Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Zach Fuentes at the White House in 2018.
Zach Fuentes is a political advisor and Coast Guard veteran who served as deputy chief of staff and as a top aide to John Kelly in the Trump White House.
Fuentes has said he did not hear President Donald Trump call fallen soldiers “losers” during a trip to France and said he was not a source for The Atlantic’s article that reported Trump did insult the military during that trip. Fuentes has received praise from Trump on Twitter for his comments about The Atlantic report.
Fuentes told CNN’s Jeremy Diamond, “You can put me on record denying that I spoke with The Atlantic. I believe any president, regardless of political affiliation, deserves to have candid and private conversations with trusted advisors.” Fuentes also gave the same statement to Breitbart News about The Atlantic article.
Fuentes told Diamond in a statement, “I did not hear POTUS call anyone losers when I told him about the weather” during the November 2018 France trip. Trump was planning to visit Aisne-Marne cemetery in France, where American soldiers are buried, as part of a 100th anniversary commemoration of the end of World War I, but the trip was canceled last minute. The Atlantic reported Trump told senior staff, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.”
Fuentes told Diamond, “If the president decides to talk about it, that is his right, but generally, I don’t think it is my place to divulge private conversations with him. I don’t know who the sources are! … Honestly, do you think General Kelly would have stood by and let anyone call fallen Marines losers?? Whoever the sources are, they are unlikely first hand accounts and they are conflating stories.”
Diamond tweeted that Fuentes statement about conflating stories, “raises questions of its own. Fuentes hasn’t answered my follow-ups yet.” Fuentes did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Heavy.
According to The New York Times, Fuentes, a 38-year-old Virginia resident, was one of the “most controversial aides” in the West Wing, and had nicknames including, “ZOTUS,” or “Zach of the United States,” and “prime minister,” for how he approached other staffers. According to The Times, Fuentes began looking to exit The White House in late 2018 after Trump soured on him. The newspaper reported part of the president’s unhappiness with Fuentes stemmed from the now-infamous Paris trip and how Fuentes handled the canceled military cemetery visit.
Here’s what you need to know about Zachary Fuentes:
1. Trump Tweeted Thanks to Fuentes & Said ‘I Do Appreciate Zach Coming Out’
President Trump talks about top John Kelly aide Zach Fuentes coming out against the Atlantic’s reporting.
“I do appreciate Zach coming out. He’s now the 15th person to deny it.”
Trump responded to Fuentes after Breitbart published his former employee’s statements about The Atlantic article. The president tweeted on September 7, “Thanks Zach. Just more corrupt Fake News trying to change the course of our most important, ever, Election!”
Trump later talked about Fuentes during a Labor Day press briefing at The White House. Trump said about his former deputy chief of staff, “The story is a hoax … It’s a totally made up story. In fact, I was very happy to see Zach Fuentes came out. I was happy to see that Zach came out and said it’s not true. He just came out. It’s a disgrace.” Trump said Fuentes is the 15th person to deny hearing the comments The Atlantic reported Trump said.
Trump said about The Atlantic article, “Who would say a thing like that? Only an animal would say a thing like that. There is nobody who has more respect for, not only the military, but for people who gave their lives, there is nobody, and I think John Kelly knows that, I think he would know that, I think he would knows that from me. But Zach Fuentes worked for John, and I think they both know that. But Zach came out today and said very strongly that he didn’t hear anything like that.”
In his statement to CNN’s Diamond, Fuentes did defended Kelly, his former boss. “I am disappointed to see POTUS talk about General Kelly so negatively in the middle of being accused of saying negative things about the military. If anyone understands selfless service, it’s General Kelly.” Kelly has not commented about The Atlantic story.
2. Fuentes Worked at the Department of Homeland Security With Kelly From 2016 to 2017 & Then Worked With Him Again in The White House, Where He Served From 2017 to 2019 as an Aide
GettyJohn Kelly with President Donald Trump at The White House.
Fuentes began working for Kelly in 2016 at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as a military assistant to the Secretary of Homeland Security, the position Kelly held at the time, according to his LinkedIn profile. He remained in that role until 2017, when Kelly moved to The White House to become Trump’s chief of staff.
Fuentes followed Kelly to The White House. He first worked as deputy assistant to the president and senior advisor to the chief of staff, a role he held from 2017 to 2018. In 2018 his title was changed from assistant to the president and White House principal deputy chief of staff, according to his LinkedIn profile.
The Times reported in 2018, “As Mr. Kelly’s closest aide, Mr. Fuentes has wielded disproportionate power in the Trump White House. He has influenced a number of personnel decisions, and has frequently traveled with Mr. Trump as part of a rotation of deputy chiefs of staff”
Fuentes was continuing to serve in the U.S. Coast Guard during his time working with Kelly at the Department of Homeland Security and at The White House. His LinkedIn profile shows he remained in the Coast Guard until early 2020.
