Donald Trump names 24-year-old former correspondent Beni Rae Harmony as assistant press secretary

Appointment to White House communications staff

The administration of Donald Trump hired 24-year-old former correspondent Beni Rae Harmony as assistant White House press secretary. Harmony announced her appointment on social media platform X, stating that she looks forward to serving the American people and continuing to fight for the American dream. The chief White House press secretary position remains vacant following the resignation in August of 28-year-old Karoline Leavitt. Leavitt, who was the youngest press secretary in the federal government and the first woman to become pregnant in the role, stepped down to focus on her family after having a second child in May. Trump described Leavitt as one of his most trusted assistants, and she transitioned into a role as principal adviser for external affairs. Harmony joins deputy press secretary Anna Kelly on the communications team.

Beni Rae Harmony was a trusted voice of the MAGA movement as a White House correspondent and will be a great addition to the Trump communication staff.

Media career and congressional roles

Before joining the administration, Harmony served as a White House correspondent for Real America's Voice, a conservative media outlet founded as a video podcast platform for former presidential adviser Steve Bannon. She covered presidential travel, including Trump's visit to Ireland in September, where she stood in the front row during press availability aboard the aircraft. During the return flight from Ireland, Trump was photographed carrying a document with Harmony's name printed across the top. Harmony also maintains an Instagram account with approximately 77,000 followers documenting her reporting work. Earlier in her career, Harmony resigned from an anchor role at television station WICS in Illinois following criticism of her on-air comments regarding an attack on conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk.

I quit, and I will not be silenced. I will not be told that I cannot speak about someone who meant something to me.

Congressional work and past controversies

According to her LinkedIn profile, Harmony previously worked as an assistant to Turning Point USA host Jack Posobiec and served as a press aide for Republican representatives Paul Gosar and Matt Gaetz. In late 2021, the House of Representatives censured Gosar and removed him from committee assignments after he shared an anime-style video showing him attacking President Joe Biden and killing Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Harmony subsequently produced and published a video defending Gosar on his official YouTube channel. She also advised Gaetz, who later left Congress following a House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations of drug use and illicit sexual misconduct with minors.

Campaign imagery and media credential disputes

Harmony previously worked as public affairs director for Republican congressional candidate Jarome Bell during his 2021 campaign. Bell published an image on Instagram showing Harmony holding a rifle in front of holiday decorations while wearing a shirt displaying an expletive directed at Joe Biden. When an anti-MAGA group reshared the image in December 2021, Harmony responded by posting another photograph of herself in the same shirt. Her White House appointment follows executive decisions to restrict White House access for journalists from CNN, MS Now, and Politico, an order that was subsequently overturned in federal court, while conservative media outlets received regular access to presidential briefings.