Trump communications director Bill Shine resigns

AFP  |  Washington 

Former has resigned as Donald Trump's communications director, the said Friday.

Sanders didn't go into Shine's reasoning but said he continued to support Trump and his agenda and would be a to the 2020 re-election campaign.

Shine, 55, was appointed of in August 2016, following the abrupt resignation of its chief in the face of a sexual harassment lawsuit.

Shine resigned from the US less than a year later over questions concerning his handling of the Ailes case and accusations that he had helped cover up alleged misbehavior.

His resignation comes as accusations mount over Trump's closeness to the network, whose prime time star anchor served as an to the then-candiadate during the 2016 election campaign.

An article in this week's magazine suggested Fox was a "propaganda" vehicle for Trump and alleged that in 2016, the network went so far as killing a story about the president's alleged affair with a

The responded by banning the network from hosting any of its primary candidate, after published revelations suggested it was a "propaganda" vehicle for Trump.

said a story in this week's magazine on the White House's apparently close relationship with the channel prompted the decision.

"Recent reporting in on the inappropriate relationship between President Trump, his administration and has led me to conclude that the network is not in a position to host a fair and neutral debate for our candidates," he added in a statement to

piece detailed how Trump has given dozens of interviews to Fox and repeatedly tweets claims that have been made on the popular cable news network, owned by

Trump often refers to Fox's rivals and MSNBC, as well as and The Washington Post, as "fake news".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Fri, March 08 2019. 23:10 IST