Mar 8, 2019

Bill Shine resigns from White House to advise Trump campaign

Bill Shine. Photo: Saul Loeb/Getty Images

White House communications director Bill Shine has resigned and will serve as a senior adviser to President Trump's 2020 re-election campaign, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders announced Friday.

Details: The announcement didn't give a reason for Shine's departure. The bulk of Shine's career was spent as a producer and executive at Fox News, most recently serving as the network's co-president.

"Serving President Trump and this country has been the most rewarding experience of my entire life. To be a small part of all this President has done for the American people has truly been an honor. I'm looking forward to working on President Trump's reelection campaign and spending more time with my family."

— Shine

Catch up quick: Per a recent New Yorker article, Shine was yet another key figure in the "interlocking connections between the White House and 21st Century Fox."

Behind the scenes, via Axios' Jonathan Swan: Trump warmed to Shine initially, as Shine paid attention to details like lighting and set design, like a TV producer. Trump dug that. But it wasn’t long, according to a source with direct knowledge, before Trump began grumbling that his media coverage was as bad as ever.

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Axios

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Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

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U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 9 p.m. ET: 4,711,323 — Total deaths: 155,379 — Total recoveries: 1,513,446 — Total tests: 57,543,852 — Map.
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1 🎥 thing: "Tenet" may be the first major film to get a global pandemic release.

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Updated 3 hours ago - Energy & Environment

In photos: Thousands evacuated as Southern California fire grows

A plane makes a retardant drop on a ridge at the Apple Fire north of Banning in Riverside County, which "doubled in size" Saturday, per KTLA. Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

A massive wildfire that prompted mandatory evacuations in Southern California over the weekend burned 26,450 acres and was 5% contained by Monday afternoon, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.

The big picture: As California remains an epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S., some 15 separate fires are raging across the state. About 7,800 people were under evacuation orders from the Apple Fire, about 75 miles east of Los Angeles, as hundreds of firefighters battled the blaze. CalFire said Monday that a malfunction involving a "diesel-fueled vehicle emitting burning carbon from the exhaust system" started the Apple Fire.

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Twitter faces FTC fine of up to $250 million over alleged privacy violations

Photo: Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket

The Federal Trade Commission has accused Twitter of using phone numbers and emails from its users to make targeted ads between 2013 and 2019, Twitter said in an SEC filing published Monday.

Why it matters: Twitter estimates that the FTC's draft complaint, which was sent a few days after its Q2 earnings report, could cost the company between $150 million and $250 million. The complaint is unrelated to the recent Twitter hack involving a bitcoin scam.

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