With less than three weeks until Election Day, Donald Trump is curtailing his schedule, canceling interviews with major mainstream media outlets while sitting down for “safe space” chats with Fox News and a former Fox News host.
In his “Fox & Friends” tête-à-tête Friday morning, Trump claimed that “a couple of people from Fox” helped write the speech he gave at the annual, elite Al Smith Dinner Thursday night.
MSNBC‘s Steve Benen called it “a moment of accidental candor,” while later reporting, “the network soon after contradicted the former president, saying in a statement that ‘no employee or freelancer’ from Fox News wrote jokes for Trump.”
“So, who’s telling the truth?” Benen asked. “The Republican or the network? It’s difficult to say with confidence, though if Trump did receive a hand from some ‘people at Fox,’ it’s a meaningful media controversy.”
Trump also said when he finished the interview he would be headed to a private meeting with the billionaire media mogul and head of Fox, Rupert Murdoch.
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Murdoch is not only chairman emeritus of Fox Corporation, which includes Fox News, Fox Business, Fox Broadcasting, and Fox TV stations, but he also heads the company that publishes The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, among others.
Calling it a “very big event,” as Mediaite reported, Trump told the Fox & Friends hosts, “I’m going to see Rupert Murdoch.”
“Alright,” Trump-supporter and co-host Brian Kilmeade responded.
Kilmeade also informed Trump that after the Fox & Friends interview he was going to be interviewed by Outkick, the Fox-owned sports and political commentary site.
“That’s a big event. I don’t know if he’s thrilled that I say it. And I’m going to tell him, I’m gonna tell him something very simple because I can’t talk to anybody else about it: Don’t put on negative commercials for 21 days, don’t put them. And don’t put on the air their horrible people. They come and lie,” Trump said, appearing to refer to allies of Vice President Kamala Harris.
I’m going to say, ‘Rupert, please do it this way.’”
“Right,” replied Kilmeade.
“And then we’re going to have a victory, because I think everyone wants that,” Trump added.
“In the old days you never played negative ads,” Trump also said, Bloomberg News reported. “In other words, when I leave here, I’ll then be hit by five or six ads.”
“When I leave, I’ll have 12 people from Kamala on and, you know, it’s pretty much unopposed for 19 days. I don’t think we should do that anymore. I think you shouldn’t play negative ads. It’s very tough.”
Vanity Fair’s Molly Jong-Fast remarked, “Trump really giving away the game here about how he pressures Rupert Murdoch for positive coverage.”
Responding to Trump’s complaints about the negative ads, Republican former U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Comstock wrote: “Trump really doesn’t like the First Amendment. He’s doing his autocrat thing all over Fox – and saying it out loud that he’s going straight to Murdoch – like election interference type stuff some might say.”
Also on Friday, The New Republic‘s Greg Sargent published an “interview with elections expert Matthew Seligman about how Fox is likely to help Trump sow chaos and confusion in the wake of a loss.”
Watch the videos above or at this link.
Doocy: Your material at the Al Smith dinner "was real funny, who helped you with it?" Trump: "I had a lot of people helping, a lot of people, a couple people from Fox – actually, I shouldn't say that, but they wrote some jokes. For the most part, I didn't like any of them." pic.twitter.com/hQSFzPNDkd
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) October 18, 2024
Trump announces he's going right from his fawning Fox & Friends interview to meet w/ Rupert Murdoch & says he's going to tell him, "don't put on negative commercials for 21 days. And don't put on horrible people that come and lie. I'm gonna say, 'Rupert, please do it this way'" pic.twitter.com/fmrKIgdZ4v
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 18, 2024