knows why they go after Dáte.
“Their response to [Dáte] was ridiculous, but it doesn’t bother us,” said Whitney Snyder, HuffPost’s editor in chief. “Maybe he’s gotten under their skin.”
He's also gotten more subscribers. According to a HuffPost spokesperson, following the Leavitt "your mom" incident, "the site received 66 percent more revenue for the program than it does on a typical day, according to a spokeswoman for the site."
Dáte believes that uptick is due to many things.
“I would guess that our core audience does not like Donald Trump for a variety of reasons,” Dáte said, “and I hope my stories have informed them as to why they might oppose him.”
---
---
ars tech
federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr accused Comcast of "news distortion" because its subsidiary NBC isn't parroting the Trump administration narrative on the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
"Comcast knows that federal law requires its licensed operations to serve the public interest. News distortion doesn't cut it," Carr wrote in a post on X yesterday.
Carr's use of the phrase "news distortion" is significant because he has been invoking the FCC's rarely enforced news distortion policy to pressure licensed broadcasters that he perceives as being biased against President Trump. For a detailed look at Carr's fight against media, read our feature: "The speech police: Chairman Brendan Carr and the FCC's news distortion policy."
Carr, who recently wore a pin depicting Trump's head on his lapel, provided no substantive argument that NBC is guilty of news distortion. Historically, the FCC has enforced the policy in only the most extreme cases where there is evidence of misconduct, such as a bribe, or instructions from management to distort the news. As a 1985 ruling from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said, the FCC policy makes "a crucial distinction between deliberate distortion and mere inaccuracy or difference of opinion."
In his post yesterday, Carr alleged that "Comcast outlets spent days misleading the American public—implying that Abrego Garcia was merely a law abiding US citizen, just a regular 'Maryland man.'" Carr wrote that "Abrego Garcia came to America illegally from El Salvador, was validated as a member of the violent MS-13 gang—a transnational criminal organization—and was denied bond by an immigration court for failure to show he would not pose a danger to others."
"Why does Comcast ignore these facts of obvious public interest?" Carr asked.
SCOTUS ruled US must facilitate man’s release
Abrego Garcia's lawyer said in a lawsuit that he has no affiliation with MS-13. During a 2019 immigration court proceeding, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "offered a Gang Field Interview Sheet ('GFIS') generated by PGPD [Prince George County Police Department]," the lawsuit said. "The GFIS explained that the only reason to believe Plaintiff Abrego Garcia was a gang member was that he was wearing a Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie; and that a confidential informant advised that he was an active member of MS-13 with the Westerns clique."
The MS-13 Westerns clique is said to operate in New York, "a state that Plaintiff Abrego Garcia has never lived in," the lawsuit said. The Gang Field Interview Sheet was reportedly filled out by an officer who was later suspended and indicted for providing confidential information to a sex worker.
The Supreme Court last week upheld a key portion of a District Court order on the deportation, saying that the lower court's "order properly requires the Government to 'facilitate' Abrego Garcia's release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador."
Carr made his statement on X yesterday while sharing a post by White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, who said it's "SHAMEFUL that CNN and MSNBC refuses to take Angel Mom Patty Morin as she recounts the terrible tragedy of how an illegal killed her sweet daughter, Rachel."
Victor Martinez-Hernandez was convicted of killing Rachel Morin earlier this week. The White House has attempted to link this murder to Abrego Garcia's deportation, but they are entirely separate cases.
Carr’s fight against media
Carr's post yesterday, combined with his recent actions to enforce the news distortion policy, suggest that he is likely to open a proceeding if a formal complaint is lodged against any NBC stations. Carr showed he is willing to investigate news distortion complaints into ordinary editorial decisions when he revived complaints against CBS and ABC that were thrown out under the previous administration.
Carr has focused in particular on the CBS complaint, which concerns the editing of a CBS *60 Minutes* interview with Kamala Harris. The conservative Center for American Rights alleged that CBS distorted the news by airing "two completely different answers" to the same question.
CBS published unedited video and a transcript that shows it simply aired two different sentences from the same response in different segments, but Carr has kept the proceeding open and seems to be using it as a bargaining chip in the FCC review of CBS-owner Paramount's transfer of TV broadcast station licenses to Skydance.
