President Trump is not happy with Fox News and he is not holding back his displeasure. He has been ramping up attacks on certain Fox News’ hosts like Shep Smith and Chris Wallace.
The President was also not happy with a new Fox News poll that showed 51% of registered voters wanted to see him impeached.
Many have taken apart the poll and pointed out that the polling company asked 48% democrats and only 40% Republicans the question which would obviously skew the results.
Now, no one is talking about what happened at the meeting between Rupert and AG Barr but there have been numerous reports that Paul Ryan, a new Fox board member, is trying to sabotage President Trump from within.
The New York Times reported that Attorney General William Barr met privately with Rupert Murdoch on Wednesday evening, the media mogul who is one of President Trump’s frequent confidants but whose Fox News is viewed by the president as more hostile toward him than it used to be.
The meeting was held at Mr. Murdoch’s home in New York, according to people familiar with it. It is still unclear if anyone else attended or what was discussed. Aides to both Mr. Murdoch and Mr. Barr declined requests for comment on the meeting.
The visit took place as the impeachment inquiry into Mr. Trump by House Democrats has gathered momentum. Mr. Barr has emerged as a key defender of the president’s concerns about the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mr. Barr was criticized in the spring for his handling of the report by the special counsel Robert Mueller, before it was released publicly.
President Trump has sought out Mr. Murdoch’s opinion on a wide range of issues in the past, and Fox News has provided Mr. Trump with key support both as a candidate and as president.
Recently, Fox News personalities have questioned the validity of efforts by House Democrats to impeach President Trump.
They’ve also helped draw attention to the debunked theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election to aid the Dems, a theory favored by President Trump but which contradicts the findings of American intelligence communities and the Mueller report that Russia intervened in the election to help Republicans. And anchors such as Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham have remained vocally supportive of the president.
Nonetheless, President Trump believes that the network has become more critical of him, and he has grown increasingly critical of Fox News, denouncing some anchors and reporters who are not very friendly to him, such as Shepard Smith and even Ed Henry, with whom he held a recent interview.
And while the President talks frequently with Tucker Carlson, another Fox News host, Mr. Carlson has been critical of Trump’s July call with the president of Ukraine, which prompted the impeachment inquiry. Tucker Carlson said in a column for The Daily Caller website that there was “no way” to spin what took place on that call as a positive for President Trump.