bartiromo fx

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SEE TWO

221 2ndary on miller

bak 11 22

big lie voter suppression gingrich

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see dominion 2 discovery

wd not let staff call him

https://www.alternet.org/maria-bartiromo-admitted-president-elect/

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an 12 23

the day after the House GOP voted unanimously to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, with some congressional Republicans admitting there is no evidence of impeachable offenses, the lead investigator declared their most damning evidence is a long-ago widely-debunked conspiracy theory.

Republican Oversight Chairman Jim Comer, head of one of the three most-powerful House committees and the top promoter of the push to impeach President Biden, Thursday morning was asked by Fox News Business host Maria Bartiromo to name his “most damning” evidence.

“We’ve talked about the potential of money laundering and bribery,” said Bartiromo, who has been called an “election fraud promoter,” and a “once-respected journalist” who became a “full-blown Donald Trump sympathizer.”

“What can you tell us about the evidence?” she asked.

Comer claimed “over $24 million” has been run through a “series” of shell companies. “And then they laundered the money down to the Biden family members, 10 Biden family members.”

He defends his money-laundering claim because banks, he says, filed suspicious activity reports (SARs). According to the Thomson Reuters Institute, in 2022 alone there were 3.6 million SARs filed, and that number “this year is likely to set additional records.”

He adds, “six different banks accused the Bidens of money laundering – that’s a serious crime.” Money laundering is a serious crime but filing an SAR does not mean a bank is accusing someone of money laundering, nor does it mean money laundering is taking place.

The Chairman claims “we know they got tens of billions of dollars from bad people in bad countries. He admits, “We don’t know what exactly they did, but alleges, “We fear Joe Biden’s compromised.”

Comer then continues to make broad, unspecific allegations, using non-definitive words and terms, like, “we fear,” and, “we figure.”

“We figure this is one reason that he’s soft on China,” a claim he’s made before, in part based on the President removing Trump’s ban on TikTok, a ban that has been challenged in court.

He also claims, “we have specific policy decisions that Joe Biden made while he was vice president and president that we fear were made because he was compromised,” without providing any evidence to support the claim.

Comer again defaults to the long-debunked Burisma conspiracy theory.

“We fear this is one reason that he obviously fired the prosecutor who was investigating Hunter’s corrupt energy company in Ukraine when he was vice president.”

Not one word of that is true, although the owner of Burisma, the energy company, was under investigation and is reportedly now wanted by Ukrainian authorities.

Then-Vice President Biden did not nor could he “fire” Viktor Shokin, the former Ukrainian Prosecutor General, who was removed from his post for not investigating corruption, by the Ukrainian Parliament, after both domestic and international calls for him to be replaced for not doing his job. Those calls came from the European Union (EU), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the United States, where it was Obama administration policy that Shokin had to go.

Comer’s claim is further debunked by numerous reports going back to 2019.

“Burisma Holdings was not under scrutiny at the time Joe Biden called for Shokin’s ouster, according to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, an independent agency set up in 2014 that has worked closely with the FBI,” USA Today reported that year. “Shokin’s office had investigated Burisma, but the probe focused on a period before Hunter Biden joined the company, according to the anti-corruption bureau.”

Also in 2019, Bloomberg published a report with this headline: “Ukraine Prosecutor Says No Evidence of Wrongdoing by Bidens.”

“I do not want Ukraine to again be the subject of U.S. presidential elections,” Shokin’s successor Yuriy Lutsenko, told Bloomberg. “Hunter Biden did not violate any Ukrainian laws — at least as of now, we do not see any wrongdoing. A company can pay however much it wants to its board.”

Watch Comer’s remarks below or at this link. aaron r twt]

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an 6 23

former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, during a Fox News appearance Sunday, claimed "Democrats have a passion for stealing" elections, The Hill reports.

Gingrich comments come as the right-wing network agreed to pay a $787.5 million settlement to Dominion Voting Systems for spreading lies about the 2020 election — mostly through recently fired host Tucker Carlson.

Per The Hill, Gingrich was asked by Fox News host Maria Bartiromo "about whether Republicans were doing enough to 'ensure a free and fair election in 2024."

