Hope Hicks, the former White House communications director who served during the chaotic first year of the Trump administration, has been named head of corporate communications for New Fox, the company to emerge after 21st Century Fox completes the sale of assets to Disney early next year. 
 
 Hicks has been named exec VP and chief communications officer for Fox. She will report to Viet Dinh, Fox’s chief legal and policy officer. Also appointed at New Fox on Monday was Danny O’Brien as exec VP and head of government relations. He comes to Fox after working in the same capacity for GE Transportation. 
 
 “Hope and Danny are proven leaders and world-class public affairs professionals. Together they will define and project Fox’s voice to our relevant communities,” Dinh said. 
 
 Hicks will succeed Julie Henderson as communications chief for Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. Henderson, exec VP and chief communications officer for 21st Century Fox, and communications senior VP Nathaniel Brown, have opted not to make the transition to the New Fox entity. Hicks will be based in Los Angeles. 
 
 New Fox will be rooted in television and revolve around Fox Broadcasting Co., Fox News and Fox Sports. Disney is buying the 20th Century Fox studio, FX Networks, National Geographic Partners and other entertainment-focused assets for $71.3 billion. 
 
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 Hicks left the White House in February amid the expanding probes into the 2016 presidential election and questions about the depth of the Trump campaign’s ties to Russian entities focused on influencing the bitter contest between Trump and his Democratic challenger, Hillary Clinton. In February, just before her resignation from the White House, Hicks gave more than eight hours of private testimony before the House Intelligence Committee in connection with the House probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. 
 
 Hicks’ close association with Trump made her appointment at Fox an immediately hot topic of discussion on social media. Critics on the left cited it as more signs that Fox News aims to promote the Trump administration’s agenda with an eye toward the presidential campaign. 
 
 “Hope Hicks’ presence at Fox will further align the Trump communications apparatus with the Fox News propaganda machine,” said Angelo Carusone, president of the watchdog group Media Matters for America. 
 
 Hicks’ appointment was hailed via Twitter by her former colleague, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. “Fox won’t find anyone smarter or more talented than Hope Hicks,” Sanders wrote. 
 
 FOX won’t find anyone smarter or more talented than Hope Hicks. So happy for my friend. They are beyond lucky to have you and the East Coast misses you already. https://t.co/mUQUlip5oc — Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) October 8, 2018 
 
 Hicks had been a close advisor to President Donald Trump, having joined his campaign in January 2015 after working as director of communications for the Trump Organization. Earlier in her career she worked for the PR firms Hiltzik Strategies and Zeno Group. 
 
 O’Brien has deep ties on Capitol Hill. He previously served as chief of staff to three U.S. senators — Joe Biden, Robert Menendez and Robert Torricelli — and was staff director for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. ||||| But Disney is not buying Fox News, Fox Sports or the company's broadcast network or TV stations. So those assets will be spun off to form a slimmed-down version of Fox, officially named, you guessed it, FOX. 
 
 Last week, the company announced the new all-caps name and confirmed that Lachlan Murdoch will be the CEO while his father Rupert Murdoch will be the co-chairman. 
 
 Monday's hiring of Hicks is part of the executive transition. Her role will take effect when the spin-off is in place. 
 
 The current PR chief at 21st Century Fox, Julie Henderson, is leaving when the deal is done, along with several other executives. 
 
 Hicks will be moving to Los Angeles for the FOX role. She will report to Viet Dinh, FOX's chief legal and policy officer. Dinh, in turn, reports to Lachlan Murdoch. 
 
 Hicks will work at the C-suite level. Fox News, based in New York, has its own PR operation. But Fox News -- with its highly-rated pro-Trump talk shows -- is one of the main assets of FOX. 
 
 Hicks previously worked in New York for Donald Trump's presidential campaign, then moved to Washington at the start of the Trump presidency. Before she resigned in February, she was one of the president's longest-serving aides. 
 
 Ever since then, there's been speculation that she would take a job in the corporate world, mixed with the occasional rumor about a return to the Trump White House. 
 
