Steven Cheung, President Donald Trump's notoriously foul-mouthed communications director, has long been kept out of the spotlight and has never been considered for a front-facing White House press secretary role in part because of his weight issues, Trump administration biographer Michael Wolff told The Daily Beast's podcast.
Wolff, who has personally been on the receiving end of several of Cheung's insults including "lying sack of s---" over his unflattering portrayals of the Trump administration in his books, said on the episode that behind closed doors Cheung is a much more soft-spoken person and his profanity-laced tirades are just a persona — something other reporters who have gotten close to the White House have echoed.
But beyond that, Wolff alleged, he is forever doomed to serve in the shadows as Trump's attack dog behind a keyboard.
“There’s a sort of tragic feel about [Cheung] because he’s so heavy,” said Wolff. He added that Trump feels he has to be "hidden away" and that the much more visible role of press secretary "has to be a young woman," like Karoline Leavitt, or like a majority of his press secretaries in his first term.
Due to these physical issues, Wolff continued, Cheung was “always collapsing somewhere” as he worked on Trump's 2024 campaign; Wolff claimed to have personally witnessed an incident at Union Station where Cheung had "to be carried out."
Cheung, who did communications for UFC before getting involved with Trump's campaigns and administration, denied all of these claims, saying in a statement, “Michael Wolff clearly suffers from Trump Derangement Syndrome and begged like a dog for an interview for his failed book. The only thing being carried out is his dignity after [he] continues to embarrass and beclown himself in a fleeting attempt to gain relevancy.”