Kayleigh McEnany is an American spokesperson, author and political commentator who was appointed White House Press Secretary in April 2020, replacing Trump loyalist Stephanie Grisham who was appointed Press Secretary in the summer of 2019. A former pro-Trump CNN commentator, she joined the Trump campaign as Press Secretary in February 2020. Ms. McEnany is known for defending Donald Trump on CNN, where Trump has few allies.
Wiki/Biography
Kayleigh McEnany was born on Monday, April 18, 1988 as Kayleigh Michelle McEnany (born 2020) in Tampa, Florida, United States. She grew up in Florida with her two siblings, an older sister and a younger brother. Kayleigh McEnany and her younger sister Ryan attended Holy Name Academy, a private Catholic prep school for girls in Tampa.
Kayleigh McEnany (far left) as a cheerleader at Holy Name Catholic High School in Tampa, Florida, in 2005
After graduating from high school in 2006, she entered the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C., majoring in international politics. After leaving Georgetown University, McEnany went to study abroad at Oxford University in the United Kingdom for a year, where she studied political science under Nick Thomas-Symonds, who later became the Shadow Home Secretary of the United Kingdom. After graduating from Georgetown University in 2010, McEnany worked as a producer on Fox News’ television political commentary program “The Mike Huckabee Show” for three years. In an interview, talking about her experience on “The Mike Huckabee Show”, she said:
Working on The Mike Huckabee Show has given me many once-in-a-lifetime experiences. I had the opportunity to travel to Israel and write questions for Huckabee’s interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. I also produced the interview in London before the 2011 Royal Wedding.”
After leaving Fox News, she attended the University of Miami School of Law. Later, she transferred to Harvard Law School to pursue her Juris Doctor degree. She graduated from Harvard in 2016. In an interview, she explained how her political career influenced her attitude towards law school-
Writing about tough issues in the media helped me ask critical questions while studying law. I believe facts should lead you to conclusions. However, when it comes to ideology, people often draw conclusions that are not necessarily supported by facts. My law professors made me question my preconceived beliefs about issues.”
According to Michael Dale Huckabee, host of The Mike Huckabee Show, Ms. McEnany left Fox because she felt she had no chance of getting onstage.
I think one of the reasons Kelly chose to go to law school was because she didn’t think she would be able to be a Fox anchor anytime soon.”
appearance
Height: 5′ 7″
Eye Color: Blue
Hair color: Blonde
Family, religion and race
Kelly McEnany was born in a wealthy white family in South Tampa. She believes in Christianity and often reads the Bible.
Kayleigh McEnany studying the Bible on her laptop
Parents and siblings
Kelly McKenney is the eldest daughter of commercial roofing company owners Michael and Leanne McKenney. Her father, Michael McKenany, founded his own construction company, McEnany Roofing, in 1985. Her father played football at Mississippi State University from 1979 to 1982. In an interview, when talking about the bench and Kelly McKenney, Michael McKenney said,
“I used to be an extra, and I love extras,” Mike said. “Not just because I was an extra, but because for some reason, they’re overlooked by everyone else. I have that extra mentality in me, and Kelly has it too. She’s a fighter. She comes out every day like it’s her last. She prepares. She prepares well, and it’s not by accident, because she knows that when there’s talent without hard work, hard work trumps talent. At least, most of the time, extras have bigger hearts than they do skills. What they lack in skills, they make up for with heart and hard work. That’s what she did.”
Kayleigh McEnany and her father Michael McEnany
Her sister, Ryann Jessica McEnany, is the youngest sister in the McEnany family. She majored in telecommunications at the University of Florida and aspired to become a sports reporter. In 2020, Ryan began working for President Trump’s re-election campaign.
Kayleigh McEnany and her sister Ryann Jessica McEnany
Kelly’s brother, Michael, is a medical resident at the University of New Mexico.
Kayleigh McEnany and her brother Michael
Kayleigh McEnany (second from right) with her parents and siblings
Relationships, husbands and children
Kayleigh McEnany’s husband is professional baseball player Sean Gilmartin.
Kayleigh McEnany and husband Sean Gilmartin
According to their marriage registration, they got married on November 18, 2017.
Kayleigh McEnany and Sean Gilmartin on their wedding day
In November 2019, the couple welcomed their daughter, Blake Avery.
Kayleigh McEnany and husband Sean Gilmartin welcome daughter Blake Avery
Profession
Political Internship
Kayleigh McEnany’s first foray into politics came in 2004, when she volunteered for the Bush/Cheney 2004 campaign as a high school sophomore. The experience helped launch her political career and eventually television. Early in college, 18-year-old Kayleigh McEnany interned for Tom Gallagher, who was running against Charlie Crist in the 2006 Florida gubernatorial primary. Later, she interned in the White House Communications Office, writing media briefings.