Carr's handling of the CBS complaint has been condemned by both liberal and conservative advocacy groups—and former Democratic and Republican FCC commissioners and chairs—who say the FCC's approach is a threat to the constitutional right to free speech.
Carr has also sent letters to companies—including Comcast—alleging that their diversity policies are "invidious forms of discrimination in violation of FCC regulations and civil rights laws." Carr last month threatened to block mergers pursued by companies that enforce diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.
We contacted Comcast and NBC today and will update this article if they provide any response to Carr's news distortion allegation.
Jon Brodkin Senior IT Reporter
Jon is a Senior IT Reporter for Ars Technica. He covers the telecom industry, Federal Communications Commission rulemakings, broadband consumer affairs, court cases, and government regulation of the tech industry.
---
Other senior White House roles
There are a number of senior White House roles, but here are a few of the key positions that will likely play an outsized role in shaping the president’s agenda:
NAMED
James Blair, deputy chief of staff: Blair was the political director on Trump’s presidential campaign and as a deputy chief of staff will focus on legislative, political and public affairs.
Taylor Budowich, deputy chief of staff: Budowich ran Trump’s main super PAC, MAGA Inc., before joining the campaign. He is a trusted lieutenant of Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and will focus on communications and personnel.
Dan Scavino, deputy chief of staff: Scavino was a senior adviser on Trump’s presidential campaign and a longtime top social media aide and confidante to Trump.
Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff: Miller was also a senior advisor on Trump’s presidential campaign and is his top immigration adviser and speechwriter. Miller will focus on homeland security.
Steven Cheung, communications director: Cheung was a top communications adviser on Trump’s presidential campaign and will now serve as his communications director in the White House.
William McGinley, White House counsel: McGinley previously served as the White House Cabinet secretary under Trump and as general counsel to the National Republican Senatorial Committee. This role is expected to be central in the incoming president’s plan to expand executive authority.
Reported by Josh Dawsey, Maegan Vazquez and Hannah Knowles
===
AN 11 24
WASHINGTON — On the final frantic Sunday of the presidential race, while Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at a Black church service in Michigan, former President Donald Trump told supporters at a Pennsylvania rally that he “shouldn’t have left” the White House after he lost the 2020 presidential election.
At a campaign rally at an airplane tarmac in Lititz, Pennsylvania, Trump again perpetuated the falsehood that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him and claimed that this year’s election would also be stolen because election results could take a while to be counted.
“These elections have to be decided by 9 o’clock, 10 o’clock, 11 o’clock on Tuesday night,” he said. “Bunch of crooked people.”
Election officials have warned thatresults could take days to finalize.
The comments came as new polls showed good news for Harris. A highly regarded pollster in Iowa showed a shocking lead for Harris there and New York Times-Siena College polls of the seven major battleground states showed slight leads for Harris in some Sun Belt swing states, while Trump made gains in the Rust Belt.
As the campaign dwindles to its final hours, here are seven key developments from this weekend:
Trump says he ‘shouldn’t have left’ White House
Trump spent much of his Lititz rally complaining about the election process and media coverage, seeming to repeat his false claim that he was the rightful winner of the 2020 election.
“I shouldn’t have left, I mean, honestly,” Trump said. “We did so well, we had such a great — so now, every polling booth has hundreds of lawyers standing there.”
He also joked about shooters targeting reporters covering his event, the Pennsylvania Capital-Star reported.
He pointed to protective glass covering him on two sides and noted a press section was on another side of him.
“To get me, someone would have to shoot through the fake news,” Trump said. “And I don’t mind that so much.”
In a statement that seemed to contradict the plain meaning of Trump’s remark, campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung denied Trump was encouraging violence against reporters.
“The President’s statement about protective glass placement has nothing to do with the Media being harmed, or anything else,” Cheung wrote. “It was about threats against him that were spurred on by dangerous rhetoric from Democrats. In fact, President Trump was stating that the Media was in danger, in that they were protecting him and, therefore, were in great danger themselves, and should have had a glass protective shield, also. There can be no other interpretation of what was said. He was actually looking out for their welfare, far more than his own!”...
