White House staff Between 2005 and 2009, Dennard worked in
George W. Bush's
White House at the
Office of Legislative Affairs, the Office of Political Affairs, and the
Office of Public Liaison. During that time, he served as White House Director of Black Outreach; coordinated the meetings and travels of the President,
First Lady Laura Bush, and the
House of Representatives; and planned various events in the White House. Between 2009 and 2011, Dennard worked at the
Republican National Committee as an associate director for Coalitions.
Communications consulting Dennard is also a consultant through his own firm on strategic communication, political management, image and brand development, and media training issues.
Political commentary and activism Dennard is a member of the
American Enterprise Institute's Leadership Network. Dennard served on the advisory board for "Black Voices for Trump" for the 2020 re-election campaign for Donald Trump. Dennard has been a political TV commentator on
C-SPAN,
BBC,
OANN,
Newsmax TV,
Hill TV,
KTOE's "Al in the Afternoon", and
TV One where he was a regular on NewsOne Now with Roland S. Martin,
BET's State of the Union coverage,
MSNBC, and was a paid political commentator with
CNN from 2016 to 2018 and
NPR's
Here and Now. Dennard also writes opinion articles that have appeared in
The Daily Caller and
The Hill on a host of topics. Dennard is known for his pro-
Donald Trump commentary; he frequently defended Trump and
his administration in his CNN appearances. Trump praised Dennard during a White House
Black History Month event and a "Black Voices for Trump" event in
Atlanta, Georgia. In 2018, Trump appointed Dennard to the President's Commission on
White House Fellowships. After Trump was defeated by Democratic challenger
Joe Biden, Dennard was hired as a national spokesman for the
Republican Party. In 2018,
The Washington Post reported that, according to documents and a university official, Dennard had been fired in 2015 from his position as an events director at the institute for making sexually explicit comments and gestures toward women. Dennard had "told a recent college graduate who worked for him that he wanted to have sex with her" and "pretended to unzip his pants in her presence, tried to get her to sit on his lap, and made masturbatory gestures." After Dennard's contract expired, CNN did not renew it.
Republican National Committee In March 2020, Dennard was hired by the
Republican National Committee, subsequently working as a national spokesperson and as director of Black media affairs. During the 2020 presidential campaign, he also served on the advisory board of
Black Voices for Trump. The RNC fired Dennard in August 2022. ==See also==