Alyssa Farah Griffin

From WikiAlpha
Revision as of 04:11, 1 July 2022 by Geo Swan (Talk | contribs) (first draft here)

(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to: navigation, search
The below content is licensed according to Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License contrary to the public domain logo at the foot of the page. It originally appeared on http://en.wikipedia.org. The original article might still be accessible here. You may be able to find a list of the article's previous contributors on the talk page.

{{#invoke:Protection banner|main}}

<tr><th colspan="2" class="" style="text-align:center; background:lavender">3rd White House Director of Strategic Communications</th></tr><tr class=""><td colspan="2" class="" style="text-align:center; border-bottom:none"> In office
April 7, 2020 – December 4, 2020</td></tr><tr class=""><th scope="row" style="text-align:left; text-align:left">President</th> <td class="" style=""> Donald Trump</td></tr><tr class=""><th scope="row" style="text-align:left; text-align:left">Preceded by</th> <td class="" style=""> Mercedes Schlapp</td></tr><tr class=""><th scope="row" style="text-align:left; text-align:left">Succeeded by</th> <td class="" style=""> Vacant</td></tr> <tr><th colspan="2" class="" style="text-align:center; background:lavender">Press Secretary of the Department of Defense</th></tr><tr class=""><td colspan="2" class="" style="text-align:center; border-bottom:none"> In office
September 2019 – April 7, 2020</td></tr><tr class=""><th scope="row" style="text-align:left; text-align:left">President</th> <td class="" style=""> Donald Trump</td></tr><tr class=""><th scope="row" style="text-align:left; text-align:left">Preceded by</th> <td class="" style=""> Dana White</td></tr><tr class=""><th scope="row" style="text-align:left; text-align:left">Succeeded by</th> <td class="" style=""> John Kirby</td></tr> <tr><th colspan="2" class="" style="text-align:center; background:lavender">Press Secretary to the Vice President</th></tr><tr class=""><td colspan="2" class="" style="text-align:center; border-bottom:none"> In office
October 2017 – September 2019</td></tr><tr class=""><th scope="row" style="text-align:left; text-align:left">Vice President</th> <td class="" style=""> Mike Pence</td></tr><tr class=""><th scope="row" style="text-align:left; text-align:left">Preceded by</th> <td class="" style=""> Marc Lotter</td></tr><tr class=""><th scope="row" style="text-align:left; text-align:left">Succeeded by</th> <td class="" style=""> Katie Waldman</td></tr>
Alyssa Farah Griffin
Official portrait, 2019
Personal details
Born Alyssa Alexandra Farah
June 15, 1989 (1989-06-15) (age 34)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Political party Republican
Spouse(s)
Justin Griffin
(m. Template:Tooltip)
{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Marriage with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | end | reason }}

Alyssa Farah Griffin (Template:Nee Alyssa Alexandra Farah; born June 15, 1989) is an American political advisor who was White House Director of Strategic Communications and Assistant to the President in the Trump administration in 2020. In 2021, Griffin joined CNN as a political commentator.[1]

Griffin was press secretary for U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Special Assistant to President Donald Trump from October 2017 to September 2019. In 2019, she was appointed as the youngest Pentagon Press Secretary in history.[2] She served as Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and the Press Secretary for the United States Department of Defense from 2019 to 2020.[3][4][5]

Since August 2021, Griffin has presented The Hill's online news program Rising alongside Ryan Grim and Kim Iversen.

Early life

Griffin was born on June 15, 1989, in Los Angeles.[6] Her father, Joseph Farah, is a journalist of Syrian and Lebanese descent who was executive news editor at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner before moving to Northern California to become editor of The Sacramento Union in 1990. He later founded the far-right conspiracy website WorldNetDaily. Her mother Judy (Template:Née Smagula) is a Sacramento-based journalist who has written for HuffPost, the Associated Press, and Comstock's.[7][8][9] She is of Ukrainian descent.[10]

After graduating from Bella Vista High School in 2007, Griffin earned a bachelor's degree in Journalism and Public Policy from Patrick Henry College.[11]

