Fox News has hired Larry Kudlow, a top economic adviser to former president Donald Trump, as a contributor and host of a new weekday show on the Fox Business Network, the company said on Tuesday. The announcement came on the same day that the company denied that the former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany had joined the conservative TV channel, after an ethics watchdog reported that she had. Kudlow served as director of the national economic council and assistant to the president for economic policy from 2018 until Trump left office this month. At Fox, Kudlow will “provide expert financial analysis on domestic and global affairs across all Fox News Media” starting on Monday 8 February, the company said in a statement. That is the week that Trump’s historic second impeachment trial will begin in the US Senate, where he is charged by the House with incitement of insurrection for the deadly insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January. Details on his Fox Business show will be announced later, the statement said. Before joining Trump’s White House, Kudlow hosted several shows on CNBC including The Kudlow Report. Fox also has held talks with McEnany about a possible on-air role, according to a source familiar with the matter, but has paused those conversations. Fox News remains open to hiring her in the future, the source told the Reuters news agency. Fox News had denied earlier on Tuesday McEnany had joined channel McEnany’s possible role came to light when, citing a “termination financial disclosure report”, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington had said: “McEnany reached an agreement with the company in January 2021 to start working there this month. During her stint in the Trump administration, McEnany regularly appeared on the network, including more than 20 times after Trump lost the 2020 election.” The report published by Crew featured a reference to an “employment agreement with Fox News, starting work in January” 2021. Before entering the White House, McEnany worked for both Fox News and CNN. A Fox News spokeswoman told the Guardian: “Kayleigh McEnany is not currently an employee or contributor at Fox News.” A source familiar with the matter said conversations had been held after the presidential election in November, but had been paused. “We do not discuss the details behind contracts with any personnel,” the source said, “but we are open to hiring her in the future given we do not condone cancel culture.” Fox News hosts continue to support Trump, who left office on 20 January but awaits a second impeachment trial in the Senate, for inciting the attack on the Capitol in which five died and, beginning after 8 February. On Tucker Carlson’s primetime Fox News show on Monday night, the liberal watchdog Media Matters noted, the word “impeachment” was not mentioned once despite House managers having delivered the article of impeachment to the Senate earlier the same evening. Laura Ingraham did choose to cover Trump’s looming trial on Monday. On her show the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, widely considered a potential candidate for the Republican nomination in 2024, said it was time for Democrats to “give the man a break”.