President Donald Trump’s newest addition to the White House press team is facing scrutiny just days before starting her new job after an old photograph resurfaced showing her posing with a rifle while wearing a profanity-laced anti-Joe Biden shirt.
Beni Rae Harmony, 24, announced Friday that she is joining the Trump administration as an assistant White House press secretary, making the move from conservative network Real America’s Voice, where she had been covering the president.
But attention quickly shifted from Harmony’s new position to a photograph apparently taken several years before she joined the administration.
The 2021 image shows Harmony holding what appears to be a rifle while wearing a black shirt carrying the message “F— Joe Biden,” referring to Trump’s Democratic predecessor.
The photograph was originally posted on Instagram by Jarome Bell, a Republican who later ran for Congress in Virginia.
“My campaign Public Affairs Director @beniraeharmony is a beast. This is how we roll,” Bell wrote alongside the image.
Harmony’s Instagram account also appeared to have “liked” the post.
The photograph resurfaced across social media shortly after news broke that Harmony was heading to the White House, drawing renewed attention to her long history in conservative politics.
Harmony’s professional background from around that period lists her as director of public affairs for a U.S. political campaign. Her duties included working as a liaison with Republican officials in Virginia Beach, where Bell was running for office.
There is no indication that the photograph is recent, and it predates Harmony’s White House appointment by roughly five years.
Neither the rifle nor the political shirt by themselves indicate any illegal activity. Instead, the image has become politically significant because Harmony is now taking on an official communications position representing the White House.
Harmony confirmed her new job in an announcement Friday.
She said it had been an honor to report on and travel with the Trump administration while working as a senior White House correspondent for Real America’s Voice.
“My goal has always been to ask the questions that matter to real Americans and make sure their voices are heard,” Harmony wrote.
She thanked Trump for the opportunity and said she was looking forward to serving the American people and continuing to promote what she called the “American Dream.”
The White House has also publicly welcomed the hire.
Principal Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly described Harmony as a “trusted voice for the MAGA movement” and said she would be an “outstanding addition” to Trump’s communications operation.
From Reporter to White House Spokeswoman
Harmony’s move is notable because she spent the past year covering the administration she will now represent.
She joined Real America’s Voice in 2025 after leaving WICS NewsChannel 20, an ABC affiliate in Springfield, Illinois.
Harmony attracted national attention at the time following an emotional on-air tribute to conservative activist Charlie Kirk after his assassination in September 2025.
Harmony had previously worked for Kirk’s Turning Point USA organization and described him as a mentor and one of the people who helped launch her career.
She said WICS suspended her after the tribute and told her to remove video of it from her personal social media accounts.
Harmony subsequently resigned.
“My resignation is guided by values that are essential to who I am, which I refuse to set aside in order to keep a job,” she said at the time.
However, the circumstances surrounding her departure were disputed.
Illinois Times reported that WICS news director Heather Voudrie Nodine said no one at the station had been suspended or fired during the previous 90 days, creating a discrepancy between Harmony’s account and the station’s response.
Harmony soon found a new home at Real America’s Voice, initially joining the network as a Washington correspondent with duties that included Capitol Hill coverage and serving as a backup White House correspondent.
Her profile within the network grew considerably from there.
She eventually became a regular presence around Trump and the White House, accompanying the presidential press pool and traveling during administration events.
Shortly before her appointment, Harmony traveled with the press corps during Trump’s trip to Ireland.
Real America’s Voice also received a coveted seat aboard Air Force One during Trump’s recent trip to Tennessee for a college football game.
A Long History in Republican Politics
Harmony’s involvement in conservative politics began well before her television career.
She previously worked with Turning Point USA and held positions connected to Republican members of Congress.
Public employment records also show that Harmony worked for Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona beginning in 2022, including as a congressional press aide.
Other biographical accounts have described work connected to former Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz.
That background makes Harmony’s transition from conservative media to a Trump administration communications job less surprising than it might initially appear.
The 2021 rifle photograph, however, provides another glimpse at the outspoken political persona Harmony had years before becoming a White House spokeswoman.
White House Press Team Remains in Transition
Harmony arrives at an unusual moment for Trump’s communications operation.
Former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stepped down at the end of August, saying she wanted to devote more time to her young family.
Trump praised Leavitt when announcing her departure and said she would remain involved as an outside adviser and influential Republican voice ahead of the midterm elections.
The administration has not yet announced a permanent replacement for Leavitt.
Harmony is joining as an assistant press secretary rather than taking over the top press secretary position.
Her appointment nevertheless gives her a highly visible role in an administration where interactions between the White House and the press have frequently become political stories themselves.
For Harmony, it also represents an unusually rapid career trajectory.
Just over a year ago, she was working at a local television station in Springfield. She then became a correspondent for a conservative national network, began traveling with the president’s press pool and is now preparing to speak on behalf of the White House.
The resurfaced photograph ensures that her previous political activity will receive additional attention as she steps into that role.
As of Saturday afternoon, Harmony had not publicly addressed the renewed attention surrounding the 2021 photograph.
Discover more from Next Gen News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.