“Soft ban” for Donald Trump: Fox News distances itself

The once cordial relationship between the US broadcaster Fox News and Donald Trump has suffered significantly – apparently even more than previously thought. According to information from the news website “Semafor”, the relationship between the ex-president and the conservative medium has cooled so much that Fox News has issued an internal “soft ban” on Trump. “Semafor” claims to have learned this from four members of his closer circle of acquaintances.

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Trump’s competitors continue to find a stage at Fox

“Everyone knows it’s this one ‘gentle ban’ or ‘silent ban’ There is,” a source close to Trump told Semafor – one of whom learned about the ban directly from Fox employees. Some moderates tried to get Trump on the program during prime time – but that never happened in the end .

“It is understood that they will not invite Trump for an interview because the Murdochs [die Eigentümerfamilie, Anm. d. Red.] made it pretty clear they want to turn their backs on Trump… Fox is showing that by not inviting him,” a Republican staffer familiar with Trump’s campaign reportedly told the media.

In contrast to the head of government, who has apparently fallen out of favor, other senior Republicans continue to find a stage on Fox News almost every day. Trump competitor Nikki Haley, for example, is said to have appeared on Fox News seven times since she announced her candidacy for the presidency in mid-February. The lesser-known right-wing activist and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and the possible future top candidate Ron DeSantis have recently been seen several times. Trump’s last appearance on Fox News was months ago; in September he gave an interview to his friend, the star presenter Sean Hannity.

Since his political rise, Trump had used the station almost as a personal mouthpiece. From the White House, he regularly called the studio spontaneously during his favorite shows and had himself tuned in live. According to the British “Guardian”, Trump posted 657 tweets in 2019 alone, in which he reacted to the broadcaster’s content or “Fox Business”.

A Trump adviser told “Semafor” that the ex-president wants to push for appearances on Fox News again in the coming months, when the election campaign gradually picks up speed.

Fox owner Rupert Murdoch admits false statements from TV presenters – Trump shoots back

The channel’s owner, Rupert Murdoch, recently admitted that some of its presenters deliberately spread lies about the 2020 presidential election. According to US media, this emerged from court documents that reflect sworn statements by the 91-year-old from early February. “Some of our commentators agreed,” the media mogul said, referring to false claims that the election was stolen from then-incumbent Trump.

However, he himself had serious doubts about these claims, explained Murdoch. He could have stopped appearances by defeated Trump supporters spreading the lie about voter fraud on Fox after the election, Murdoch said. “But I didn’t do it,” he admitted.

“If Rupert Murdoch truly believes that the 2020 presidential election was not rigged and stolen despite massive evidence to the contrary, then he and his group of Maga-hating globalist Rinos should [Republikaner, die seiner Ansicht nach nur formal zur Partei gehören] get out of the news business as soon as possible,” Trump then shot back on his social media platform Truth Social.

The voting machine manufacturer Dominion had filed a lawsuit against Fox News. Dominion is demanding the equivalent of around 1.5 billion euros in damages because the broadcaster spread reports of alleged manipulation of the voting computer. Court documents show that Fox anchors feared losing viewers’ favor if they didn’t endorse Trump’s allegations of voter fraud. To this day, the Republican untruthfully claims that fraud robbed him of his election victory.

Sources: “”; “The Guardians”; with dpa