What Is The Daily Caller, The Site That Scooped Hope Hicks Promotion?

The Daily Caller published a scoop Wednesday claiming that Hope Hicks would take on the role of the White House Communications Director. The Caller, a site co-founded by Fox News Channel personality Tucker Carlson, gained prominence during President Donald Trump's time in office. The site is no stranger to controversy, having recently removed content seen as offensive.

Hicks, 28, is slated to replace Anthony Scaramucci, who was fired from the role after 10 days. The story was written by Rachel Stoltzfoos, managing editor, and the info is credited to an anonymous White House insider.

The site was launched in January 2010 by Carlson and Neil Patel, a former Republican advisor.

“The New York Times is a liberal paper, but it is also…a paper that actually cares about accuracy. Conservatives need to build institutions that mirror those institutions,” said Carlson at the 2009 Conservative Political Action Conference before announcing the launch of the website. “Why aren’t there twenty-five Fox Newses? There ought to be.”

The Caller has often been billed as the conservative answer to the Huffington Post. The site was started with a $3 million investment from Wyoming GOP donor Foster Friess. Tucker served as the publication’s editor-in-chief until he stepped away to focus on his Fox show “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”

The Caller has a rotating position as part of the White House press pool. The website, headquartered in Washington D.C., has featured columns by conservative commentator Ann Coulter.

Controversially, the Caller published articles by Jason Kessler, the white supremacist who organized the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend. The rally, aimed at protesting the city’s planned removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, was joined by far-right protesters including neo-Nazis and white supremacists. Saturday ended in violence when a speeding car rammed into a group of counter-protesters, killing one woman and injuring 19 others. The man accused of the crime was tied to the far-right rally.

Kessler’s name and articles have been removed from the Caller's website.

The Caller also removed a video Tuesday that appeared to encourage violence against protesters using cars after the Charlottesville incident. The video was titled “Here's A Reel of Cars Plowing through Protesters Trying to Block the Road” and was set to the Ludacris song “Move Bitch.”

The website won an Edward R. Murrow award in 2012 for a documentary about the first U.S. soldiers to enter Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.