The former speaker replied, "Well, I think it's probably almost impossible under current law to ensure an accurate election," Gingrich said, adding, "And I think the only Republican strategy in the long run is to pick issues and win by margins so big that they can’t steal it. If you have a very close election, Democrats have a passion for stealing them."

He continued, "And we have — we're gradually in the Republican states beginning to tighten up the election law. But in states dominated by Democrats, like New York, Illinois, California, you just have to assume that the machine willsteal as much as it can."

Reuters reports, "The top U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies have concluded that there was no widespread voter fraud in the" 2020 election, adding, "Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr, the nation's top law enforcement official under Trump, said on Dec. 1, 2020, that he had not seen any evidence of fraud that would have changed the election results."

Furthermore, The Brennan Center's seminal report shows "most allegations of fraud turn out to be baseless and that most of the few remaining allegations reveal irregularities and other forms of election misconduct."

---

https://www.mediamatters.org/foxdominion-lawsuit/new-audio-shows-fox-news-anchor-maria-bartiromo-followed-trump-campaign

no lnx vid

New audio shows Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo followed Trump campaign directives to promote January 6

The Trump campaign told Bartiromo to push January 6, 2021, as the date to overturn the 2020 election. Then she did it.

WRITTEN BY ERIC KLEEFELD

PUBLISHED 04/14/23

New audio revealed as part of Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News — which Fox allegedly failed to provide to Dominion in the discovery process — shows how Fox News and Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo took directives from the Trump campaign to promote the campaign’s plan to overturn the 2020 presidential election results on January 6, 2021.

The new evidence was revealed by former Fox producer Abby Grossberg as part of her separate lawsuit against the network for allegedly setting her and Bartiromo up as scapegoats for Fox’s clear pattern of spreading lies and conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. While the paper trail released so far in the case shows that Grossberg herself promoted conspiracy theories in the pursuit of ratings, she has also brought forward additional evidence that has already produced big legal results in the Dominion case. The judge in the case reportedly sanctioned Fox on Wednesday for failing to turn over Grossberg’s audio recordings in a move that will give Dominion an opportunity to conduct further legal discovery at Fox’s expense.

On Wednesday night, MSNBC host Alex Wagner played exclusive audio excerpts from the key pieces of evidence that Grossberg had preserved and Fox had allegedly withheld from Dominion, including aphone call on November 8, 2020, in which then-Trump campaign attorney Rudy Giuliani admitted that he did not have evidence for his outlandish claims about Dominion. (Bartiromo and other Fox hosts continued to host Giuliani, anyway.)

In another phone call, from December 5, 2020, an unnamed Trump campaign official admitted that Georgia’s statewide recount of ballots was “pretty darn close to what the machine count was,” and that the secretary of state’s office found that “that there weren’t any physical issues” with the voting machines. In a key piece of audio that Wagner played Wednesday night, theTrump campaign official also gave one of the earliest signals that the campaign intended to use the January 6, 2021, joint session of Congress in an attempt to overturn the election results,and that then-Vice President Mike Pence would supposedly “have to decide” which votes to count.

In another key section from the December 5, 2020, phone call that Grossberg’s lawyer provided to Wagner, the unnamed Trump campaign official suggested that media outlets should cover this date as a supposed milestone for determining the election — indeed, this had been his entire purpose for getting on this phone call.

Video From the April 12, 2023, edition of MSNBC’s Alex Wagner Tonight

Bartiromo immediately picked up on the Trump campaign’s instruction. On both her weekday morning Fox Business show, as well as her Sunday show on Fox News that Grossberg regularly produced, Bartiromo pushed the January 6 date many, many times, furthering the Trump campaign’s efforts to move the goal posts from its many legal and electoral defeats. These examples included instances in which Bartiromo either mentioned the date first, or she was clearly teeing up the guest to talk about the date, which Bartiromo depicted as an alleged point in time when Congress or Pence could realistically overturn the election.

