Steven Cheung (political advisor)

Steven Cheung (born June 23, 1982) is an American political advisor who is Donald Trump's campaign spokesman in the 2023–24 Republican primary and served in the Donald J. Trump administration.[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]

Steven Cheung
Born (1982-06-23) June 23, 1982
EducationCalifornia State University, Sacramento

Early life and education

Cheung was born in Sacramento, California and was raised in South Sacramento. He attended California State University, Sacramento where he majored in Computer Science, Engineering, and Government.[4][5]

Career

Political campaigns and UFC

Cheung began his political career in Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration in California.[6] He later moved to Washington, DC to work on the John McCain presidential campaign.[7] Cheung has served on the campaigns of Steve Poizner for California governor, Sharron Angle for U.S. Senate, and Texas Lt. Governor David Dewhust for U.S. Senate.[8] 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."[9]

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.[10][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.[11]

Cheung was involved 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.” [12]

After Trump’s victory over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, Cheung was named as an advisor to the Presidential Transition team.[13][14][15] According to media reports, he was at one point considered for the role of White House Press Secretary.[16] That job ultimately went to Sean Spicer.[17]

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. Amid controversies about his past relating to plagiarism in his book The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, Gorsuch was eventually confirmed to the Supreme Court by the United States Senate by a 54–45 vote.[18] Shortly after Gorsuch’s confirmation, Cheung was announced to a new role within the White House.[19]

On August 16, 2017, he was appointed as Special Assistant to the President and Director of Strategic Response.[20] He then worked on the passage of Trump’s tax reform bill, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.[21] The bill successfully passed Congress and Trump signed it into law on December 22, 2017.[22]

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 “innovative and action oriented”.[23]

On June 11, 2018, Politico reported Cheung left the White House 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.[18] New York Times White House journalist Maggie Haberman reported on CNN that “Cheung's name had been on several lists going back to 2017 of people who could be on the chopping block. And it has been surprising every single time. He was on the campaign. He was seen as a high performer. He was one of the hardest workers. He was involved, from the White House end, in the Gorsuch nomination coms effort, and he was involved the tax reform coms effort” and he was “one of the more respected members of [the communications] staff on the campaign.”[24][25] It was later revealed that Cheung’s annual White House salary was $131,000.[26]

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.[27] As part of the 2020 campaign, Cheung worked on putting together the Republican National Convention in the midst of the Covid-19 global pandemic.[28]

After the election where Trump was defeated by Joe Biden, Cheung was involved in the Trump campaign’s efforts to overturn the election. Despite Trump’s baseless claims, there has been no evidence of election fraud, according to experts.[29][30][31][32]

Post Trump presidency

Cheung was a senior advisor on the 2022 U.S. Senate campaign of former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens.[33][34]

Axios reported that Cheung joined as senior advisor to reality star Caitlyn Jenner's gubernatorial campaign in California during the 2021 recall election. Jenner’s bid for governor was unsuccessful.[6]

Cheung also served as an advisor and spokesperson for former congressman Jim Renacci’s 2022 campaign for Ohio governor.[35]

Media outlets reported in 2022 that Cheung began advising cryptocurrency entrepreneur and philanthropist Brock Pierce.[36]

Congressional campaign

Politico reported on January 25, 2022 that Cheung was eyeing a House of Representatives seat in California’s 8th Congressional District after Rep. Jerry McNerney (D) announced his retirement.[4]

Non-political work

Cheung has written opinion articles for USA Today, Fox News, and the Washington Examiner.[37][38][39]

Controversies

Cheung appeared in a contentious interview with CNN in June 2018 where critics accused him of politicizing the confirmation process of the United States Supreme Court.[40]

He was involved in a controversial practice in Ultimate Fighting Championship of banning reporters critical of the organization from live events.[41]

