Larry Kudlow joining Fox Business as new program host

Former National Economic Council director Larry Kudlow will be joining Fox Business as a contributor and new weekday program host beginning on Feb. 8, Fox News Media announced in a press release.

Why it matters: Kudlow was the top economic adviser to former President Trump and gained a reputation for his overly optimistic assessments about the state of the economy during the coronavirus pandemic.

• In February 2020, Kudlow famously claimed that the U.S. had "contained" the coronavirus "pretty close to airtight."
• He also pushed in March for the country to lift economic restrictions intended to curb the spread of the virus, and claimed that systemic racism does not exist — despite significant evidence to the contrary.

Flash forward: Kudlow has distanced himself from Trump in recent weeks, condemning his handling of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and treatment of former Vice President Mike Pence.

• "Once the Electoral College declared Mr. Biden to be president-elect, we would have been better advised to acknowledge that and to pivot toward talking about our positive achievements and the policies that generated those policy achievements," Kudlow told the Wall Street Journal.