Career

Prior to 2014, Griffin wrote articles for the far-right conspiracy website WorldNetDaily, where she served as a "special Washington correspondent for WND."[12][13] In 2010, Griffin was a media intern for Congressman Tom McClintock and began a one-year position as an associate producer on The Laura Ingraham Show.[14] In the 2012 Presidential election cycle, Griffin was the spokesperson for the College Republican National Committee, traveling the country discussing the youth vote. In 2014, she was named Press Secretary for Congressman Mark Meadows; she was later named as his Communications Director. She went on to work as the Communications Director for the Freedom Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives, serving under Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows.[15]

In September 2017, she was appointed Special Assistant to the President and Press Secretary to the Vice President Mike Pence. As Press Secretary to the Vice President, she traveled with Pence on numerous trips, domestic and foreign, and was part of the official U.S. delegations to the Munich Security Conference and ASEAN Summit.[16]

In September 2019, it was announced that Griffin would become Press Secretary for the United States Department of Defense, after the role had been vacant for nearly a year. She was also appointed Director of Media Affairs.[17] In this role, Griffin was the chief spokesperson for the Department and advised Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley on all matters regarding public affairs.[citation needed]

In April 2020, it was reported that Meadows, by then Trump's Chief of Staff, had considered bringing Griffin on as a White House Press Secretary.[18] She joined the White House Office as the White House Director of Strategic Communications on April 7, 2020.[19] In August 2020, The Washington Post reported that Griffin played an important role in shaping the Trump administration's coronavirus response.[20]

Griffin resigned as White House communications director on December 3, 2020, effective the next day. At the time it was reported she planned to start a consulting firm "focusing on the corporate, political and defense realms" and that she had initially planned to leave before the election according to one person speaking anonymously.[21] Griffin was a recipient of the Secretary of Homeland Security’s Award for Distinguished Public Service.

The day before the January 6, 2021, United States Capitol attack, Griffin publicly condemned Trump supporters for harassing Senator Mitt Romney.[22] Griffin denounced the attack,[23] and days later, on January 8, she blamed Trump for inciting the insurrection and suggested that he should resign.[24][25]

In a February 7, 2021, interview on CNN, Griffin questioned the constitutionality of the second impeachment of Donald Trump and stated she believed censuring would be more appropriate. When asked if she would support censuring after the impeachment if it fails, she said it was "an open question" before recommending the country should "move on" from the Capitol raid.[26]

It was reported that Griffin was voluntarily working with the January 6th congressional committee. In December, CNN revealed that Griffin was the author of a text to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows calling for Donald Trump to condemn the insurrection saying “people will die.”[27]

In February 2021, Griffin became a visiting fellow with the Independent Women's Forum.[28] In June of 2021, Griffin co-authored an editorial with Johanna Maska, who served as President Obama's Director of Press Advance. In the editorial, which was published by USA Today, the two discuss the need to overcome political divide in the U.S.[29]

In December 2021, Politico reported that Griffin would join CNN.[30] By January 2022, CNN acknowledged Griffin as a "CNN political commentator".[31]

Griffin was appointed fellow of the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service for Spring 2022.[32]

In June 2022, according to Griffin, Trump stated privately several times in November 2020 that he had lost the 2020 election; once, while watching Biden on television, saying "Can you believe I lost to this guy?".[33]

Personal life

In 2019, it was reported that Griffin was victim of an impersonation scam using her name to target members of Congress and the matter was under investigation by the FBI.[34]

In 2020, Griffin became engaged to Justin Griffin, a student at the New York University Stern School of Business and the grandson of Samuel A. Tamposi.[35] They were married in November 2021.[36] In 2022, Griffin revealed on The View that members of her family, including her father and step-mother, boycotted her wedding because of her differences with Trump.[37]

