All posts tagged "fox news"

Outrage after John Fetterman fesses up to Murdoch-backed trip: 'He's a goner'

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) admitted that he took a trip with Fox News executives, which is spurring more outrage against him.

Fetterman has already attracted the ire of his own party after he appeared by video at President Donald Trump's midterm convention, after a Wall Street Journal article revealed he took donations from conservatives while blowing off his constituents and amid a recent history of favoring GOP positions.

According to a Tuesday article by the conservative-leaning Washington Examiner, Fetterman traveled to Montana for an "exclusive retreat" hosted by the Murdoch family in July and hung out with Fox News executives, Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT) and Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL).

"We had a great time," Sheehy said about chatting with Fetterman at the retreat.

Fetterman confirmed the reporting on Tuesday when asked about it by a Washington Examiner reporter. "I was invited to go there," he said, defending the trip by saying that he's interested in "having conversations in a straight way."

The Examiner noted that Fetterman has become a fixture as a Fox News guest during the past year and feuded with MS NOW earlier this year after it apparently refused to book him as a guest.

"It's been clear for quite some time that John Fetterman has a Fox News deal waiting for him in 2029," suggested political journalist Nick Field.

"Yeah, he's a goner," predicted progressive political analyst Mike Nellis.

Others were concerned for Fetterman's constituents and what the travel means for them.

"John Fetterman continues to be a disgrace who betrayed everyone who voted for him," blasted Grant Stern, the executive editor of Occupy Democrats.

"John Fetterman has held zero town halls in his three years in office," pointed out political analyst Drew Savicki.

Amid speculation that he's switching parties, Fetterman told the Examiner, "I know Democrats are frustrated with me, but I will remain one, and that's where I'm at."

MAGA senator stokes confusion with rambling defense of 'weird' speech: 'Your wood is wet!'

Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) is defending his wild speech at the GOP midterm convention, in which he pulled at his clothes and shouted.

Scott yelled that Democrats want to "rip the heart out of our chests," threw his hands around, and made faces. As he warned about Democrats and a "battle for the heart of our nation," Scott pulled open his jacket and pounded his chest. He then pivoted to a shouted religious riff: "But Texas, we know who God is! We're talking about Jesus!"

He was mocked for the speech and his unusual behavior. Earlier this week, MS NOW host Joe Scarborough and his fellow panelists held hands and prayed for Scott after his "really weird" speech.

On Saturday, Scott appeared on Fox News to fire back at Scarborough and his panel, but his long-winded response was in turn mocked for being full of odd phrases and dubious claims.

"Think about how incredibly dangerous states like California are," Scott said. "That want to take away your kids if you don't agree with the pronouns the schools choose for your kids...they're coming for our culture...if you don't want to stand up and fight for the soul of this country, your wood is wet. It's that simple."

Journalist John Harwood highlighted the quote, "Your wood is wet," as he wondered about the phrase in a post on X.

"Huh??!!!" asked national opinion columnist Sophia Nelson.

Former GOP strategist Jeff Timmer described Scott's defense as "so stupid it makes my molars ache."

"Everything he just said is a lie," noted journalist Stephen Robinson.

"WTF is he talking about?" writer and political strategist Maureen Panzera posted. "They think the cultural wars will get them over the finish line?"

"If you believe any of this, you're a f---ing idiot," activist and Karoline Leavitt foe Jamie Bonkiewicz blasted in reaction to Scott's defense.

Epstein survivors accuse Fox News of shutting them out as they take files to red states

Two Epstein survivors say Fox News refuses to book them even as they insist their fight against sex trafficking "is not political."

Speaking with lawyer and journalist Katie Phang on a Wednesday clip from her "Katie Phang News" podcast, Epstein survivors Liz Stein and Dani Bensky said right-leaning outlets have shut them out as their Redacted Reading Room tour moves through Dallas and toward other battleground states. Bensky said the exclusion has been near-total.

"We haven't been able to get on right-leaning media at all ever," Bensky said. "Newsmax had us on a couple of times, but other than that, like, Fox will not have us."

Asked by Phang why she thought that was the case, Bensky answered, "I wish I knew," before pointing to the survivors' repeated insistence that they carry no partisan agenda.

