‘i’m Not Prepared To Accept That Fact’: Sidney Powell
Four Corners travelled to Dallas to meet Sidney Powell. Despite being personally sued for billions of dollars, she continued to argue the election was stolen and the voting technology companies were involved.
When asked if she accepted the fact that the company she accused of stealing a national election only operated in one county, she replied:
“No, I’m not prepared to accept that fact. I think Smartmatic’s involvement was far more significant than that. Do I think they’re trying to minimise their involvement? Of course, I do.”
She also rejected the assertion by government organisations tasked with verifying the election that it was the most secure ever.
“That’s the propaganda they’re putting out. I disagree with that completely, and we have and will produce additional evidence that shows otherwise.”
Four Corners put it to her that she had shown no direct evidence of fraud, the affidavits she had produced were dodgy, and the witnesses she relied on had dubious credentials.
“That’s your characterisation You might as well be working for Dominion and Smartmatic,” she said.
Trump Has Weekend Freakout Over ‘horrible’ Fox News Ads
Donald Trump spent at least part of his weekend yelling at the TV, releasing a new rant calling out Fox News for running ads critical of him.
What good is it if FOX News speaks well of me when they continually allow horrible and untruthful anti-Trump commercials to be run and plenty of them, Trump said in a statement. In the good old days, that would never have happened and today it happens all of the time.
Its not clear which ad triggered the former president, but several anti-Trump groups have been running spots critical of him and his supporters in Congress, often airing them on Fox News in hopes hell see them.
The progressive PAC MeidasTouch said it was one of their spots, airing on the right-wing network in the market where Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort is located:
Yes, its true. Here is the ad we currently have on the air on Fox News at Mar a Lago humiliating Trump.
We just broke Trump, the anti-Trump organization crowed in another tweet. We didnt think we could break him any more than we already had. But we did.
The Lincoln Project, a group of never-Trump conservatives, said it couldve been one of their spots.
Were always running ads on Fox News in Bedminster and Mar-a-Lago area cable,co-founder Rick Wilson told Mediaite. He said the ads were part of the groups audience of one strategy.
The group has long run spots specifically meant to be seen by that audience of one Trump and cause him to react.
Trumps Lies Arent Going To Stop Joe Biden From Taking Office
For all of the presidents frantic protestations, hes quickly running out of time to dispute the election results. States including Pennsylvania are beginning to certify their results, and the federal certification deadline is approaching on December 8. After that, the Electoral College will meet on December 14, and Biden will be formally elected as the next president.
In both Wisconsin and Georgia swing states won by Biden recounts have confirmed the former vice presidents victory. Lawsuits intended to overturn the will of the people in states like Pennsylvania have been slapped down in courts, with even Trump-nominated judges rejecting his lawyers arguments.
One such judge, Stephanos Bibas, wrote in a Friday decision handed down by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals that the Campaign cannot win this lawsuit. It conceded that it is not alleging election fraud. It has already raised and lost most of these state-law issues, and it cannot relitigate them here.
Separately, in Sundays interview, Trump told Bartiromo that Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Mike Kelly had a great case to invalidate mail-in ballots in the state because the legislature didnt make the decision on this stuff. Not only was Kellys case dismissed with prejudice by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Saturday, but the president misstated the facts of the case to Bartiromo the state legislature passed vote-by-mail into law in 2019.
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United Kingdom And Ireland
FNC was carried in the United Kingdom by Sky, which was 40-percent owned by 21st Century Fox at the time, and operates its own domestic news channel Sky News. On August 29, 2017, Sky dropped Fox News the broadcaster said its carriage was not “commercially viable” due to average viewership of fewer than 2,000 viewers per day. The company said the decision was unrelated to 21st Century Fox’s proposed acquisition of the remainder of Sky plc .
The potential co-ownership had prompted concerns from critics of the deal, who felt Sky News could similarly undergo a shift to an opinionated format with a right-wing viewpoint. However, such a move would violate Ofcom broadcast codes, which requires all news programming to show due impartiality. The channel’s broadcasts in the country have violated this rule on several occasions, while the channel also violated election silence rules by broadcasting analysis of the 2016 Brexit referendum while polls were still open .
