U.S. President Donald Trump reacts, flanked by West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, as remarks are delivered to reporters about his administration's support for coal energy production, among other topics, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 4, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
An ex-MAGA insider named which top Trump aide is involved in coordinating media campaigns with right-wing influencers through group chats.
Ashley St. Clair said in an interview with California Gov. Gavin Newsom that deputy White House chief of staff James Blair is working with MAGA influencers on "incredibly coordinated and sophisticated" media campaigns.
Newsom explained, "There are folks on group chats consistently trying to help weaponize grievance" through media campaigns, and "they've got the president's right-hand person, potentially, James Blair."
St. Clair corrected the Democratic governor, saying, "No 'potentially.' James Blair is in these group chats. Members of the administration are in these group chats."
She explained that Blair communicates with MAGA influencers on group chats, over phone calls, and via the Signal app. She added that the group chats have given MAGA influencers access not just to the current administration but to Trump's 2024 campaign.
"They operate through group chats and have for many years," St. Clair said. "They coordinate these messaging campaigns on what they're going to respond to, how they're going to respond to it, or not respond to it."
She said the coordinated messaging mostly goes out via X, an app owned by Elon Musk, her ex-boyfriend and the father of her child.
Newsom worried that it gives Musk the power to use algorithms for "dialing up rage, to determining what we see, what we hear, how we think, who we vote for. That seems disproportionate," he said.
"The power of James Blair to connect and coordinate with all these influencers, to have the daily messages, you see it weaponized," Newsom said. "We're not overstating this."
"You're not being hyperbolic," St. Clair agreed. "They have the power to influence what you think, who you think about, but they also have the data on what's going to be the most useful and the best way to exploit it."