Fox News goes to war with Trump over Dem interviews: 'That's what we do'

Fox News is pushing back over its interviews with Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed after President Donald Trump blasted the network for them Dem engagement, with one top executive telling Axios, “that’s what we do.”

Trump fired off a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, complaining that Fox is giving too much airtime to Democrats. “FoxNews spends more time covering the Jihadist and Dumocrat candidates than they do the good old fashioned Republicans, the people that have saved America, and are making it great again,” he wrote.

He added: “All they talk about is Dumocrat Jihadists like El-Sayed, with his softball interview by Martha MacCallum, and the like. She never interviews me like that. They don’t show my record breaking Rallies the morning after, but others do, and that’s what MAGA is watching. Fox is promoting the Dumocrats, not the Republicans and MAGA. They have totally lost their way!”

Behind the scenes, White House officials reached out to Fox on Tuesday to complain about MacCallum’s interview, according to Axios, citing people familiar with the conversations. The White House did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Fox News Media president Jay Wallace told Axios that “Someone didn’t necessarily like that ... But that’s what we do,” he said. A Fox spokesperson noted that Rogers was also invited on Jesse Watters’ show but didn’t respond, according to Axios. MacCallum interviewed Rogers later Tuesday, after Trump’s posts, according to The National Desk.

According to the report, "Republican frustration had been building for weeks," with senior GOP operatives repeatedly contacting Fox producers and executives in early August warning that El-Sayed could use favorable commentary from Jesse Watters to cast himself as a moderate.

In particular, they were furious at Watters telling his audience, "You gotta respect Abdul because he beat the [Democratic] machine.”

For their part, Fox countered that Watters’ August interview with El-Sayed drew nearly 3.4 million viewers -- the highest-rated cable news primetime telecast of the month.

Michigan Republican strategist Jason Roe told Axios: “They are doing him a favor. It’s only helping him reach center-right voters. But they are in business to make money, and he attracts eyeballs.”

El-Sayed, a critic of Israel’s government who would be the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate, is in a tight race for the open seat against former Rep. Mike Rogers (R). A recent Fox News poll had El-Sayed at 50 percent and Rogers at 49 percent.