"We have said, I mean, to the hilt that we are not political," Bensky said. "We are your mothers, your daughters, your sisters, all of those things. We have survivors on both sides of the aisle. Like, we've said all of that so much."

She said the snub is part of a broader "great divide that we can't seem to cross," adding that "my hope is that, by being in red states, that we will attract people who maybe haven't heard our stories on the news."

Stein argued that the case should transcend politics and stressed that her story is about "sex trafficking" and "a crime." She added, "I don't think that anyone could say, 'Yeah, I'm totally fine with girls and young women being sexually exploited.'"

The pushback comes as the Epstein Files remain a rare point of bipartisan agreement. According to the segment, 88 percent of Americans who plan to vote in the midterms, including 83 percent of Republican voters, favor candidates who support releasing the full files.

The Redacted Reading Room, which recreates redacted government records for the public, has already appeared in New York and Washington, with a companion "Epstein bookmobile" bound for states including Iowa, Florida and North Carolina.

Trump DOJ retreats from Kanye West wiretapping case that snared a journalist

The Department of Justice is retreating from its appeal of a ruling that tossed seven felony wiretapping counts against Florida journalist Tim Burke.

In an unopposed motion filed Wednesday with the Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, DOJ prosecutors asked the court to dismiss the government's appeal, according to court records. Burke's attorney did not oppose the request.

Burke was indicted in 2024 after he uncovered unaired outtakes of antisemitic remarks made by the musician Kanye West — who at the time was using the name Ye — during a Fox News interview, according to the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Federal agents raided Burke's newsroom and seized dozens of pieces of equipment, much of which remains in FBI custody, the press freedom group noted. Burke was charged under both the Wiretap Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

A federal trial court dismissed the Wiretap Act counts in September 2025 after finding that the government's reading of the statute was too broad, the organization said. Wednesday's motion drops the government's effort to revive those counts on appeal, though prosecutors are continuing to pursue the remaining charges against Burke.

"By confiscating most of Tim Burke's newsroom equipment for years and getting multiple extensions in court before ultimately dropping its appeal, the DOJ has successfully held Burke's journalism hostage and used the legal system to punish him for reporting on a clearly newsworthy issue," Seth Stern, the foundation's chief of advocacy, said in a statement.

"Prosecutors were right to drop their appeal of the Wiretap Act counts," Stern added. "But they're wrong to continue to pursue other charges to punish a journalist who exposed antisemitism."

Stern reserved his sharpest criticism for the government's use of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, calling it "a vague, ambiguous law that would criminalize routine journalism if the government had its way." Stern said the DOJ "should not stop with dismissing this appeal" and must drop all charges against Burke.

Maria Bartiromo courting Trump-friendly network days after Fox ouster: report

Anonymous insiders say that Maria Bartiromo has already opened talks with CBS News chief Bari Weiss about a possible role on '60 Minutes.'

In an article for his newsletter, Naughty But Nice, gossip columnist Rob Shuter reported that Bartiromo and Weiss have already spoken and that a spot on '60 Minutes' is among the possibilities under discussion.

"Maria and Bari have already spoken," a television insider told Shuter. "Maria isn't sitting around licking her wounds. She's moving fast, and '60 Minutes' is absolutely in the mix. She wants to remain a major player."

The reported conversations follow Fox News Media's abrupt decision to part ways with Bartiromo after more than 12 years, a split the company described as a business decision. Fox Business quickly rebranded Mornings with Maria as Mornings with Fox Business, and her longtime colleagues made almost no mention of her during Friday's broadcast, according to Shuter.

Shuter's source framed Bartiromo's value in terms of her contacts, saying she "brings something Bari understands is valuable." The insider added that she can get "CEOs, billionaires, political power players and Wall Street titans on the phone," and that "you don't throw away a Rolodex like that."

Any move to CBS would draw scrutiny, Shuter noted. Bartiromo's exit came amid reporting that she had shared confidential Fox editorial guidance about coverage of President Donald Trump with the White House. CNN reported that the disclosure was the immediate impetus for her removal, which Fox leadership decided in August.

