Overview

Background

Cheung was born on June 23, 1982, in South Sacramento, California. He attended California State University, Sacramento, but did not earn a degree. He began his political career working as a communications and speechwriting intern for California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in college. He later moved to Washington, D.C., to work on the John McCain presidential campaign. Cheung also served on the campaigns of Steve Poizner for California governor, Sharron Angle for U.S. Senate, and Texas Lt. Governor David Dewhurst for U.S. Senate.

In 2013, Cheung transitioned into a career with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in Las Vegas, where he worked as a director of communications for public affairs. Cheung did his stint as a top communications official for the UFC, a league headed by Trump ally Dana White. That background shaped both his style and his orbit: Cheung, a former spokesperson for the UFC, brought a cage fighter's spirit to speaking on behalf of Trump on the campaign trail.

Before Trump was nominated as the Republican presidential nominee at the 2016 Republican National Convention, Cheung left his job at the UFC and joined the Trump campaign's communications and press team as Director of Rapid Response. Cheung served as the White House assistant communications director and later the director of strategic response in Trump's first presidency. Cheung was reportedly a key player in confirming Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and assisting with the passage of the administration's tax reform bill. In June 2018, Cheung was fired by John F. Kelly amid broader staff changes.

After leaving the White House, Cheung consulted for several campaigns, including Trump's 2020 presidential campaign and Caitlyn Jenner's campaign in the 2021 California gubernatorial recall election. In September 2022, he began leading communications for MAGA Inc., Trump's super PAC, and later became the director of communications for Trump's 2024 presidential campaign.

Public Role in the Second Trump Administration

Appointment and Standing

On November 15, 2024, Trump announced he had selected Cheung to serve as White House director of communications in his second presidential term. Trump described Cheung as one of his "trusted Advisors since my first Presidential Campaign in 2016" who had "continued to champion America First principles." Cheung is one of several aides involved with Trump's third campaign who were elevated to administration roles, as Trump also named campaign manager Susie Wiles as his White House chief of staff. Cheung's role is not subject to Senate confirmation.

Cheung took up the communications post after Trump went through several communications directors and four press secretaries during his first term. His appointment signaled Trump's preference for a communications shop built around ideological loyalty and a proven willingness to fight, rather than the revolving-door turmoil that characterized the first term.

Communications Style and Approach

Cheung served as director of communications in Trump's 2024 campaign, issuing many statements on behalf of the campaign and attacking Trump's enemies in the same fiery tone the president is known for, decrying Trump's criminal cases as "witch hunts." During the campaign, Cheung in a statement called Vice President Harris a "stone cold loser" and blamed her rhetoric for the assassination attempts on Trump. Cheung regularly attributed backlash to Trump statements to "Trump Derangement Syndrome" as a way to deflect controversy.

Despite the aggressive posture in official statements, Cheung's working relationship with the press was more nuanced. Despite his hyperbolic official statements, Cheung is a communications professional who was known for having a generally pragmatic working relationship with reporters covering the Trump campaign. While Cheung was not a regular presence on television like some of Trump's other aides, he worked with the former president in a communications role for years.

Role Within the White House

Cheung previously served as Special Assistant to the President and Director of Strategic Response during Trump's first term, where he was responsible for managing emerging challenges and developing strategies to address key issues. In his second-term capacity as a full communications director with senior staff rank, his formal responsibilities expanded to encompass the administration's overall messaging strategy. He had previously worked as a member of Trump's presidential transition team, a group of advisors tasked with recommending presidential appointments for the incoming administration. That continuity across both transitions underscores his value to Trump as an institutional as well as a political asset.

Recent Developments

Cheung announced on social media that he would be leaving his role at the White House at the end of a recent month, noting that after a break he would be working on other projects. The departure, indicated on his public account, marked the end of his tenure as communications director after serving in that capacity since the start of Trump's second term in January 2025. The circumstances of his exit did not appear to reflect the kind of acrimony that characterized some departures from the first-term White House.

His time in the role tracked closely with broader patterns in White House communications under Trump's second term—aggressive public messaging, disciplined loyalty to the president's preferred framing, and relatively limited independent public visibility for Cheung himself. Cheung mostly kept a low profile while helping usher in some of the administration's key efforts, a pattern consistent with his conduct in the second term as well.

Outlook

Cheung's career arc reflects a distinctive type of Trump-era operative: a loyalist whose credibility derives not from policy expertise or media celebrity but from sustained proximity to Trump himself and a willingness to match and amplify the president's combative tone. Cheung will "do whatever Trump says," an unnamed campaign reporter told The New Yorker, adding that Cheung "isn't thinking beyond Trump." Whether that assessment proves limiting or liberating in a post-White House context remains to be seen.

Cheung's background in both mainstream Republican politics and the Trump orbit gives him a broader professional range than some second-term appointees. His experience spans traditional campaign communications, a major sports entertainment brand, and two White House tours. That versatility, combined with his established relationships across Trumpworld, is likely to sustain his relevance in conservative political and media circles regardless of his formal government role. Cheung is one of several key Trump allies who have ties to the UFC, a network that has remained politically influential throughout Trump's second term.