President Donald Trump’s new press office hire has previously posed toting a rifle and wearing a shirt that reads, “F--K JOE BIDEN.”
Beni Rae Harmony, 24, announced Friday she was hired as an assistant press secretary and White House spokesperson. The image was unearthed by anti-MAGA accounts on social media shortly after.
Former Republican Virginia congressional candidate Jarome Bell posted the photo of Harmony on Instagram in 2021. Its caption reads, “My campaign Public Affairs Director @beniraeharmony is a beast. This is how we roll.”
Harmony’s official Instagram account liked the post.
Bell ran for Congress in 2022 and, although Harmony’s LinkedIn page does not mention him by name, it lists her as the director of public affairs for a “U.S. Political Campaign” around that time. The description says one of her responsibilities was serving as a liaison for the Republican Party of Virginia Beach—where Bell ran.
Harmony joins the White House press team amid a White House staff exodus that began with former Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt resigning in August.
For the past year, Harmony has served as a White House correspondent for the right-wing network Real America’s Voice. The channel airs Steve Bannon’s weekday show, The Charlie Kirk Show hosted by Blake Neff and Andrew Kolvet, and Ted Nugent’s Spirit Campfire.
Harmony joined Real America’s Voice after leaving WICS-ABC20 in Springfield, Illinois, where she says she was suspended for sharing an unprompted on-air tribute to Charlie Kirk after he was assassinated in September 2025.
She said the tribute was “non-partisan” and called Kirk, who she worked under at Turning Point USA from 2020 to 2021, a “mentor.” According to her LinkedIn profile, Harmony also interned for Arizona Republican Congressman Paul Gosar and the scandal-ridden former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz.
Last month, Harmony traveled with the press pool during Trump’s trip to Ireland and, last week, she took CNN’s spot on Air Force One when Trump traveled to Tennessee for a college football game.
