The Harris aide who's getting under Trump's skin
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Screenshot: Fox News Channel
Former President Trump and his team spend a lot of time blasting Vice President Harris at rallies, on social media and on TV. But lately they've had a new target: Ian Sams, Harris' unassuming spokesperson.
Driving the news: Sams has appeared on Fox News several times in the past two weeks to throw darts at Trump, prompting the ex-president and his staff to fire off dozens of social media posts blasting Sams — and essentially accusing the conservative network of betrayal.
Zoom in: Sams, a longtime Democratic operative, was on Fox four times in five days last week. He brought up Trump's actions on Jan. 6, his refusal to release his medical records and his handling of the pandemic — all while defending Harris on one of Trump's go-to media outlets.
- After Sams was on Neil Cavuto's show and said, "We're not seeing Donald Trump do very many interviews," Trump had had enough.
- "Sams is just a below average guy, with memorized FAKE NEWS soundbites, almost all of which are WRONG," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
- After Sams was on Martha MacCallum's show, Trump wondered in a post: "Does Ian Sams, Lyin' Kamala's Special Advisor, own Fox News?"
- "He is on all the time, as are so many other of her other supporters," he posted.
Sams was still top of mind for Trump on Sunday.
- "In the old days, you never had Ian Sams," Trump lamented on "Fox & Friends" while sitting at the center of the show's curved couch.
- At the end of his 40-minute appearance, Trump revealed he was going to see Fox Corp. chairman emeritus Rupert Murdoch to convey a simple message: "Don't put on negative commercials and don't put on the horrible people that come and lie."
The intrigue: In the days since, Trump senior aides — taking a cue from the boss — repeatedly have posted about Sams on X.
- Trump's campaign also has begun using its resources to go after Sams.
- On Monday, as Harris held a joint rally with former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) to mobilize Republicans, Trump's campaign sent out a press release with the subject line: "Ian Sams is Right For Once in His Life."
- The campaign circulated a screenshot of what appears to be an old Sams tweet from February 2019, accusing Cheney of "help[ing] lead us into Iraq from a special State Department Middle East post her dad's administration created for her."
The other side: "I'm just a spokesperson," Sams said on MSNBC on Sunday. "I don't know why Donald Trump seems to be spending his time TiVoing Fox News appearances and lashing out against spokespeople."
- "That's not something the vice president does. She thinks more about the country and what she wants to do as president than who's on cable news talking about her."