NO LNX
alternet-logo
Trump spokesman launches unhinged attack on Harris campaign official
Former President Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Florida on July 26, 2024 (Gage Skidmore)
Alex HendersonNovember 04, 2024
Spokesman Steven Cheung has maintained a snarky, combative tone throughout Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign. And he aimed an insult at Patrick Dillon — the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign manager Jennifer O’Malley Dillon — on Saturday, November 2.
Cheung was offended when Patrick Dillon tweeted about an article by The Atlantic's Tim Alberta, which was headlined, "Inside the Ruthless, Restless Final Days of the Trump Campaign."
On X, formerly Twitter, Cheung attacked Patrick Dillon as a "cuck husband" who "has no idea what he's talking about because he's used to not knowing what’s going on behind his back."
READ MORE:Harassing letters threatening biblical hell fire targets Democratic voters in Wisconsin
"Cuck," an insult that is commonly used by MAGA Republicans, comes from an adult film genre. In the "cuck" genre, a "cuck's" fetish is seeing his wife or girlfriend having sex with another man.
The word "cuckservative" has been used by MAGA Republicans to attack traditional conservatives and non-MAGA Republicans they consider weak.
Cheung once described Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as a "cuck" for challenging Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential primary.
In response to Cheung's attack on Patrick Dillon, former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann tweeted, "Anybody who whores himself out for psychotrump should be a little more reluctant to call somebody else a 'cuck.'"
READ MORE: 5 ways Trump is planning to thwart election results: report
===
an 10 24
Suggesting that Vice President Kamala Harris “isn’t competent to run a bingo game at the community center,” Trump senior adviser Stephen Millerlaid into a top Harris spokesperson Monday night for suggesting that Donald Trump backed out of a "60 Minutes" sit-down interview because the former president is “avoiding the media.”
The social media feud between Miller and Harris-Walz senior national spokesperson Ian Sams ensued shortly after the airing of the traditional “60 Minutes” candidate interview, which Trump was notably absent from despite originally agreeing to.
“Scott Pelley opens ‘60 Minutes’ outlining in great detail how Donald Trump agreed to sit for an interview, including quoting Steven Cheung phone calls and text messages, before canceling,” Sams wrote on X. “Yikes. Why is Trump avoiding the media? Why won't he answer questions from real outlets?”
“Hey liar, Trump has done dozens of hours long press conferences with adversarial media,” Miller wrote in a reply to Sams. “Kamala has never done one adversarial interview in any setting anywhere and never done one single solitary press conference. Kamala isn’t competent to run a bingo game at the community center.”
Sams left his position as a Biden administration spokesman for oversight and investigations in August to join the Harris-Walz campaign as a top spokesperson, the Washington Post reported. He previously served as national press secretary on Harris' 2020 presidential campaign, according to the publication.
Miller is a longtime Trump adviser and architect of the Trumpadministration's “zero tolerance” family separation policy.
---
an 10? 24
Donald Trump's campaign spokesman extended a profane response to Kamala Harris' campaign's mockery Tuesday.
The Kamala HQ account on X ridiculed the former president's glitched-out conversation with tech mogul Elon Musk on the X platform he owns, saying the technical issues shouldn't obscure the "extreme and dangerous" agenda of the two "self-obsessed rich guys."
And Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung lashed out, reported The Daily Beast.
“All these statements, yet nobody ever puts their name on them,” Cheung wrote on X. “F---ing cowards.”
Musk endorsed Trump last month after his apparent assassination attempt in Pennsylvania. The billionaire had previously said he'd "reluctantly" voted for Biden in 2020 and initially backed the ill-fated 2024 campaign of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose Republican primary bid was launched in yet another Twitter Space event marred by technical issues.
“Wow! The DeSanctus TWITTER launch is a DISASTER!” Trump wrote at that time. “His whole campaign will be a disaster. WATCH!”
The Harris campaign took shots at the Trump-Musk event, which featured the former president lisping and repeating many of the themes he highlights in campaign rallies, such as his intention to get rid of the Department of Education and mocking President Joe Biden's age.