Weiss became editor-in-chief of CBS News last fall after Paramount acquired her outlet, The Free Press, and installed her over a news division that includes '60 Minutes' and Sunday Morning. Her arrival has drawn sustained criticism inside and outside the network, Shuter noted. Representatives for CBS News and Bartiromo have not publicly commented.

Shuter reported that Bartiromo is focused on her next act rather than the fallout.

"Maria believes she still belongs at the biggest table in television," Shuter's source said. "There is no bigger table than '60 Minutes.'"

Shocked Trump slams Maria Bartiromo's firing in late-night post: 'A true warrior'

President Donald Trump reacted with disbelief to the firing of Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo in a late-night Truth Social post.

Bartiromo abruptly left Fox News with an announcement on Thursday. Reporting by the "Status" newsletter revealed that she was fired after leaking to Trump that Fox News had told staff to steer clear of lending credence to his claims of Chinese interference in the 2020 election.

"I can't believe Maria Bartiromo is no longer going to have her great show (s) on FoxNews/Business," Trump wrote. "Three different shows, always number one. Maria is a total professional, and a true warrior. Her fans, of which there are many, will not be happy."

He signed off, "God bless you, Maria!"

Trump's 'dementia cheat sheet' flagged by political analyst amid a telling silence

President Donald Trump was photographed clutching a briefing "cheat sheet" that Republicans once called irrefutable proof of Joe Biden's dementia.

During a Tuesday podcast episode, progressive commentator David Pakman seized on the image and hammered at what he framed as a bottomless well of Republican hypocrisy over presidential fitness. The photo was taken on Monday in the Oval Office, where Trump honored a sixteen-year-old lifeguard from California and the ten-year-old he rescued.

"There are legitimate reasons to examine Donald Trump's fitness," Pakman said. "60 percent of voters don't think he has the mental sharpness to be president."

Pakman pointed out what appeared to be "staff-prepared cards" with "photos of the two guests" and "scheduling instructions" that suggested Trump needed help remembering the details of the people he was meeting.

"It tells Trump what to do and what to say," Pakman explained. "Can Donald Trump not even remember who two people are?"

Pakman said the way he questioned the use of the cards mimicked the tone conservative media reserved for Biden.

"This is exactly the type of thing that Republicans used to say Biden had dementia," Pakman said. "The pictures would be circled in red. 'Biden needs pictures to know who he's with.' Fox News would be running it continuously, and right-wing influencers would be saying, 'Did Biden know where he was? Did Biden know who he was with?'"

Pakman recalled how the right treated Biden's note cards as medical emergencies and how "some disgraced TV doctor would diagnose advanced dementia from 3,000 miles away."

The GOP feels no shame in the contradiction, Pakman stressed, adding, "If it did prove it about Joe Biden, according to these people, it must also prove it about Donald Trump."

He ran through parallel reversals, including Biden's gas prices, teleprompter use, falling asleep in public and Barack Obama's golfing.

"What this proves is these Republicans don't believe their own stupid standards," Pakman said. "Because when Biden held a card, it was a national emergency. And when Trump holds one, he's a very busy guy."

Fox News host gets more than she bargained for after trap instantly backfires

A Fox News host appeared to glitch out on Monday as she attempted to attack a Democrat — and instead got schooled.

Conservative anchor Martha MacCallum tried to launch a takedown during an interview about immigration with Democratic Party Florida Congressional candidate Elijah Manley as the Sunshine State was just hours away from its primary.

But Manley sidestepped the trap.

"There's almost no country in the world that allows people to just cross their border and begin a life inside that country; you have to come in legally, would you not agree with that?" MacCallum asked.

Manley had a brutal rebuttal queued up for MacCallum.

"We have a Constitution in this country, we have rule of law, we have a Congress, and we cannot have a situation where we have people terrorizing — not just immigrant communities but terrorizing our communities — shooting random people in the face like Alex Pretti," Manley said. "This is not an acceptable way to carry out our laws in this country."

MacCallum tried to interrupt Manley multiple times, then argued that he didn't answer her question.

"I think I answered this question. We have to enforce the laws that we have on the books if someone's coming into the country illegally, but there is a right and wrong way to enforce the law," Manley said. "We cannot shoot people in the street, we cannot kidnap Americans off the street indiscriminately, you may be OK with that, I'm not OK with that, Martha."

