Washington, Apr 9 (IANS): US President Donald Trump has appointed his campaign spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany to be the next White House Press Secretary, replacing Stephanie Grisham, it was reported.

McEnany, 31, is a seasoned defender of the president, and has made frequent television appearances to promote his policies, said a BBC report on Wednesday.

Her predecessor Grisham, did not conduct a single press briefing during her nine-month tenure.

risham will return to her previous post as First Lady Melania Trump's chief of staff.

A graduate of Harvard Law School, and former CNN contributor, McEnany has made headlines for her passionate defences of the President.

As the nation grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, she has come under fire for her early statements on the virus, including suggesting opposition Democrats were "rooting" for the pandemic to "take this President down".

In a February appearance on a Fox Business show, she said: "We will not see diseases like the coronavirus come here, we will not see terrorism come here, and isn't that refreshing when contrasting it with the awful presidency of President Obama?"

McEnany has also previously worked as a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee and in 2018 published a book on the movement behind Mr Trump's 2016 election win, said the BBC report.

McEnany has been criticised for her past support of the "birther" conspiracy theory questioning former President Barack Obama's birthplace.

On Tuesday, former President Bill Clinton's press secretary Joe Lockhart shared a 2012 tweet from McEnany where she said Obama's brother was in "that hut in Kenya".