“Donald Trump’s extremism and dangerous Project 2025 agenda is a feature not a glitch of his campaign, which was on full display for those unlucky enough to listen in tonight during whatever that was on X.com,” the Harris-Walz campaign statement read.
“Trump’s entire campaign is in service of people like Elon Musk and himself — self-obsessed rich guys who will sell out the middle class and who cannot run a livestream in the year 2024,” the campaign added.
---
WIKI TALK MEH 11 24
Huyen "Steven" Cheung (born June 23, 1982) is an American political advisor serving as former President Donald Trump's campaign spokesman in the 2024 United States presidential election.[1][2] He previously worked in Trump's 2016 and 2020 campaigns. He also worked in communications for the sports organization Ultimate Fighting Championship based in Las Vegas, Nevada.[3]
Early life
\
Cheung was born in Sacramento, California, to Chinese parents who had immigrated to the U.S., and was raised in Sacramento.[4][5] He was a high school football player.[6] He attended California State University, Sacramento, majoring in computer science and political science.[4]
Career
\
Political campaigns and UFC
:{As a college student in 2003, Cheung became an intern in then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's communications and speechwriting office in California.[7][8] He moved to Washington, D.C. in 2008 to work on John McCain's presidential campaign.[9][10] Cheung has served on the campaigns of Steve Poizner for California governor, Sharron Angle for U.S. Senate, and Texas Lt. Governor David Dewhurst for U.S. Senate.[11]
In 2013, Cheung transitioned into a career with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he worked as "a director of communications for public affairs at the UFC".[12] He was involved in the UFC practice of banning reporters critical of the organization from live events.[13]}:
Trump 2016 campaign and transition
Before then-candidate Donald Trump was nominated as the Republican presidential nominee at the Republican National Convention in 2016, Cheung left his job at the UFC and joined the Trump campaign's communications and press team as Director of Rapid Response.[14][3] His duties included "keeping the campaign up to date on breaking news and pushing back on false or unbalanced reporting" according to a press release.[15]
Cheung was involved[how?] in a statement disavowing support from the Ku Klux Klan and a white supremacist newspaper, who endorsed Trump's campaign. He said, "Mr. Trump and the campaign denounces hate in any form. This publication is repulsive and their views do not represent the tens of millions of Americans who are uniting behind our campaign."[16]
After Trump's victory over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, Cheung was named as an advisor to the presidential transition team.[17][18][19] According to media reports, he was at one point considered for the role of White House Press Secretary.[20] That job ultimately went to Sean Spicer.[21]
Trump White House
\
Cheung was named as Special Assistant to the President and Assistant Communications Director at the White House on January 19, 2017, one day prior to Trump's inauguration.[2] He was part of a team tasked with helping nominate and confirm Neil Gorsuch to the United States Supreme Court. Gorsuch was eventually confirmed to the Supreme Court by the United States Senate by a 54–45 vote.[22] Shortly after Gorsuch's confirmation, Cheung assumed a different position at the White House.[23]
On August 16, 2017, Cheung was appointed as Special Assistant to the President and Director of Strategic Response.[24] He then worked on the passage of Trump's tax reform bill, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.[25] The bill successfully passed Congress and Trump signed it into law on December 22, 2017.[26]
According to the book Sinking in the Swamp: How Trump's Minions and Misfits Poisoned Washington, Cheung, along with three others, were referred to as "the killers" in the White House by Jared Kushner and Stephen Bannon. They were considered by Bannon to be "innovative and action oriented".[27]