References

  1. "Former Trump Spox Alyssa Farah to Join CNN As Political Commentator". 2021-12-12. https://www.mediaite.com/tv/former-trump-spox-alyssa-farah-to-join-cnn-as-political-commentator/. 
  2. "Farah resigns as White House communications director in tacit nod to Trump's loss" (in en-US). Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-farah-resign/2020/12/03/1623fa7a-3598-11eb-a997-1f4c53d2a747_story.html. 
  3. Collins, Kaitlan (August 14, 2019). "Alyssa Farah, Pence press secretary, expected to move to Pentagon". cnn.com. https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/14/politics/mike-pence-alyssa-farah-pentagon/index.html. 
  4. "Alyssa Farah > U.S. Department of Defense > Biography". https://www.defense.gov/Our-Story/Biographies/Biography/Article/2012114/alyssa-farah/. 
  5. "Top Pence aide to become Pentagon press secretary". https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/top-pence-aide-to-become-pentagon-press-secretary/ar-AAFNnyx. 
  6. Lippman, Daniel. "Birthday of the Day: Alyssa Farah, press secretary for Vice President Pence" (in en). https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/15/alyssa-farah-birthday-1365845. 
  7. Krepel, Terry (Contributor/Founder of ConWebWatch; former senior editor at Media Matters) (December 20, 2017). "Pence's Press Secretary Is Daughter Of Right-Wing Conspiracy Site's Founder" (in en). https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pences-press-secretary-is-daughter-of-right-wing-conspiracy_b_5a3af470e4b0df0de8b06225. 
  8. Roig-Franzia, Manuel (April 2, 2019). "Inside the spectacular fall of the granddaddy of right-wing conspiracy sites" (in en-US). The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/inside-the-spectacular-fall-of-the-granddaddy-of-right-wing-conspiracy-sites/2019/04/02/6ac53122-3ba6-11e9-a06c-3ec8ed509d15_story.html. 
  9. Nussbaum, Matthew; Sherman, Jake. "Pence taps top Freedom Caucus aide as press secretary". https://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/18/alyssa-farah-mike-pence-press-secretary-242844. 
  10. Comment on The View at 5 minutes 50 seconds- March 16, 2022 "And if I can just say I've never been more proud to be a Ukrainian..."
  11. "Alyssa Farah > U.S. Department of Defense > Biography". https://www.defense.gov/Our-Story/Biographies/Biography/Article/2012114/alyssa-farah/. 
  12. Roig-Franzia, Manuel (April 2, 2019). "Inside the spectacular fall of the granddaddy of right-wing conspiracy sites". Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/inside-the-spectacular-fall-of-the-granddaddy-of-right-wing-conspiracy-sites/2019/04/02/6ac53122-3ba6-11e9-a06c-3ec8ed509d15_story.html. 
  13. Krepel, Terry (December 20, 2017). "Pence's Press Secretary Is Daughter Of Right-Wing Conspiracy Site's Founder". https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pences-press-secretary-is-daughter-of-right-wing-conspiracy_b_5a3af470e4b0df0de8b06225. 
  14. Santiago, Ellyn (January 6, 2019). "Alyssa Farah: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know" (in en). https://heavy.com/news/2019/01/alyssa-farah/. 
  15. Nussbaum, Matthew; Sherman, Jake. "Pence taps top Freedom Caucus aide as press secretary". https://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/18/alyssa-farah-mike-pence-press-secretary-242844. 
  16. Parker, Ashley (April 2, 2019). "Top Pence aide will move to Pentagon as new press secretary". Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/top-pence-aide-heading-to-the-pentagon-to-be-chief-spokeswoman/2019/08/13/e639e9ca-bd3c-11e9-aff2-3835caab97f6_story.html. 
  17. "Top Pence Aide Heading to the Pentagon to be Chief Spokeswoman". The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/top-pence-aide-heading-to-the-pentagon-to-be-chief-spokeswoman/2019/08/13/e639e9ca-bd3c-11e9-aff2-3835caab97f6_story.html. 
  18. Treene, Jonathan Swan,Alayna (April 3, 2020). "Mark Meadows considers new White House press secretary" (in en). https://www.axios.com/white-house-press-secretary-farah-mcenany-grisham-meadows-e9b99a5f-93e1-4ec7-addf-68affb1e5244.html. 