Coverage Of Russia Investigation
On October 30, 2017, when special counsel Robert Mueller indicted Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, and revealed George Papadopoulos had plead guilty , this was the focus of most media’s coverage, except Fox News’. Hosts and guests on Fox News called for Mueller to be fired. Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson focused their shows on unsubstantiated allegations that Clinton sold uranium to Russia in exchange for donations to the Clinton Foundation and on the Clinton campaign’s role in funding the Donald TrumpRussia dossier. Hannity asserted: “The very thing they are accusing President Trump of doing, they did it themselves.” During the segment, Hannity mistakenly referred to Clinton as President Clinton. Fox News dedicated extensive coverage to the uranium story, which Democrats said was an attempt to distract from Mueller’s intensifying investigation. CNN described the coverage as “a tour de force in deflection and dismissal”. On October 31, CNN reported Fox News employees were dissatisfied with their outlet’s coverage of the Russia investigation, with employees calling it an “embarrassment”, “laughable” and saying it “does the viewer a huge disservice and further divides the country” and that it is “another blow to journalists at Fox who come in every day wanting to cover the news in a fair and objective way”.
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Murder Of Seth Rich Conspiracy
On May 16, 2017, a day when other news organizations were extensively covering Donald Trump’s revelation of classified information to Russia, Fox News ran a lead story about a private investigator’s uncorroborated claims about the murder of Seth Rich, a DNC staffer. The private investigator said he had uncovered evidence that Rich was in contact with Wikileaks and law enforcement were covering it up. The killing of Rich has given rise to conspiracy theories in rightwing circles that Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party had Seth Rich killed allegedly because he was the source of the DNC leaks. U.S. intelligence agencies determined Russia was the source of the leaks. In reporting the investigator’s claims, the Fox News report reignited right-wing conspiracy theories about the killing.
Rich’s parents, Joel and Mary Rich, sued Fox News for the emotional distress it had caused them by its false reporting. In 2020, Fox News settled with Rich family, making a payment that was not officially disclosed but which was reported to be in the seven figures. Although the settlement had been agreed to earlier in the year, Fox News arranged to delay the public announcement until after the 2020 presidential election.
False Claims About Other Media
CNN’s Jake Tapper
In November 2017, following the 2017 New York City truck attack wherein a terrorist shouted “Allahu Akbar”, Fox News distorted a statement by Jake Tapper to make it appear as if he had said “Allahu Akbar” can be used under the most “beautiful circumstances”. Fox News omitted that Tapper had said the use of “Allahu Akbar” in the terrorist attack was not one of these beautiful circumstances. A headline on FoxNews.com was preceded by a tag reading “OUTRAGEOUS”. The Fox News Twitter account distorted the statement even more, saying “Jake Tapper Says ‘Allahu Akbar’ Is ‘Beautiful’ Right After NYC Terror Attack” in a tweet that was later deleted. Tapper chastised Fox News for choosing to “deliberately lie” and said “there was a time when one could tell the difference between Fox and the nutjobs at Infowars. It’s getting tougher and tougher. Lies are lies.” Tapper had in 2009, while a White House correspondent for ABC News, come to the defense of Fox News when Obama criticized the network for not being a legitimate news organization.
Fox News guest host Jason Chaffetz apologized to Tapper for misrepresenting his statement. After Fox News had deleted the tweet, Sean Hannity repeated the misrepresentation and called Tapper “liberal fake news CNN’s fake Jake Tapper” and mocked his ratings.
The New York Times
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Fox News Meltdown After Geraldo Says Trump Incited Insurrection
Fox News contributors Geraldo Rivera and Leo Terrell strongly disagreed on Thursday over President Donald Trump’s role in inciting the deadly Capitol Hill insurrection.
During a discussion about the siege, Rivera argued that National Guard troops should be allowed to protect the nation’s capitol for the next month.
Terrell, however, claimed that Democrats are using federal troops as “props” prior to Trump’s second impeachment trial.
For his part, Rivera urged the Senate to censure Trump instead of holding an impeachment trial that he said is likely to fail.
“With this vote yesterday, it’s clear that 45 Republicans are not going to go along with impeachment,” Rivera explained. “What the Senate has to do is a joint bipartisan resolution to censure Donald Trump. Let’s censure him. Let’s say what you did was unacceptable. You incited that.”