References

  1. Vigdor, Neil (2023-06-18). "In Nevada, DeSantis Sells Republicans on Ending 'Culture of Losing'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
  2. "Press Release - President-Elect Donald J. Trump Announces Second Wave of Additional White House Staff | The American Presidency Project". www.presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  3. Flood, Brian (2016-07-11). "Donald Trump Hires UFC Executive as He Gears Up for Fight Against Hillary Clinton". Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  4. Bade, Rachael; Palmeri, Tara. "Politico Playbook: Schumer strategy leaves some Dems seething". Politico. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  5. "Revolving Door: Steven Cheung Education". www.opensecrets.org. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  6. Markay, Lachlan; Treene, Alayna; Swan, Jonathan (23 April 2021). "Caitlyn Jenner files paperwork to run for governor of California". Axios. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  7. Kanski, Alison (July 11, 2016). "Trump campaign bulks up comms team with Bryan Lanza and Steven Cheung". www.prweek.com. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  8. "PolitiFact - Ted Cruz says David Dewhurst's camp called him a Chinese Communist". Politico. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  9. "Donald Trump Hires UFC Press Agent to Be His New "Rapid Response" Guy". www.vice.com. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  10. "Donald Trump hires former UFC staffer to presidential campaign". For The Win. July 11, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2022.
  11. "Press Release - Trump Campaign Announces Expansion of Communications Team | The American Presidency Project". www.presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  12. "Ku Klux Klan newspaper declares support for Trump". Reuters. 2016-11-02. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  13. "Trump adds vice chairs to transition team, including several women". Politico. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  14. "Press Release - President-Elect Donald J. Trump Announces New Vice Chairs and Executive Committee Members Serving on Presidential Transition Team | The American Presidency Project". www.presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  15. Brown, Heath (2016-12-12). "Focus on communications, not policy, sets Trump transition apart". The Hill. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  16. "White House press briefings could be totally bonkers under Donald Trump". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  17. "Trump names Sean Spicer press secretary, announces other senior members of his press team". CNBC. 2016-12-22. Retrieved 2022-05-19.
  18. Karni, Annie (11 June 2018). "White House aide Steven Cheung leaves communications staff". Politico. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  19. Estepa, Jessica. "Hope Hicks is officially the White House communications director". USA Today. Retrieved 2022-05-21.
  20. "Political power plays". Axios. 2017-09-13. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  21. Sanchez, Luis (2018-06-11). "White House communications aide Steven Cheung leaves position: report". The Hill. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  22. "Here's When the GOP Tax Reform Bill Will Take Effect". Fortune. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  23. Markay, Lachlan; Suebsaeng, Asawin (2020). Sinking in the Swamp: How Trump's Minions and Misfits Poisoned Washington. Penguin. ISBN 978-1-9848-7856-4.
  24. "CNN.com - Transcripts". edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  25. Haberman, Maggie (2018-06-11). "Twitter". Twitter. Archived from the original on 2022-02-17. Retrieved 2022-02-17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  26. Bindrim, Kira (July 2017). "All of Donald Trump's White House staffers, ranked by salary". Quartz. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  27. Beavers, David (15 August 2019). "Former Trump staffers consulting for president's reelect". Politico. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  28. Scherer, Michael (2020-08-28). "Republicans try to change President Trump's image for skeptical voters". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-02-18.
  29. Corasaniti, Nick; Epstein, Reid J.; Rutenberg, Jim (2020-11-11). "The Times Called Officials in Every State: No Evidence of Voter Fraud". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  30. Farley, Robert (2020-11-08). "FactCheck: Trump sticks with bogus voter fraud claim". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  31. Farley, Robert (2016-11-28). "Trump Sticks With Bogus Voter Fraud Claims". FactCheck.org. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  32. Wolfe, Jan (2022-01-06). "Factbox: Trump's false claims debunked: the 2020 election and Jan. 6 riot". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  33. "CNN - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos". lite.cnn.com. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  34. Treene, Alayna (15 December 2021). "Trump Republicans eager to dethrone McConnell as GOP leader". Axios. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  35. Ball, Brian (2021-08-18). "Renacci Asks Ohio Attorney General, Secretary of State to Investigate Sources of DeWine Campaign Cash". The Ohio Star. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  36. Schreckinger, Ben (22 April 2022). "Bannon is helping a Vermont crypto bro get elected to the Senate". Politico. Retrieved 2022-05-19.
  37. Cheung, Steven. "Hawaii's Mauna Kea must be respected. Build the Thirty Meter Telescope somewhere else". USA Today. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  38. Cheung, Steven (2018-11-29). "Trump is winning on trade -- Don't let the 'experts' fool you". Fox News. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  39. "The coronavirus came from China. That's not racism; it's a fact". Washington Examiner. 2020-03-24. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  40. "CNN.com - Transcripts". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 2022-05-19.
  41. "Donald Trump has hired a former UFC executive for presidential campaign". SportsJOE.ie. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
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