Steven Cheung (political advisor)

Steven Cheung (born June 23, 1982) is an American political advisor who is Donald Trump's campaign spokesman in the 2023-24 Republican primary and served in the Donald J. Trump administration. He previously worked in Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns. He also worked in communications for the sports organization Ultimate Fighting Championship based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Cheung was born in Sacramento, California and was raised in South Sacramento. He attended California State University, Sacramento where he majored in Computer Science, Engineering, and Government. Cheung began his political career in Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration in California. He later moved to Washington, DC to work on the John McCain presidential campaign. Cheung has served on the campaigns of Steve Poizner for California governor, Sharron Angle for U.S. Senate, and Texas Lt. Governor David Dewhust for U.S. Senate. In 2013, Cheung transitioned into a career with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he worked as "a director of communications for public affairs at the UFC." Before then-candidate Donald Trump was nominated as the Republican presidential nominee at the Republican National Convention in 2016, Cheung left his job at the UFC and joined the Trump campaign’s communications and press team as Director of Rapid Response. His duties included “keeping the campaign up to date on breaking news and pushing back on false or unbalanced reporting” according to a press release. Cheung was involved in a controversial statement disavowing support from the Ku Klux Klan and a white supremacist newspaper, who endorsed Trump’s campaign. He said, “Mr. Trump and the campaign denounces hate in any form. This publication is repulsive and their views do not represent the tens of millions of Americans who are uniting behind our campaign.” This led to backlash from many of Trump’s nationalist supporters. After Trump’s victory over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, Cheung was named as an advisor to the Presidential Transition team.