Democrats are using Trump's playbook and going after Fox News
Congressional Democrats are demanding answers from Fox News after the conservative network edited an interview with President Donald Trump about Jeffrey Epstein, his associate and convicted sex offender.
In a 2024 interview, Fox aired an interview with Trump and Rachel Campos-Duffy in which he appeared to unequivocally say he would declassify files associated with the Epstein investigation, the 9/11 attacks, and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
In the version broadcast on “Fox & Friends,” Trump responds, “Yeah. Yeah, I would.” But in the extended version of the comments, Trump equivocated and told the network, “You don’t want to affect people’s lives if it’s phony stuff in there.”
The interview is coming under renewed scrutiny after Trump and his Department of Justice have decided to withhold information on the Epstein investigation despite years of touting the case as something he would expose.
“It is obvious to the American public that someone is lying and someone is trying to hide something,” Rep. Robert Garcia, the highest-ranking Democratic member of the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement released on Thursday. “As a network that reaches an estimated 2,663,000 total viewers, Fox News should not be in the business of censoring interviews with presidential candidates to mislead the public. The American people have a right to understand why Fox & Friends chose to alter President Trump’s stated position on the release of the Epstein files.”
In a letter addressed to Lachlan Murdoch (executive chair and CEO of Fox parent Fox Corporation) and Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott, Garcia asks the network for access to any communications between Fox and Trump regarding the interview and exchanges about the Trump campaign and Epstein.
Garcia noted in his letter that the Fox News edits are even “more pressing” after Trump sued CBS for airing two clips of an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, falsely insinuating that the edits changed the content of the exchange—while apparently benefitting from edited video from Fox at the same time.
Related | CBS News disgraces itself as parent company bends to Trump
CBS’ parent company Paramount has since paid off a $16 million settlement to Trump to make the frivolous lawsuit go away.
The Epstein issue has been a major concern for Trump, as he has received criticism from MAGA supporters for the administration’s lack of transparency. Trump and congressional Republicans continue to stonewall efforts by Democrats attempting to force full disclosure of the government’s Epstein data, including a purported client list related to Epstein’s sex trafficking.
Fox has long been in Trump’s corner, devoting hundreds of hours of airtime to propping up Trump, the Republican Party, and conservatism. Editing videos to help Republicans and/or smear Democrats has been part of Fox’s operation for its 29 years of existence.
The edits under scrutiny by Garcia are right in line with the network’s past actions.