“Come on!” Terrell exclaimed. “How dare you blame Donald Trump for that. We have a rule of law. We have due process.”
“Because I have eyes,” Rivera replied.
“For you to come on here and say that he was responsible is wrong!” Terrell continued. “You should not say that and you should apologize to President Trump for that statement. You have no facts to justify that!”
“President Trump needs to apologize to us,” Rivera countered.
“I’ll give you three weeks of incitement,” Rivera said. “What in the hell do you think that crowd was going to do when they got to the Capitol? What were they going to do?”
Chris Wallace Announces He Is Leaving Fox News
Longtime “Fox News Sunday” host Chris WallaceChristopher WallacePolitics, media worlds react to Wallace newsSunday shows – Spotlight shifts to deadly stormsChris Wallace to join CNN streaming service as anchorMORE announced on Sunday that he is leaving the network, saying he wants to pursue opportunities “beyond politics” and later confirming reports that he is joining CNN’s new streaming service.
“After 18 years this is my final ‘Fox News Sunday.’ It is the last time and I say this with real sadness we will meet like this,” Wallace said at the end of the program.
“Eighteen years ago, the bosses here at Fox promised me they would never interfere with a guest I booked or a question I asked, and they kept that promise. I have been free to report to the best of my ability, to cover the stories I think are important, to hold our country’s leaders to account. It’s been a great ride,” he added.
Wallace also said he wants “to try something new, to go beyond politics to all the things Im interested in.”
“Im ready for a new adventure,” he added. “And I hope youll check it out.”
Fox News Media said in a statement that the company is “extremely proud of our journalism and the stellar team that Chris Wallace was a part of for 18 years.”
“The legacy of FOX News Sunday will continue with our star journalists, many of whom will rotate in the position until a permanent host is named,” it added.
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Lawyer For Capitol Riot Suspect Blames Fox News Trump
A Capitol riot suspect was persuaded to storm the building on Jan. 6 after spending hours watching Fox News and listening to former President Donald Trump’s election fraud lies, his lawyer said.
Anthony Antonio, 27, of Delaware, was arrested last month on five federal charges including knowingly entering or remaining on restricted grounds without lawful authority violent entry and disorderly conduct impeding law enforcement during civil disorder disrupting Congress and damaging government property.
According to the Huffington Post, Joseph Hurley, a Delaware-based lawyer, blamed Antonio’s behavior on him watching Fox News too much.
He became hooked with what I call Foxitus or Foxmania and became interested in the political aspect and started believing what was being fed to him,” Hurley said Thursday during a virtual hearing on Zoom, the outlet reported.
A spokesperson for Fox News did not immediately return a request for comment.
Hurley told NBC News in a phone interview Friday that Antonio was very involved in his church and had “absolutely no political interest whatsoever.”
That changed when Antonio lost his job at the start of the pandemic. His lawyer said that Antonio would spend hours in a house he shared with three other people who watched Fox News.
According to Hurley, Antonio thought the protest would be fairly peaceful but wore a shield under his coat “because he had some misgivings.”
As Trump Separates From Fox News What’s Next For Both
As supporters of President Donald Trump gathered around the country in the past week to protest the election, a surprising chant could occasionally be heard: “Fox News sucks.”
The network has held a central role during Trump’s presidency, regularly hosting him on its various shows and featuring a slate of commentators who vociferously defend him. But that relationship began to show signs of strain in recent months, culminating in outright hostility from Trump after Fox News and The Associated Press became the first major media outlets to announce that former Vice President Joe Biden had won Arizona in the presidential race.
On Thursday, Trump took his anger at Fox News even further, claiming the network’s ratings had “collapsed,” which is untrue. On election night, ratings data from Nielsen showed that Fox News averaged 14.1 million viewers from 8-11 p.m. ET, a record for cable news coverage of a presidential election.
“Very sad to watch this happen,” Trump tweeted, “but they forgot what made them successful, what got them there. They forgot the Golden Goose.”
With Biden as president-elect, Fox News relationship with Trump and conservative America is at a crossroads. The conservative media landscape is far broader today than it was four years ago, and the rival networks that proliferated during Trumps presidency could be eager to take on Fox News possibly in concert with Trump. But any predictions of Fox News’ demise would be premature.
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