3. Fuentes Was Given a Controversial $3 Million Coronavirus Mask Contract After Leaving the White House
According to his LinkedIn profile, Fuentes founded Zach Fuentes LLC in in 2020, and he says he is the CEO of the company. Fuentes wrote on his LinkedIn profile, he is an “Executive leader and principal helping organizations identify and capitalize on opportunities derived from the intersection of emerging markets, geopolitics and national security.”
Fuentes added, “I have nearly two decades of public service – The White House, Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Military. My experience and knowledge of the policy process include national security, economic, domestic, and international policy issues and relationship-building at the highest levels of U.S. and international government.”
Fuentes was previously in the spotlight in the early days of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, when he was awarded a $3 million federal contract to supply respirator masks to the Navajo Nation, according to a ProPublica report from May 2020. According to ProPublica, Fuentes received the contract from the Indian Health Service with “limited competitive bidding and no prior federal contracting expertise.” ProPublica wrote:
The IHS told ProPublica it has found that 247,000 of the masks delivered by Fuentes’ company — at a cost of roughly $800,000 — may be unsuitable for medical use. An additional 130,400, worth about $422,000, are not the type specified in the procurement data, the agency said.
What’s more, the masks Fuentes agreed to provide — Chinese-made KN95s — have come under intense scrutiny from U.S. regulators amid concerns that they offered inadequate protection.
Fuentes told ProPublica he didn’t have any help from The White House, “Nobody referred me from the White House. It was nothing like that. Emphatically no.” According to ProPublica, Fuentes benefited from government procurement rules that favor veteran-owned and minority-owned businesses.
According to NPR, Congress has looked into Fuentes’ mask deal. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the chair of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, asked for details on why Trump administration officials selected particular companies for contracts, including Fuentes’ company, NPR reports.
According to NPR, Clyburn said in a letter to the heads of departments of Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Defense and Veteran Affairs, “The Administration awarded contracts to inexperienced suppliers. More than 445 companies had no prior experience in the federal marketplace before receiving awards related to the pandemic response. Many of the companies awarded contracts … registered to do business with the government for the first time this year, some just days before successfully winning a contract.”
4. Fuentes, a Florida Native, Graduated From the Coast Guard Academy in 2004 & Is Currently Pursuing His MBA at Northwestern University
GettyWhite House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, second right, checks her phone as White House Staff Photographer Shealah Craighead, left, Assistant to the White House Chief of Staff Zach Fuentes, center, and Deputy Director of Presidential Advance Jordan Karem, right, fly on a helicopter to Yokota Airbase in Tokyo, Japan, on November 5, 2017.
Fuentes is originally from Florida, according to public records. He graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, in 2004 with a degree in operations research and computer analysis. Fuentes also has a commercial pilot license and an airline transport pilot license and is an instructor pilot, according to Federal Aviation Administration records.
Fuentes received praise during his time in the Coast Guard in a 2015 report by commandant Admiral Paul Zukunft. He wrote, “I met our aviators at Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron, better known as ‘HITRON.’ Their 46 interdictions in 2014 set a new record. On a single deployment aboard Boutwell this summer, the HITRON crew of Lts. Zach Fuentes and Mike Owen and Petty Officers David Ruiz and Mark Trice made five interdictions, leading to the arrest of 10 narco-traffickers and the removal of nearly 5,000 pounds of pure cocaine.”
On Fuentes’ LinkedIn profile he wrote, “I have a passion for Latin America and helped spearhead initiatives with Central and South American partners. Of particular note, I helped organize the Conference on Prosperity and Security in Central America, which brought together senior leaders and investors from the United States, Central America, South America, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the Inter-American Development Bank, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and companies from throughout the Americas to encourage economic investment and business development in the region.”
5. Fuentes’ Plan to Exit the White House & ‘Hide Out’ While Waiting to Complete 15 Years of Military Service Also Generated Controversy
GettyZach Fuentes with Sarah Huckabee Sanders in 2018.
Fuentes also came under scrutiny in December 2018 as he was planning his exit from The White House, according to The New York Times. After Kelly announced he would be exiting the West Wing at the end of 2018, Fuentes made a plan to “hide out” in The White House for six months, staying on the payroll in a “nebulous role” so he could complete his 15 years in the Coast Guard and take advantage of an early retirement program. The Times reported:
The program, referred to as temporary early retirement authority, had lapsed for Coast Guard officials at the end of the 2018 fiscal year, and, according to people briefed on the discussions, Department of Homeland Security officials began pressing Congress in November to reinstate it. Administration officials said they had been told that Mr. Fuentes discussed the program with officials at the Department of Homeland Security, and after reporters raised questions with lawmakers of both parties, a provision to reinstate it was abruptly pulled from a House bill on Wednesday.
The White House and Fuentes did not comment about the controversy after The Times report.
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