On June 11, 2018, Politico reported Cheung left the White House,[5] amid a contentious period with Chief of Staff John F. Kelly making changes to Trump's White House communications staff. Amid leaks and infighting, Kelly overhauled the communications team, which led to additional departures.[22] It was later revealed that Cheung's annual White House salary was $131,000.[28] Cheung later appeared in a contentious interview with CNN on June 28, 2018, where critics accused him of politicizing the confirmation process of the United States Supreme Court.[29]
Trump 2020 campaign
Politico reported that President Trump's 2020 re-election campaign retained the services of the firm Solgence, which is owned and operated by Cheung.[30] As part of the 2020 campaign, Cheung worked on putting together the Republican National Convention in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.[31]
After the 2020 US presidential election, in which Trump was defeated by Joe Biden, Cheung was involved in the Trump campaign's efforts to overturn the election. Despite Trump's baseless claims, according to experts, there has been no evidence of election fraud.[32][33][34][35]
Post-Trump presidency
\
Cheung was named the spokesman of the Trump 2024 presidential campaign. After Trump was criticized in October 2023 for his statement that undocumented immigrants were "poisoning the blood of our country," echoing language of white supremacists and Adolf Hitler, Cheung responded:
That's a normal phrase that is used in everyday life – in books, television, movies, and in news articles. For anyone to think that is racist or xenophobic is living in an alternate reality consumed with non-sensical outrage.[36]
After Trump was criticized in November 2023 for using language of fascist dictators by referring to his political opponents as "vermin", Cheung said:
Those who try to make that ridiculous assertion are clearly snowflakes grasping for anything because they are suffering from and their sad, miserable existence will be crushed when President Trump returns to the White House.[37]
Cheung was a senior advisor on the 2022 U.S. Senate campaign of former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, who resigned amid allegations of sexual assault and campaign finance impropriety.[38][39]
Axios reported that Cheung joined as senior advisor to reality star Caitlyn Jenner's unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in California during the 2021 recall election.[8]
Cheung also served as an advisor and spokesperson for former congressman Jim Renacci's 2022 campaign for Ohio governor.[40]
Media outlets reported in 2022 that Cheung began advising cryptocurrency entrepreneur and philanthropist Brock Pierce, a former child star linked to Jeffrey Epstein and the DEN collapse & financial & sex scandal.[41][42]
Arlington National Cemetery incident
\
On August 27, 2024, an incident occurred at Arlington National Cemetery in which two Trump staffers, Justin Caporale and Michel Picard, shoved a cemetery employee who was trying to stop the Trump team from photographing and filming a campaign promotion in a heavily restricted area of the cemetery known as Section 60, a burial site that is primarily reserved for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. A federal law prohibits the use of U.S. military facilities, cemeteries in particular, for political campaigns.
Cheung baselessly asserted the woman was "suffering from a mental health episode," which military officials said was false. He alleged the cemetery employee "initiated physical contact that was unwarranted and unnecessary" and said the campaign would release video to support its account, which it never did. The cemetery employee filed an incident report with military officials, but declined to press charges, fearing retribution from Trump supporters. Cheung characterized that concern as "ridiculous and sounds like someone who has Trump Derangement Syndrome". The Trump campaign posted a TikTok video of the visit the next day, during which Trump is heard criticizing the Biden-Harris administration for the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.[43][44][45][46][47]
MAGA Inc.
As of 2023, Cheung was the communications director of Trump's MAGA Inc. super PAC.[48][49][50][51][52][53][54]
11 24
MAGA Inc., also called Make America Great Again Inc. is an American Super PAC that supports former US president Donald Trump.[3][4] It was founded on September 23, 2022. As a Super PAC it can raise unlimited money for campaigns and spend it freely to support Trump, but it is barred from coordinating directly with presidential campaigns.
