NEW YORK (Diya TV) — President-elect Donald Trump Thursday announced the appointment of Indian-American Raj Shah as his deputy assistant and deputy communications director in his upcoming White House administration.
Shah, who played an active role in Trump’s presidential campaign, will also serve as the administration’s research director.
He has spent the last two years spearheading the GOP’s Opposition Research team, working closely alongside Reince Preiubs, Trump’s incoming White House Chief of Staff. Research Shah’s team generated was directly responsible for several creative and directional decisions the Republican National Committee made in the last year.
“These individuals will be key leaders in helping to implement the President-elect’s agenda and bring real change to Washington,” Preiubs said of the appointment in a statement. “Each of them has been instrumental over the last several months, and in some cases years, in helping the President-elect.”
Shah will work alongside Press Secretary Sean Spicer at the White House’s daily press briefings.
Now 30, Shah’s parents immigrated to the U.S. from Gujarat. They settled in Chicago, before ultimately moving to Connecticut, where Shah was born. He joined the GOP fresh out of college, after he graduated from Cornell University. He worked for three months as a research assistant at the White House for President George W. Bush. Other than that, he’s spent no time working on Pennsylvania Avenue.
“That’s my experience with the White House,” he said jokingly in an interview with News India Times.
“I am thrilled for the opportunity. Humbled and very excited to join this new administration to help its efforts and handle the message on the biggest agenda items,” he said. “I will have the opportunity to serve front and center.”
