Ex-Trump staffer Hope Hicks to join Megyn Kelly's media company as COO
Megyn Kelly is tapping a well-known ex-Trump official for her growing media business.
Kelly, 54, once a mainstay on cable news, has since launched her own podcast and YouTube show, following a tumultuous exit from the traditional format. Now she's creating her own brand with Devil May Care Media, which will serve as home to the "Megyn Kelly Show" and others, and to do it, she's bringing on Hope Hicks.
Kelly first shared the news with the New York Post, later confirming it with a post on X.
Hicks, 36, who served as communications director during President Donald Trump's first term and later as an executive at Fox Corp., will take on the role of chief operating officer, helping grow the business in an ever-evolving media landscape.
Megyn Kelly and Bill Maher get candid on cancel culture: 'Even liberals hate this'
"Hope Hicks is exactly the kind of woman I want running my company with me – strong, smart, strategic and the embodiment of class and poise," Kelly said in a statement to the Post. "She's at the top of a growing media conglomerate and there's no limit to where she can take it; my best-in-the-business staff and I are thrilled to have her on board."
Hicks, who has been working in corporate consulting since her exit from the White House, shared in Kelly's excitement over the partnership.
"Megyn has used her talent, integrity, and unparalleled credibility to create content unlike anything else available today," Hicks told The Post. "I am incredibly humbled and thrilled to be joining Megyn and her team in continuing to build what is undoubtedly a flourishing business."
USA TODAY has reached out to Devil May Care Media for comment.
Once one of Trump's closest advisors, Hicks began working in the White House in 2017 and filled various roles intermittently before exiting the administration permanently following his loss in the 2020 presidential election and the subsequent campaign to overturn the election results.
Now she is joining forces with Kelly, an intermittent subject of Trump's ire, who in recent years generated a massive audience outside of traditional media with her daily news podcast and commentary show.
A time-honored conservative commentator, Kelly left Fox News in 2017 after more than a decade, moving to NBC, much to the chagrin of liberal viewers, and exiting that network just a year later following controversial on-air remarks she made defending the use of blackface.
She has now proved a case-study for new media, however, bringing her personal brand and audience with her to launch a popular podcast and a burgeoning conservative media company.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Newsweek
a few seconds ago
- Newsweek
Marjorie Taylor Greene Asks Trump to Commute George Santos' Sentence
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is petitioning President Donald Trump to commute the sentence of disgraced former Republican Congressman George Santos of New York. Newsweek reached out to the White House via email for comment Monday night. Why It Matters Santos was convicted of 23 felony counts, prompting widespread scrutiny over the handling and consequences of political corruption cases. Greene's public appeal also tests the norms regarding pardons and commuted sentences for former lawmakers and raises questions about equal treatment under federal law. What To Know Greene took to X, formerly Twitter, on Monday announcing her request to Trump: "🚨BREAKING: I just sent a letter to the Office of the Pardon Attorney urging President Trump to commute the sentence of former Congressman @MrSantosNY. A 7-year prison sentence for campaign-related charges is excessive, especially when Members of Congress who've done far worse still walk free. "George Santos has taken responsibility. He's shown remorse. It's time to correct this injustice. We must demand equal justice under the law! Read my letter 👇," Greene said. The Georgia lawmaker's letter added in part that "Commuting his sentence would acknowledge the severity of his actions and simultaneously provide a path forward in allowing him to make amends for his crimes and strive to better serve the people in his community." Trump was asked last week about potentially pardoning Santos by Newsmax's Rob Finnerty, and he said in part, "He lied like hell, I have to tell you, and I didn't know him, but he was 100% for Trump." The president added that "nobody has talked to" him about the idea of a pardon. This is a developing story that will be updated with additional information.
CNBC
a few seconds ago
- CNBC
India calls out EU and U.S.' trade with Russia after Trump threatens steeper tariffs on New Delhi
India said it was is being "targeted" by the U.S. and the European Union over its imports of Russian oil after U.S. President Donald Trump in an overnight social media post threatened New Delhi with much steeper tariffs. India began importing oil from Russia only after traditional supplies were diverted to Europe following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022, the country's foreign ministry said in a statement late Monday. The ministry called out the EU and the U.S. saying, "it is revealing that the very nations criticizing India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia. Unlike our case, such trade is not even a vital national compulsion [for them]." The EU's bilateral trade with Russia stood at 67.5 billion euros ($78.1 billion) in 2024, while its services trade in 2023 was at 17.2 billion euros, according to European Commission data. Citing that data, India said the bloc's trade was "significantly more" than India's total trade with Russia. Data from the Indian embassy in Moscow showed bilateral trade between New Delhi and Moscow reached a record $68.7 billion for the year ended March 2025, nearly 5.8 times higher than the pre-pandemic trade of $10.1 billion. The EU, meanwhile, was Russia's third-biggest trade partner in 2024, accounting for 38.4% of the bloc's total trade with the country, sliding from being Moscow's top partner in 2020. EU's goods trade with Russia dropped to 67.5 billion euros in 2024 from 257.5 billion euros in 2021. India's response comes after Trump threatened on Monday that he would be "substantially raising" the tariffs on India, although he did not specify the level of the higher tariffs. The U.S. president had threatened a 25% duty on Indian exports, as well as an unspecified "penalty" last week. He also accused India of buying discounted Russian oil and "selling it on the Open Market for big profits." Russia became the leading oil supplier to India since the war in Ukraine began, increasing imports from just under 100,000 barrels per day before the invasion, or a 2.5% of its total imports, to more than 1.8 million barrels per day in 2023, or 39%, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's report earlier this year. "The United States at that time actively encouraged such imports by India for strengthening global energy markets stability," the country said in its statement. According to the International Energy Agency, 70% of Russian crude was exported to India in 2024. India said oil imports were meant to ensure predictable and affordable energy costs to the Indian consumer. India has in the past defended its oil purchases from Russia, with Hardeep Singh Puri, the country's energy minister, saying in an interview last month with CNBC that New Delhi helped stabilize global energy prices and was encouraged by the U.S. to do so. "If people or countries had stopped buying at that stage, the price of oil would have gone up to 130 dollars a barrel. That was a situation in which we were advised, including by our friends in the United States, to please buy Russian oil, but within the price cap," Puri said. India also took aim at the U.S, saying the country continues to import uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for the electric-vehicle industry, as well as fertilizers and chemicals. U.S. bilateral trade with Russia in 2024 stood at $5.2 billion, compared with nearly $36 billion in 2021, government data showed. The U.S. has not imposed any "reciprocal tariffs" on Russia. "In this background, the targeting of India is unjustified and unreasonable. Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security," New Delhi said.