Political Commentator
While attending the University of Miami School of Law, Ms. McEnany joined CNN and served as co-host of CNN’s prime-time political panel show “The Point”. She has also appeared on television shows such as “American Live” hosted by Megyn Kelly and Cavuto, Fox News’ “Red Eye”, “The Mike Huckabee Show”, “The True Story of Gretchen Carlson” and “Vani and Company”. She supported Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. As early as 2015, she was highly critical of Trump and criticized him on CNN and Fox Business Channel, saying:
Donald Trump has proven himself to be a showman” and calling him a Republican is “unfortunate” and “untrue.”
In 2015, she also criticized Donald Trump’s racist comments against Mexican immigrants. In an exchange on CNN in late June 2015, she said:
To me, a racist statement is a racist statement. I don’t like what Donald Trump says.”
When Kayleigh McEnany was a Harvard Law School student, at a Manhattan rooftop cocktail party in the summer of 2015, Michael Marcantonio, a Democrat and summer intern at the prestigious law firm Kirkland & Ellis, suggested to her:
Donald Trump was going to be your candidate, and if “a smart, young, blond Harvard graduate” wanted to “go on TV and become a political commentator, you better become a supporter sooner rather than later.”
On August 5, 2017, McEnany left CNN and hosted a 90-second live webcast “Real News Update” on Trump’s personal Facebook page.
Kayleigh McEnany at the Democratic National Convention in February 2017 and interviewed by CNN
Republican supporter and strategist
Kayleigh McEnany has been a staunch supporter of the Republican Party since college. On August 7, 2017, she was appointed as the national spokesperson for the Republican National Committee (RNC). Since taking on the role of national spokesperson, Ms. McEnany has repeatedly proven herself to be a loyal fighter for Trump.
Kayleigh McEnany walks behind Donald Trump
White House Press Secretary
On April 7, 2020, Kayleigh McEnany was hired by Mark Meadows (White House Chief of Staff) as White House Press Secretary, replacing Stephanie Grisham. The next day, on April 8, 2020, she was officially appointed as White House Press Secretary.
Kayleigh McEnany attends White House press conference
As White House press secretary, Ms. McEnany has defended Trump’s remarks many times, including Trump’s suggestion at a press conference that disinfectant injections could be used to treat the coronavirus; while defending Trump’s suggestion, she said Trump’s remarks were taken out of context. At her first public press conference on May 1, 2020, when asked by an Associated Press reporter:
Can you promise to never lie to us from that pulpit?”
McEnany responded:
I will never lie to you. I promise you that.”
dispute
- In 2012, she was criticized for supporting the “birther” conspiracy theory questioning former President Barack Obama’s birthplace.
How I Met Your Mother – never mind, forget he was still in that cabin in Kenya. #ObamaTV
— Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) August 30, 2012
- On October 14, 2020, Twitter blocked Kayleigh McEnany’s account for sharing Hunter Biden’s story on The Washington Post. The Washington Post’s article reportedly cast Joe Biden in a negative light. The New York Post’s reporting on Hunter Biden’s emails was censored by Twitter and Facebook, as it allegedly showed that Hunter used his father Joe Biden’s contacts in exchange for payment by serving on the board of the Ukrainian company Burisma. Later, at a rally, Trump criticized Twitter for suspending Kayleigh’s account.
On October 15, 2020, McEnany regained control of her personal Twitter account on the condition that she remove the link to the Washington Post cover story describing emails allegedly from Hunter Biden’s hard drive.
Favorites
- Sports: Football, Baseball
- Politicians: Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Donald Trump
Facts/Trivia
- At Miami Law School, she received the Bruce J. Winnick Award for Excellence, a scholarship given to students in the top 1% of their class. Praising McNerney’s accomplishments as a student in her Legal Communications class, Peter Nemerovsky, a professor of legal writing, said,
Kayleigh is a creative thinker and talented writer who has excelled in my LComm classes.”
- According to Ms. McEnany, she has been interested in politics for as long as she can remember.
I have always been fascinated by politics and political commentary. Interestingly, no one in my family, other than me, has a particular interest in politics or a political background.”
- Kelly McEnany and her husband Sean Gilmartin co-own a house on Davis Island, a neighborhood with views of downtown Tampa. The house was originally built in 1940, and the couple purchased the property in September 2017 for $650,000.
- She loves dogs very much and has a pet dog named Lexi.
Kayleigh McEnany and her husband Sean Gilmartin with their dog Lexi
- In 2018, she underwent a preventive double mastectomy because of a BRCA mutation that could have predisposed her to breast cancer.
Kelly McEnany undergoes preventive double mastectomy
- In 2018, she published a book about the movement behind Trump’s 2016 election victory, The New American Revolution: The Making of a Populist Movement.
- McEnany’s parents and siblings attended her first White House press conference on May 1, 2020. McEnany also brought her one-year-old daughter to the event.
Kayleigh McEnany and family attend first White House press conference
- Kayleigh McEnany tested positive for COVID-19 on October 5, 2020.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education