Martha MacCallum thought she was going to get another highlight reel of her attacking a socialist. That’s not what happened here. pic.twitter.com/FLVdCOU3nJ
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 17, 2026

Trump official’s spin crashes and burns after getting brutal reality check on Fox News

Energy Secretary Chris Wright took to Fox News Monday to boast about the amount of vessels currently transiting the Strait of Hormuz, but quickly pivoted to attacking the Biden administration and blaming Democrats after being issued a blunt reality check.

Wright boasted that 30 vessels had transited the Strait of Hormuz Sunday amid the ongoing U.S. war against Iran that’s caused severe disruptions to the critical waterway, and bragged that the United States was “continuing to get oil and gas and other critical products” out of the channel.

“So even if the numbers were 30 ships per day, that's still down from a pre-war high of about 130 ships per day,” noted Fox News host John Roberts. “When can we expect to see the traffic increase back up to pre-war levels?”

Wright dodged Roberts’ question by informing him that he didn’t “know the future.” He also insisted a generous amount of oil was, in fact, being transited through the Strait of Hormuz, and dismissed the need for oil coming out of the strait, citing the United States’ own oil production.

“Oil is still $83 a barrel, up from I think low $60s back in early February,” Roberts said. “Why is the price of oil so high if almost all the oil that was getting out before the war is getting out now?”

Wright was forced to admit that “we’re not fully back to the full flow” and that there was a “disruption” before pivoting to attack the Biden administration and Democrats.

“I've got to point out: oil prices were far higher during the Biden administration when there wasn't disruption of flows in the Middle East, and another huge thing for energy prices in the United States is Democratic policies!” Wright said. “Foolish green energy policies, they're at least as responsible for high energy prices as the conflict with Iran.”

"Foolish green energy policies, they're at least as responsible for high energy prices as the conflict with Iran!"

- Energy Secretary Chris Wright pic.twitter.com/ivRUDSxl57
— Alexander Willis (@ReporterWillis) August 17, 2026

'That supposed to scare people?': Photo of Karoline Leavitt's attack notes sparks mockery

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt may have inadvertently exposed a MAGA strategy for a recent conservative television appearance, critics argued on Tuesday.

Leavitt snapped a photo of her notes and shared it on social media on Monday just as she was preparing to speak with Fox News personality Sean Hannity. Patriot Takes, an X account focused on researching and monitoring right-wing extremism and other threats to democracy, noticed the detail.

"Karoline Leavitt’s note inside her Fox News media van reminds her to say 'extreme liberal Democrats' while on air with Sean Hannity," the social media account noted.

Leavitt, who speaks on behalf of President Donald Trump, has often used that term to describe people who oppose the president and his policies. During her Fox News segment Monday night, she claimed that under President Trump, Americans were safer and the country was more affordable.

"We cannot allow these radical extreme far left liberals to take power," Leavitt said during the interview. "We have steady progress under President Trump right now. If these radical extreme liberals are given a chance at power in Washington, D.C., they will try to obstruct this president and turn our country into a communist hellhole with every extreme liberal policy that they try to implement."

Commentators on social media responded to Leavitt's notes.

"Extreme liberalism, that supposed to scare people?" User Vinny, who frequently shares progressive content, wrote on X.

"Because she says it so seldom? No, she has to write it down because she doesn't know what she's talking about. Why should she be any different from the rest of this ugly, corrupt, fiscally incompetent & non-democratic administration?" Fiona Kenny, Canadian liberal commentator, wrote on X.

"Extremely Radical Republicans," Helen Self, a progressive commentator, wrote on X.

"It’s wild how passionately she peddles the same daily lies and misinformation as her Daddy, acting like the rest of us live on the moon and somehow missed what’s actually happening in this country. What a disgrace of Administration," Reyes Ruiz, an X user who frequently comments on MAGA talking points, wrote on X.

Karoline Leavitt’s note inside her Fox News media van reminds her to say “extreme liberal Democrats” while on air with Sean Hannity. pic.twitter.com/vPQ4XcJfOG
— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) August 11, 2026