NBC News
a few seconds ago
- NBC News
Brazil's Supreme Court orders the house arrest of former President Bolsonaro, a Trump ally
SAO PAULO — Brazil's Supreme Court on Monday ordered the house arrest of former President Jair Bolsonaro, on trial for allegedly masterminding a coup plot to remain in office despite his defeat in the 2022 election — a case that has gripped the South American country as it faces a trade war with the Trump administration. Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversees the case against Bolsonaro before the top court, said in his decision that the 70-year-old former president had violated precautionary measures imposed on him by posting content on the social media channels of his three lawmaker sons. The trial of the far-right leader is receiving renewed attention after U.S. President Donald Trump directly tied a 50% tariff on imported Brazilian goods to his ally's judicial situation. Trump has called the proceedings a ' witch hunt,' triggering nationalist reactions from leaders of all branches of power in Brazil, including President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The case against Bolsonaro Brazil's prosecutors accuse Bolsonaro of heading a criminal organization that plotted to overturn the election, including plans to kill Lula and Justice de Moraes after the far-right leader narrowly lost his reelection bid in 2022. Monday's order followed one from the top court last month that ordered Bolsonaro to wear an electronic ankle monitor and imposed a curfew on his activities while the proceedings are underway. Following news of the arrest order, a staffer with Brazil's federal police told The Associated Press that federal agents had seized cell phones at Bolsonaro's residence in the capital of Brasilia, as ordered by de Moraes in his decision. The staffer spoke on condition of anonymity due to their lack of authorization to speak about the matter publicly. Bolsonaro is expected to remain in Brasilia for his house arrest as he is not allowed to travel. He also has a house in Rio de Janeiro, where he held his electoral base as a lawmaker for three decades. The former army captain is the fourth former president of Brazil to be arrested since the end of the country's military rule from 1964 to 1985, which Bolsonaro supported. 'Flagrant disrespect' The move from the Brazilian justice comes a day after tens of thousands of Bolsonaro supporters took the streets in the cities of Sao Paulo and Rio, pleading for Brazil's congress to pardon him and hundreds of others who are either under trial or jailed for their roles in the destruction of government buildings in Brasilia on Jan. 8, 2023. On Sunday, Bolsonaro addressed supporters in Rio through the phone of one of his sons, which de Moraes' described as illegal. 'The flagrant disrespect to the precautionary measures was so obvious that the defendant's son, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, decided to remove the posting in his Instagram profile, with the objective of hiding the legal transgression,' de Moraes wrote. Lawyers for the former Brazilian president did not make comments after the decision. Flávio Bolsonaro claimed on X that Brazil 'is officially in a dictatorship' after his father's house arrest. 'The persecution of de Moraes against Bolsonaro has no limits!' the senator wrote. De Moraes added in his ruling that Jair Bolsonaro, who governed Brazil between 2019 and 2022, has spread messages with 'a clear content of encouragement and instigation to attacks against the Supreme Court and a blatant support for foreign intervention in the Brazilian Judiciary' — likely a veiled reference to Trump's support for Bolsonaro. De Moraes also said that Bolsonaro 'addressed protesters gathered in Copacabana, in Rio' on Sunday so his supporters could 'try to coerce the Supreme Court.' Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions on de Moraes over alleged suppression of freedom of expression and the ongoing trial of Bolsonaro. Possible trouble ahead Creomar de Souza, a political analyst of Dharma Political Risk and Strategy, a political consultancy firm based in Brasilia, said Bolsonaro's house arrest opens a new moment for the country's opposition, which could gather steam in fighting against Lula's reelection bid next year. Now, de Souza said, 'the 2026 election looks like turmoil' and the political debate in Brazil will likely be split between two key struggles. 'One is the effort of Bolsonaro supporters to keep strong on the right, no matter if it is pushing for amnesty in congress or putting themselves physically out there,' the analyst said. 'The second is how the Lula administration will try to show that the country has a government.' 'This is just the start,' he concluded. The latest decision from the top court keeps Bolsonaro under ankle monitoring, allows only family members and lawyers to visit him and seizes all mobile phones from his home. Lula was imprisoned for 580 days between 2018 and 2019 in a corruption conviction that was later tossed out by the Supreme Court, citing the bias of the judge in the case. Michel Temer, who became president after Dilma Rousseff was impeached in 2016, was arrested for 10 days in 2019 in connection with a graft investigation, which later ended without a conviction. Earlier this year, de Moraes ordered the detention of President Fernando Collor, who was in office from 1990 to 1992 until he was impeached. The 75-year-old former president was convicted for money laundering and corruption in 2023 and is now serving his more than eight-year sentence. The Associated Press
