Ex-Trump aide Caroline Sunshine showered President Donald Trump with praise on Wednesday after multiple polls cited voters’ fears of corruption as a factor in the disastrous midterm results for Republicans.
Sunshine appeared on Newsmax after former Justice Department adviser Alina Habba was fired last week from a $50 million general counsel contract at the firm Concord Partners, a job she landed after securing a presidential pardon for Julio Herrera Velutini, a billionaire tied to the company, from Trump.
Asked how vital it is for the president to “stop the grift” in his administration, Sunshine praised Trump for denouncing Habba’s apparent pardon deal and urging the company to stop paying her.
“Yeah, he’s doing the right thing,” she told host Rob Finnerty. “It’s OK to talk about it. This is how you deal with those things. Like, the president is running the most powerful country in the world. When this was brought to his knowledge, he acted swiftly, did something about it.”
Despite Sunshine’s praise, Trump has made more than $1 billion in his second term from a series of cryptocurrency ventures with his sons, and purchased shares in numerous companies that the federal government later selected for lucrative contracts.
Left: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images; Right: Alex Brandon/Associated Press
Sunshine, a former Disney Channel actor, has recently been doing damage control for Trump on TV. After Republicans lost both the House and Senate to Democrats in the midterms, she told Fox News last week that the president wasn’t to blame — and that the loss was due to poor messaging by his staff.
Asked Wednesday if she believes there are still “hangers-on” making illegal side deals while working for the Trump administration, Sunshine once again rushed to the president’s defense and claimed he’s actively rooting out corruption.
“I think the biggest one is no longer in the job,” she said. “I think there had been reporting about corruption, of [former White House chief of staff] Susie Wiles, and I was glad to see that she resigned.”
Whether her loyal defense of Trump across national television will land her the vacant press secretary gig remains to be seen, as Sunshine has yet to confirm that she is officially seeking the job.