 Hicks was spotted boarding Air Force One back in August, but has otherwise kept a low profile in her eight months since leaving the White House. 
 
 Hicks' hiring stirred intrigue because President Trump and Rupert Murdoch have a complicated and mutually beneficial relationship. The two men are known to speak regularly. And Fox News is a key part of Trump's media machine. 
 
 It's unknown if any of that factored into Hicks' decision. 
 
 She declined to comment when the announcement was made on Monday. 
 
 FOX also announced the hiring of Danny O'Brien, an executive at GE, to be the head of government relations. 
 
 While Hicks has connections to Trump, O'Brien has roots in Democratic politics as a former chief of staff to several Democratic senators. ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. 
 
 By Jason Abbruzzese 
 
 Hope Hicks, the former White House communications director, will be joining Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox as chief communications officer, the company announced Monday. 
 
 Hicks becomes the latest in a long line of people who have moved between Fox and the White House. In June, former Fox News president Bill Shine took Hicks' former role with the Trump administration after her resignation in February. 
 
 Fox is in the midst of a major pivot, having sold off most of its entertainment assets to Disney in July for $71.3 billion. The company is now refocusing on its Fox broadcast network, Fox News and other news- and sports-heavy cable channels — which has come to be known in media circles as "New Fox." 
 
 Fox also announced on Monday that Danny O'Brien has been hired to serve as head of government relations. O'Brien had most recently worked as government relations leader for General Electric's transportation operation. 
 
 Sarah Sanders, White House press secretary, tweeted a message of congratulations to Hicks. 
 
 "FOX won’t find anyone smarter or more talented than Hope Hicks," Sanders wrote. 
 
 Hicks adds to the already close relationship between the Trump administration and Murdoch's media assets. President Donald Trump and Murdoch are known to be friendly, with The New York Times reporting in December that the two talked on the phone weekly. 
 
 Hicks served as press secretary on Trump's 2016 campaign, having previously worked for the Trump Organization and Ivanka Trump's fashion label. 
 
 Fox noted in its press release that Hicks will not start until the close of the Disney deal, at which time 21st Century Fox will also change its name to Fox. Fox said Hicks will be based in Los Angeles. 
 
 Though she left the White House in February, Hicks was spotted on Air Force One in August. 
 
 While it has become common in recent years for former White House staff to join media organizations, the addition of Hicks to Fox further ties the company's cable news operation to Trump. Trump's staff now includes national security adviser John Bolton, who had been a Fox News contributor; State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert, a former Fox News anchor; and White House communications adviser Mercedes Schlapp, who had also been a Fox News contributor, among others. 
 
 Trump has made no secret of his affinity for Fox News, which features an evening roster of hosts that ardently back the president. In September, Trump sent eight tweets praising or pointing to Fox News coverage, with his most recent urging people to tune into the channel to watch a rally in West Virginia.
– Hope Hicks has landed her post-White House gig. President Trump's former communications director, who left the administration earlier this year, is now the head of corporate communications for Fox. Hicks will assume the role for the new version of the company that will emerge after Disney purchases 21st Century Fox's assets next year; Disney is buying the entertainment-focused assets, leaving behind a streamlined company "rooted in television," as Variety puts it, and revolving around Fox News, Fox Sports, and Fox Broadcasting Co. (Variety says this new company will be called New Fox, though CNN says it will be renamed FOX from Fox, and NBC News explains that "New Fox" is simply how the company has become known in media circles.) Hicks, whose official title is executive VP and chief communications officer, succeeds Julie Henderson, who decided not to transition from 21st Century Fox. Rupert Murdoch will be co-chairman of the new company, it was announced last week, while his son Lachlan will be CEO. Also Monday, Danny O'Brien was named executive VP and head of government relations. "Hope and Danny are proven leaders and world-class public affairs professionals. Together they will define and project Fox’s voice to our relevant communities," said Fox’s chief legal and policy officer, Viet Dinh, in a statement.