History
\
Founding
\
A Statement of Organization was filed with the Federal Election Commission on September 23, 2022, for Make America Great Again Inc. as an independent expenditure-only political committee (Super PAC) that is supporting former US president Donald Trump, and is located in Alexandria, Virginia.[5][6]
Distinct from Trump's existing Save America leadership PAC, which had served as his chief fundraising vehicle, as a Super PAC it can raise unlimited money for campaigns and spend it freely to support him.[7][8] However, super PACs are barred from coordinating directly with campaigns.[7][8]
Taylor Budowich, a 26-year-old former aide of Trump, was named the group's executive director.[9][7][10] In June 2023, Budowich testified before a federal grand jury in Miami as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump's handling of classified documents.[11]
Maga Inc. pollster Tony Fabrizio
:{:{Other staff of the Super PAC are former Trump campaign aide Steven Cheung (communications director; who worked on Trump's 2016 and 2020 campaigns, is a former White House assistant communications director, and a former Ultimate Fighting Championship communications executive), longtime Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio (running polling operations); veteran GOP operative Chris LaCivita (chief strategist; former Swift Vets lead operator);}:
and Sergio Gor (former campaign adviser and the publisher of Trump's post-presidential book A Journey Together, as a senior adviser).[12][13][14][15][16][17][18] Karoline Leavitt, who ran for New Hampshire's 1st District l in the 2022 United States House of Representatives elections in New Hampshire, is the spokeswoman for MAGA Inc.[19] Alex Pfeiffer, a former producer for Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, will also join the operation.[15]}:
Fundraising in 2022
\
In October 2022, Save America transferred $20 million to MAGA Inc.[20] In November 2022, the campaign finance watchdog Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), alleging that the transfer was inappropriate inasmuch as Trump was already a presidential candidate when he made the transfer.[21][22] In May 2023, NRDC Action Fund affiliated Super-PAC, NRDC Action Votes, joined CLC in a supplemental complaint alleging that former Trump and Save America violated the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), specifically, the provisions that prohibit federal election candidates from utilizing “soft money", which refers to money that is not adherent to contribution limits, source prohibitions, or reporting requirements for election candidates.[23]
Also that month, businessman Timothy Mellon contributed $1.5 million to MAGA Inc.[24] Businessman Andrew Beal donated $500,000 to the Super PAC.[25]
Trump's Save America PAC transferred $60 million to MAGA Inc in 2022.[3][26] MAGA Inc. reported $54 million in cash on hand at the end of 2022.[27][28] MAGA Inc. spent money opposing some political candidates in 2022 (most notably $3.4 million opposing Raphael Warnock who won, 3.4 million opposing John Fetterman who won, and $3.0 million opposing Mark Kelly who won), and supporting some other political candidates (most notably $0.7 million supporting Blake Masters who lost, $0.09 million supporting Adam Laxalt who lost, and $0.08 supporting Mehmet Oz who lost).[1][29]
2023
\
In June 2023, MAGA Inc filed a 15-page complaint with the Florida Commission on Ethics accusing Florida governor Ron DeSantis of violating federal and state campaign finance and ethics rules by running a shadow campaign for president.[30][31]
By June 30, 2023, MAGA Inc had spent more than $23 million in 2023, almost entirely on ads attacking Ron DeSantis.[32]
In July 2023, Alina Habba joined the PAC as legal spokesperson and general counsel.[33]
MAGA Inc. gave back more than $12 million to Trump's Save America PAC in the first half of 2023, after Save America requested a refund; that accounted for one-third of MAGA Inc.’s spending over that time period.[34] It spent $22 million on buying TV ads in support of Trump. MAGA Inc. spent more than it raised in the first six months of the year, raising $14.6 million.[34] It reported $30.8 million in its account as of June 30; at the same time, the PAC of Ron DeSantis had $96.8 million in cash on hand, and the PAC of Nikki Haley had $17.1 million in cash on hand.[34][35]
Its top donors over the first six months of 2023 were Scientologist Patricia Duggan ($5 million) and casino owner Phil Ruffin ($2 million).[34] New York Jets owner Woody Johnson (U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom under Trump) and Charles Kushner (Trump's son-in-law's father, whom Trump pardoned) both gave $1 million.[34]
2024
\
On May 31, 2024, Timothy Mellon, a billionaire banking heir, gave $50 million to the PAC.[36] Mellon also contributed $50 million in July 2024, which was over 90% of the money raised for MAGA Inc. in July.[37]
See also
:{References...
References...
