Ari Fleischer Joins CNN As Political Contributor

Former White House Secretary Ari Fleischer has joined CNN as political contributor. Details from CNN below.

CNN Press Release: As the nation looks to the 2012 election season, CNN continues to expand its team of political contributors with the addition of former White House Secretary Ari Fleischer, it was announced today by Sam Feist, CNN senior vice president and Washington bureau chief. Fleischer will serve as contributor to programs across the network as well as special political programming.

“Ari’s extraordinary experience in the political arena and in the White House make him an invaluable contributor to the network,” said Feist. “We’re thrilled to have Ari on board and our viewers will appreciate his keen insight as we head into this election cycle.”

“Having worked on a successful presidential campaign and having spent 21 years in Washington, I’m looking forward to joining CNN as a regular contributor,” said Fleischer. “It’s shaping up as a red hot political year and I’m eager to lend my perspective to it.”

Prior to starting his own company, Ari Fleischer Sports Communications Inc., Fleischer was the primary spokesperson for President Bush and delivered the daily White House briefings from 2001 to 2003. He previously served as the senior communications advisor and spokesman for the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign. While working for George W. Bush, Fleischer served as spokesman during the historic 2000 presidential recount, 9/11 attacks, and the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Fleischer was also the national spokesman and communications director for Elizabeth Dole’s run for the presidency, and he also served as the communications director for the House Committee on Ways and Means from 1994 to 1999. From 1989 to 1994, Fleischer served as press secretary to New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici, and from 1983 to 1989, he served as press secretary to two members of Congress from New York, and he also worked on several political campaigns. Fleischer is the author of a New York Times best seller, Taking Heat, which details his years in the White House.

Fleischer joins a deep bench of political contributors at CNN which includes John Avalon, Paul Begala, Donna Brazile, James Carville, Alex Castellanos, Erick Erickson, Roland Martin, Mary Matalin, and Hilary Rosen, among others.