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Caught Our Eye

Comms director leaves after foreign policy uproar

Posted by Andy Gottlieb on Oct. 12, 2023

Rep. Maxine Waters' (D-Calif.) communications director has departed after less than three months on the job, following backlash over the former journalist’s alleged sympathies for dictators and human rights abusers.

Hermela Aregawi attracted the ire of some in the African diaspora for her denial of famine in the Ethiopian region of Tigray and her ties with supporters of the Eritrean government, long cited as one of the most repressive in the world. Her social media contains praise and fundraising appeals for BreakThrough News, which made headlines earlier this year for promoting Russian and Chinese government narratives. Aregawi frequently reposts content from BreakThrough News' Eugene Puryear, formerly of the Kremlin propaganda outlet Sputnik.

Aregawi is Ethiopian by birth and moved with her family to the U.S. when she was 7. She previously worked for CBS, Al Jazeera and Current TV.