Tag: Fox News

Fox News host shuts down strategist who points out Trump has ‘cheated on all’ of his wives

AlterNet logoJessica Tarlov is a senior strategist with Schoen Consulting, a firm that boasts campaign strategy work for people like Mike Bloomberg and HBO. She is also a frequent contributor to Fox News, coming on as a “Democratic Strategist.” On Monday, Tarlov was on America’s Newsroom, a Fox News show that is every bit as newsroom-y as you might expect from Fox. She was there to discuss Pete Buttigieg’s appearance on the Sunday news shows and specifically his responses to Rush Limbaugh’s homophobic attacks on his same-sex marriage. It’s a way for Fox News to keep playing homophobic statements made by right-wing pundits while playing at being a newsroom.

Newsroom co-host Sandra Smith asked Tarlov for her thoughts on the matter. Tarlov started within the boundaries for Fox News, pointing out that Rush Limbaugh and conservatives are a wee bit full of shit and clearly homophobic when talking about the sanctity of marriage, pointing out “You see a loving, monogamous couple like Pete Buttigieg and Chasten, his husband, up there showing what is possible. That someone who is in a same-sex relationship could be running for president and doing as well. And then they’re torn down by Rush Limbaugh, who’s been married four times I think.”

This was all well and good, but Tarlov then added “And we have Donald Trump, three times married, cheated on all of those wives, and you hear—“, this is when Sandra Smith cut in to strangely say “—Let’s not bring in personal relationships.” A stiflingly bizarre thing to say, and something Tarlov pointed out was incongruous as the attack on Buttigieg was clearly “personal” in nature. Smith pivoted to repeating Limbaugh’s homophobic quote, and then threw to another pundit, one who wasn’t going to point out that Donald Trump is a scumbag and the people that support him are scumbags.  Continue reading.

Trump, tweeting a Tucker Carlson segment, hints of possible pardon for Roger Stone

Washington Post logoPresident Trump tweeted a clip from a Fox News segment early Thursday that suggested he is leaning toward pardoning confidant Roger Stone, who is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday for lying to Congress and witness tampering.

Tucker Carlson, along with other Fox News personalities, serves as an informal adviserto the president. While it was unclear whether Carlson knows something about Trump’s plans to which the public is not privy, or was again lobbying the president, the fact that Trump retweeted the clip suggests at least that he approves of the idea, which he claimed Tuesday he had not thought about.

“President Trump could end this travesty in an instant with a pardon, and there are indications tonight that he will do that,” the Fox News host said on his show Wednesday night, noting the series of pardons the president has already offered this week. Continue reading.

Leaked Memo Shows Fox Execs Knew Hannity Broadcast Lies About Ukraine

An internal Fox News document detailing the Ukrainian disinformation campaign which helped trigger President Donald Trump’s impeachment reportedly reveals the network knew that host Sean Hannity had been the campaign’s focal point. But the network failed to take action against Hannity for his transgressions — in fact, it rewarded him, sending the Fox star and sometime presidential adviser to interview Trump at the Super Bowl earlier this month.

In a Thursday report, The Daily Beast summarized the findings of the 162-page research briefing book, which was authored by Fox senior political affairs specialist Bryan S. Murphy, a member of the network’s internal research “Brain Room.” It is unclear when it was first drafted, but the cover page states that it was “updated” December 9, 2019.

The document, which largely condenses and summarizes reporting from other news outlets, accuses frequent guests on the network’s most popular programs — Rudy Giuliani, the president’s lawyer; Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing, Republican attorneys with ties to the White House; and veteran conservative writer and Fox contributor John Solomon — of “spreading disinformation” about former Vice President Joe Biden and the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine. It says the smears originated with Yuriy Lutsenko, the former prosecutor general of Ukraine, and the Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash, a client of diGenova and Toensing. Continue reading.

Fox News viewer charged for allegedly threatening to kill Adam Schiff

AlterNet logoJan Peter Meister, 52, has been indicted for threatening to kill Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) in October, newly released court records showed.

The documents recount a conversation Meister has with investigators, which revealed he was a Fox News viewer and was likely intoxicated at the time of the alleged threat, as The Informant noted:

Agents explained that the call was to Congressman Adam Schiff.

MEISTER responded that he watches Fox News and likely was upset at something that he saw on the news. He stated that he strongly dislikes the Democrats, and feels they are to blame for the country’s political issues.

Continue reading.

Trump’s Super Bowl Interview With Hannity Is Fox Propaganda

President Donald Trump will give his first nationally televised interview with a broadcast network in seven months this Sunday when he appears on Fox Broadcasting Co. before the Super Bowl. While the prospect of the president facing detailed questions about the abuse of power scandal that triggered his impeachment by the House of Representatives should place him in political peril, no one at the White House will lose sleep over this weekend’s sit-down. That is because Trump will be interviewed by Fox News host Sean Hannity, a loyal sycophant with deep ties to his administration who has no interest whatsoever in trying to elicit damaging information from the president.

Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Trump have all sat for pregame interviews with the network hosting the Super Bowl (the game rotates between CBS, NBC, and Fox, the NFL’s three primary broadcast television rights holders). Because those interviews receive massive ratings, with a viewership generally between 10 to 20 million, they are showcases for each network’s talent. For NBC and CBS, that has meant calling on the star anchors of their morning, evening, and Sunday political talk shows to interview the president. Fox, on the other hand, traditionally gave the slot to conservative opinion host Bill O’Reilly, their “king of cable news.”

But this year’s Super Bowl offered Fox the opportunity to decide who would represent it in a new era, as Sunday marks the first time the network has hosted the Super Bowl since O’Reilly’s 2017 firing. If Fox executives had wanted to showcase their much-touted “news” side, they could have put forward someone like anchor Chris Wallace, who has occasionally made news for challenging interviews with Trump officials. Instead, they are sending Hannity, who is so sympathetic to Trump that he effectively functions as a White House spokesperson. Continue reading.

Fox News judge comes out swinging against Senators who vote to block evidence in Trump’s trial

AlterNet logoJudge Andrew Napolitano, a Fox News contributor and frequent critic of President Donald Trump, wrote an editorial Thursday, which asked Republican senators who refuse to call witnesses for Trump’s impeachment trial the following: “How can the Senate be faithful to the Constitution if it suppresses the truth?”

After reviewing the history of the separation of powers established in the U.S. Constitution, Napolitano wrote that “in the case of impeachment of the president, the Constitution gives ‘sole power’ to the House of Representatives. In the case of an impeachment trial, the Constitution gives exclusivity to the Senate. There is no place for presidential resistance or judicial interference, so long as the House and Senate arguably follow the Constitution.”

The president was impeached by the House of Representatives for valid reasons, in the view of the Fox News judge. Continue reading.

Brian Kilmeade Goes Rogue On Fox News: John Bolton Is ‘Not A Liar’

The Fox News host reminded his colleagues that the former national security adviser was once a regular fixture on their program.

Fox News host Brian Kilmeade broke rank with his colleagues on the network Thursday, defending former national security adviser John Bolton.

Bolton, who was previously well-received on the network and appeared as a paid contributor for over a decade, has been harshly criticized by numerous Fox News hosts this week.

The change of heart comes in the wake of reported allegations in Bolton’s forthcoming book, a copy of which was leaked to The New York Times. The manuscript reportedly confirms the key charge against President Donald Trump in his Senate impeachment trial: that he explicitly tied the exchange of congressionally approved military aid to the opening of an investigation into a leading rival for the November presidential election, former Vice President Joe Biden, and Biden’s son Hunter. Continue reading.

Fox News commentator caught laughing on hot mic as Trump slurs his words at New Jersey rally

AlterNet logoPresident Donald Trump went to the blue state of New Jersey on Tuesday evening where he played the victim of an evil witch hunt where corrupt Democrats are out to get him.

Somewhere in the lengthy rant, Trump started talking about immigration and tried to say that people were “sheltering criminals.” Instead, he began to slur his words and tried to divert to another topic.

Fox News was running the speech live, until the moment, when a commentator could be heard laughing at the president on a hot mic. Fox then cut from Trump’s speech.

During his speech about Iran, the president slurred several words, got words wrong, sniffled and stumbled through the whole speech. Continue reading.

Fox News Personalities Who Promoted Bolton Now Scorn Him

Fox News host Brian Kilmeade offered up a novel and deeply ironic retort to The New York Times’ Sunday night bombshell that President Donald Trump told then-national security adviser John Bolton military aid to Ukraine was conditioned on officials there aiding “investigations into Democrats including the Bidens,” which the paper reported based on descriptions by multiple sources of an unpublished manuscript of a forthcoming Bolton book.

“The one thing the president should take from this,” he said on Monday morning’s Fox & Friends, is that “he’s got to do a better job vetting his staff to find out if they actually want to work for him or not, or they actually want to leak out information about him.”

But if anyone could be said to have vetted Bolton for a top position in Trump’s administration, it was Fox. Continue reading.

Trump Will Make Super Bowl Appearance With Hannity

Fox announced on Friday that Donald Trump is scheduled to be interviewed before the Super Bowl by Fox News host Sean Hannity, one of his biggest fans and supporters. The network said the interview will take place at the White House and cover “an array of topics.”

Trump sat down last year with CBS News’ Margaret Brennan and made a series of outlandish claims,  including suggesting migrants were invading the country, claiming he ‘knocked out’ ISIS almost completely, and dismissing concerns about ISIS’ return by saying the U.S. military had “very fast airplanes.”

Trump skipped a Super Bowl interview in 2018, when it ran on NBC, but in 2017 he agreed to be interviewed by then-Fox Host Bill O’Reilly in 2017, the last time Fox broadcasted the game. Continue reading.