  19. McGraw, Meredith; Cook, Nancy (April 7, 2020). "Kayleigh McEnany replaces Grisham as White House press secretary" (in en). Politico. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/07/stephanie-grisham-press-secretary-171563. 
  20. Rucker, Philip; Yasmeen Abutaleb, Josh Dawsey, Robert Costa (August 8, 2020). "The lost days of summer: How Trump struggled to contain the virus". The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-struggled-summer-coronavirus/2020/08/08/e12ceace-d80a-11ea-aff6-220dd3a14741_story.html. 
  21. Parker, Ashley, "Farah resigns as White House communications director in tacit nod to Trump’s loss", Washington Post, December 3, 2020.
  22. Castronuovo, Celine (2021-01-06). "Former White House official says Trump supporters harassing Romney 'beneath us as a country'" (in en). https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/532876-former-white-house-official-says-trump-supporters-harassing-romney. 
  23. "'For our country!': Trump world pleads with the president to condemn storming of the Capitol" (in en). https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/06/farah-calls-on-trump-to-condemn-storming-of-capitol-455521. 
  24. "Former Trump communications director says President lied about 2020 election and should consider resigning". CNN. January 8, 2020. https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/08/politics/alyssa-farah-trump-lied-resignation-cnntv/index.html. 
  25. Fossett, Katelyn, 'I Stepped Down Because I Saw Where This Was Heading' (interview), politico.com, January 7, 2021.
  26. "Trump's ex-communications director has advice ahead of trial". CNN. February 7, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA3ltN_N55Q. 
  27. "Former White House official reveals she sent 'people are going to die' Jan. 6 text to Meadows" (in en). 2021-12-14. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/former-white-house-official-reveals-she-sent-people-are-going-to-die-jan-6-text-to-meadows. 
  28. "IWF Welcomes Alyssa Farah To The Team" (in en). 2021-02-26. https://www.iwf.org/2021/02/26/iwf-welcomes-alyssa-farah-to-the-team/. 
  29. Farah, Alyssa; Maska, Johanna (June 11, 2021). "One worked for Trump. The other for Obama. This is their advice on unifying the country." (in en-US). https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2021/06/11/polarization-biden-g-7-trump-obama-insurrection-overcoming-partisanship/7647107002/. 
  30. Huggins, Katherine (12 December 2021). "Former Trump Spox Alyssa Farah to Join CNN As Political Commentator". https://www.mediaite.com/tv/former-trump-spox-alyssa-farah-to-join-cnn-as-political-commentator/. Retrieved 13 December 2021. 
  31. Tapper, Jake (18 January 2022). "Former Trump administration officials hold call to strategize against former boss' efforts in 2022 and 2024". CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/18/politics/trump-administration-officials-against-former-boss-2022/index.html. Retrieved 18 January 2022. 
  32. "Current Fellows". Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service. https://politics.georgetown.edu/fellows/current-fellows/. 
  33. Staff (June 19, 2022). "Ex-Trump aide says Trump admitted privately that he lost the election - CNN Video (00:50)". CNN News. https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2022/06/19/trump-admission-2024-election-sotu-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/this-week-in-politics/. Retrieved June 19, 2022. 
  34. Bender, Michael C. (2019-01-05). "FBI Investigating Fake Texts Sent to GOP House Members" (in en-US). Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. https://www.wsj.com/articles/fbi-investigating-fake-texts-sent-to-gop-house-members-11546646739. 
  35. "Engagement: Farah-Griffin". Union Leader. 2 August 2020. https://www.unionleader.com/announcements/engagements/engagement-farah-griffin/article_60a2988d-5286-58cc-9aab-65482eedf3f5.html. 
  36. "Interview on CNN 11/13/2021". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ5vFyrXiK0. 
  37. Moran, Lee (February 12, 2022). "Ex-Trump Aide: Dad Boycotted My Wedding After I Spoke Out Against Former President". https://www.huffpost.com/entry/alyssa-farah-trump-dad-boycott-wedding_n_62075a4be4b0e224afc780fe.