Kimberly Guilfoyle is openly gunning for Sean Spicer's job as President Donald Trump's press secretary after telling the Bay Area News Group that she's been in conversations with the administration about it, but Fox News said its co-host of "The Five" isn't going anywhere.
The exclusive news group interview with Guilfoyle was picked by the Washington Post, Politico and other news sites and quickly became one of the day's top trending stories.
Guilfoyle, 48, is a lawyer by trade and a former prosecutor in San Francisco and Los Angeles. The firebrand conservative was divorced from liberal California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsome, who was then San Francisco mayor, in 2006 after four years marriage, noted the news group.
"I'm a patriot, and it would be an honor to serve the country," Guilfoyle said. "I think it'd be a fascinating job. It's a challenging job, and you need someone really determined and focused, a great communicator in there with deep knowledge to be able to handle that position."
Guilfoyle had been in the running for the job after the presidential election, but lost out to Spicer, the former spokesman for the Republican National Committee. Her name was floated by The New York Times as a person President Donald Trump suggested he’d be interested in hiring.
"Kimberly is a valued member of the Fox News primetime lineup, and is under a long-term contract with the network," a network spokesperson said in a statement, per Politico.
According to a Politico source with direct knowledge of the situation, Guilfoyle’s contract was renegotiated when the "The Five" was moved to 9 p.m. following the departure of anchor Bill O’Reilly and a shakeup of the primetime lineup, and a Fox executive said Guilfoyle didn't re-negotiate her long-term contract.
The Wall Street Journal on Saturday said rumors about Spicer possibly being replaced picked up steam after Trump fired FBI director James Comey.
The Hill said the Trump administration has denied rumors of Spicer being fired.
Guilfoyle had complained on "The Five" last week that Trump's press team blew the rollout of Comey's firing.
"If you want to be successful and do communications with President Trump, you have to be someone who he actually wants to spend a little bit of time with," said Guilfoyle, per the news group.
"You've got to insist on getting in front of POTUS, talk to him, and have like five, six minutes with him before you go out there and take the podium, and otherwise you’re driving blind. It has to be somebody with a very close relationship, where there's trust there, there’s inherent loyalty, someone who's been there from the beginning."
According to Politico, Guilfoyle said in the California interview she’d be willing to take a pay cut and move to Washington for a possible White House job.
“I’ve never been someone who’s motivated by financial interests,” she said. “I really don’t think of that in terms of any obstacle — if you’re passionate about it and you feel like you have a calling for anything in life.”
“I really love what I do, and this job is tough to beat,” she continued. “At the same time, life is exciting and it’s about different chapters in your life, so I’m excited about the future.”
Through a spokesperson, Guilfoyle said on Tuesday: “As I stated in the interview, I really love what I do and my job co-hosting 'The Five' is tough to beat.”