NEW YORK (AP) – Fox News Channel cut off an indictment driver in the middle of sentencing on Wednesday when he presented dramatic video footage of the mob attacking the U.S. Capitol last month and government leaders running for safety.
“Political math doesn’t add up,” said Jesse Watters of Fox. “Democrats do not have the votes, but they are still pushing.”
The incident was a dramatic illustration of the queue run by programmers at television networks, which appealed to supporters of former President Donald Trump during his second trial.
Fox, along with ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and MSNBC, on Wednesday spent nearly five hours discussing the House executives who set out their case directly against Trump. Although sometimes dry and methodical, the presentation reached an emotional climax when California representative Eric Swalwell showed graphic video, many of which had never been seen before.
That was when Fox cut off Eastern shortly after 5 p.m., when the network began its commentary program “The Five.”
“It’s all emotional, political theater,” said cohost Greg Gutfeld. One of the four commentators who spoke out against accusation before an outraged Juan Williams got a chance to speak.
“I’m quite shocked,” Williams said. “I want you to come back. Come back, join the conversation. Note the news. ”
Williams describes the case that House Managers are building as a cold and important exercise in democracy. “The indictment you are all ignoring, I think I’m scared …”
At that point, he was shouted down by Watters and Gutfeld.
“You’re so rude because I looked like that,” Williams said.
A Fox News spokesman had no comment on the program selection.
While Swalwell a few minutes later showed footage of a Capitol police officer being attacked by a protester with an American flag, Fox panelists talked about President Joe Biden’s COVID vaccination. On Newsmax, a Republican congressman was interviewed about the 2022 midterm elections.
Meanwhile, George Stephanopoulos of ABC and Kasie Hunt of NBC were visibly shaken by what they saw. Lester Holt, NBC News, calls it ’emotionally touching’.
“It almost dares Senate members not to vote for accusation,” Holt said.
For those networks that attract a conservative audience, the hearing is not exactly television. For the first day Tuesday, MSNBC’s coverage was seen by 2.87 million people, CNN’s audience was 2.66 million and Fox News’ 1.95 million, the Nielsen company said.
Fox’s most popular personality, Tucker Carlson, said he saw nothing from the first day of the trial.
“At this point, who cares?” Carlson said. “Accusation? The whole thing is ridiculous. They are literally accusing a president who is no longer the president. They yell at someone who has already left the room. ‘
Yet Fox devoted much of his day to it, and even returned to ‘The Five’ after the trial on Wednesday. Newsmax, after silencing the opening of Wednesday’s session to silence over a renaming of Aunt Jemima’s food products, showed a large portion of the afternoon session, as did One America News Network.
During interruptions in the trial, they addressed the Trump supporters in their audience.
“We will continue to bring you live coverage of the indictment here on One America News,” anchor Jennifer Franco said. “Despite endless lies and attacks from Democrats and the mainstream media, former President Trump has fought hard for the country for the past four years.”
She released a two-minute film that linked flattering clips of Trump in the office with a narrator reciting the Rudyard Kipling poem, “If,” which begins with the line: “If you can keep your head up if anything. about losing yours and the blame is on you. ”
This was followed by a section on whether the ‘Biden honeymoon’ with Congress was over.
During the trial’s first afternoon break, Fox turned to Trump spokesman Jason Miller, who denounced the Democrats’ case. He said he had been on the phone with his boss minutes before.
News24’s Bob Sellers had his own review of the proceedings.
“It does seem a bit exaggerated,” he said.
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Associated Press Television Writer Lynn Elber contributed to this report.