---
2012 TX LT GOV
NO GRPH
Employment History
| Period | Employer | Title | Additional Info |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Donald J Trump for President | Donald J Trump for President | Donald J Trump for President |
| Revolving Door Personnel: 39 | Senior Communications Advisor | ||
| 2017 - 2018 | White House | White House | White House |
| Revolving Door Personnel: 818 | Special Assistant to the President | Agency lobbying profile | Agency lobbying profile |
Major Donor profile
| 2013 - 2017 | Ultimate Fighting Championship | Ultimate Fighting Championship |
|---|---|---|
| Revolving Door Personnel: 1 | Director of Communications | Client lobbying profile |
| 2012 - 2013 | Texas Lt Governor's Office | Texas Lt Governor's Office |
| Revolving Door Personnel: 1 | Communications Advisor, David Dewhurst | |
| 2011 - 2012 | Dewhurst for Texas | Dewhurst for Texas |
| Revolving Door Personnel: 1 | Director of Rapid Response | |
| 2010 | Steve Poizner for Governor | Steve Poizner for Governor |
| Revolving Door Personnel: 1 | Director of Online Messaging | |
| 2009 | Solgence Consulting | Solgence Consulting |
| Revolving Door Personnel: 1 | Writer | Firm lobbying profile |
| 2008 | McCain-Palin 2008 | McCain-Palin 2008 |
| Revolving Door Personnel: 5 | Administration Assistant | |
| 2007 - 2008 | California Integrated Waste Management Board | California Integrated Waste Management Board |
| Revolving Door Personnel: 1 | Legislative & External affairs assistant |
Education
BA, California State University Sacramento
GGL 11 24
Steven Cheung (political advisor)
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Steven_Cheung_(politi...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Cheung_%28political_advisor%29)
Huyen "Steven" Cheung (born June 23, 1982) is an American political advisor serving as former President Donald Trump's campaign spokesman in the 2024 United ...
[### The Face of Donald Trump's Deceptively Savvy Media ...
The New Yorker
https://www.newyorker.com › News › Donald Trump](https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/the-face-of-donald-trumps-deceptively-savvy-media-strategy)
Mar 25, 2024 — Donald Trump and Steven Cheung like to hurl insults at their political rivals, but behind the scenes the President's campaign has maintained ...
[### Steven Cheung (@TheStevenCheung) ...
X · TheStevenCheung
66.4K+ followers](https://twitter.com/thestevencheung?lang=en)
Trump 24/20/16. Former White House. Ex @UFC. @NBA encyclopedia. Pro wrestling historian. @CACReunion Member. ▪️ Finish the Story.
[### Steven Cheung
OpenSecrets
https://www.opensecrets.org › steven-cheung › summary](https://www.opensecrets.org/revolving-door/steven-cheung/summary?id=79298)
Period, Employer, Title, Additional Info. 2020, Donald J Trump for President Revolving Door Personnel: 39, Senior Communications Advisor.
[### Meet Donald Trump's 'sumo wrestler' spokesman, Steven ...
South China Morning Post
https://www.scmp.com › ... › Style › Entertainment](https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3260339/meet-donald-trumps-sumo-wrestler-spokesman-steven-cheung-he-interned-under-arnold-schwarzenegger-did)
Apr 26, 2024 — No surprise that Cheung and Trump are both fans of combat sport and WWE, and have been seen together at UFC fights in Vegas … now Cheung is ...
[### Steven Cheung (@thestevencheung)
Instagram · thestevencheung
1.7K+ followers](https://www.instagram.com/thestevencheung/?hl=en)
Principal at Solgence, LLC. Former White House Special Assistant to the President. Ex @UFC. @NBA encyclopedia.
[
](https://www.instagram.com/thestevencheung/?hl=en)
[### Donald Trump's chief spokesperson Steven Cheung ...
X · katcystephan
1 like · 5 months ago](https://twitter.com/katcystephan/status/1792702284717232275)
Donald Trump's chief spokesperson Steven Cheung shares a statement on Sebastian Stan's 'The Apprentice' to @Variety: "We will be filing a ...
[### Steven Cheung
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Steven_Cheung](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Cheung)
Steven Cheung may refer to: Steven Cheung (political advisor) (born 1982), American political advisor; Steven Cheung Chi-hang (born 1984), Hong Kong actor ...
[### Steven Cheung
C-SPAN
https://www.c-span.org › person › steven-cheung](https://www.c-span.org/person/steven-cheung/140359/)
May 28, 2024 — Steven Cheung is a Spokesperson for the Trump Presidential Campaign with one video in the C-SPAN Video Library; the first appearance was a 2024 News Conference.
[### Steven Cheung
Politico
https://www.politico.com › tag › steven-cheung](https://www.politico.com/tag/steven-cheung)
Latest news, headlines, analysis, photos and videos on Steven Cheung.