Conservative pro-Trump activist calls for feds to investigate Bill Shine

Larry Klayman, a vocal supporter of President Trump who founded the conservative activist group Judicial Watch, is urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate former Fox News president and current White House communications official Bill Shine.

Klayman, who also founded the organization Freedom Watch, wrote in a letter Thursday that Shine, who joined the White House last month as deputy chief of staff for communications, should be investigated for his reported role in covering up allegations of sexual misconduct at Fox News.

“As a strong supporter of President Trump, I am deeply disturbed that Mr. Shine, who has had a questionable past and background, is now serving in an influential position in our government,” Klayman wrote in his letter to U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman and assistant U.S. attorneys Damian Williams and Andrea Griswold.

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The conservative figure cited various media reports revealing Shine’s alleged role in covering up claims of sexual misconduct made by female staffers at the network, including those against late Fox News head Roger Ailes.

Ailes disputed the claims until his death in May 2017. Shine has denied any wrongdoing.

Klayman wrote that Shine’s hiring at the White House “makes it even more critically important that the Department of Justice act in an expeditious manner to investigate Mr. Shine’s actions as the chief lieutenant of Mr. Ailes during the same period these allegations cover.”

He said that an investigation is necessary “to maintain and protect the integrity of the President Trump [sic], The White House and the nation, which is regrettably now exposed to a possible and wholly unnecessary scandal over the hiring of Mr. Shine as Deputy White House Chief of Staff under these alleged and as yet not properly investigated circumstances.”

Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein were also copied on the letter.

The New York Times reported last week that Shine voluntarily interviewed with federal prosecutors in their probe into Fox News’s handling of sexual harassment allegations.

Shine kept a relatively low profile in the White House until Wednesday, when he joined in banning CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins from a Rose Garden event after she repeatedly asked questions about Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, and Russian President Vladimir Putin during an event earlier in the day.

Shine pushed back on Thursday against the reports that Collins was barred from the event, saying the word “ban” was not used.