On December 8, 2020, which was known as the “safe harbor” date against any legal challenges for the election results, Bartiromo hosted then-Trump campaign attorneyJenna Ellis, asking her, “So what do you see as, you know, today's date in terms of the safe harbor date? How does that complicate your challenges?” Ellis responded that “the ultimate date of significance is January 6,” which she said justified the campaign’s continued litigation. This was three days after Bartiromo’s call with the Trump campaign official. [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, 12/8/20]

On the December 13 edition of her Sunday show, Bartiromo hosted Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), asking him, “I want you to walk us through what happens on January 6,” which she described as “another date, as we approach a potential transition” of the presidency. Jordan then described the efforts that congressional Republicans would make to object to the election results, in order to prevent the “potential transition” that Bartiromo had described. [Fox News, Sunday Morning Futures, 12/13/20]

Video

Citation From the December 13, 2020, edition of Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo

On December 14, the date when the Electoral College delegates voted across the country, Bartiromo hosted then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. “What's your take on where we are?” she asked. “Is it the end of the line now for the president's campaign to stop and overturn this election as the Electoral College will meet, or are you looking at January 6 as a pivotal date or what?” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, 12/14/20]

The next day, December 15, Bartiromo read a news headline about the Electoral College results. Following a video clip of President-elect Joe Biden calling for the country “to unite, to heal,” Bartiromo said in a seeming rebuttal: “The next major step in the election process is on January 6. This is the date we are looking forward to, when Vice President Mike Pence is going to preside over the joint session of Congress while they officially tabulate the electoral votes.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, 12/15/20]

Video

Citation From the December 15, 2020, edition of Fox Business’ Mornings with Maria Bartiromo

On December 18, Bartiromo hosted former pro football player and future Republican U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker and his son, right-wing social media personality Christian Walker. Bartiromo played a video clip that Christian Walker had posted in which he declared, “The electors might have cast their votes today. They're not counted until January 6, when Congress meets. … This isn’t over yet.” Bartiromo responded: “I just love that.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, 12/18/20]

On December 20, Bartiromo hosted Herschel and Christian Walker again on her Sunday show, once again praising Christian Walker’s online video and telling him, “You were basically underlining Section 1, Article 2 in the Constitution.” After Christian declared on “January 6, the vice president will count the votes,” Bartiromo did not challenge the apparent contention that Pence could determine the election results, but instead just praised Christian further: “Yes, and that's pretty much what you said on Instagram, which was great. It went viral.” [Fox News, Sunday Morning Futures, 12/20/20]

On the January 3, 2021, edition of her Sunday show — the weekend prior to the joint session of Congress — Bartiromo hosted multiple Republican members of Congress who were planning to challenge the election results. At the conclusion of one segment, she remarked to Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL): “If you're going to object to six states, and then you’ve got a two-hour debate, we’re not going to learn the results here until — well, we're not going to learn on January 6, that’s for sure. This goes into January 7.” (The electoral votes were indeed certified after midnight, under what had become truly unprecedented circumstances.) [Fox News, Sunday Morning Futures, 1/3/21]

Video

Citation From the January 3, 2021, edition of Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo

The manner in which Grossberg has sought to substantiate the main claim in her lawsuit against Fox — that the network was allegedly setting up her and Bartiromo to take a fall in the Dominion lawsuit — is turning out to be a very strange thing indeed. Fox executives must bear ultimate responsibility for the lies the network helped to spread, but at the same time the new evidence that Grossberg has brought to bear in this case makes Bartiromo look worse and worse by revealing more of her reckless on-air behavior and coordination with the Trump campaign’s effort to subvert a national election result.

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Pagination

Current page1

…

IN THIS ARTICLE

Fox/Dominion Lawsuit

Fox News host Mark Levin demands judge in Dominion lawsuit “step aside”

04/14/23 11:01 AM EDT

Listen to Media Matters' Angelo Carusone explain how the Dominion lawsuit could impact Fox News’ cable contract negotiations

04/13/23 6:38 PM EDT

Judge in Dominion case admonishes Fox lawyers for allegedly withholding discovery and misleading the court about Rupert Murdoch's role

04/12/23

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mma 4 23

JOHN RATCLIFFE (FORMER DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE): Well, Maria, I mean, the point is this is election interference. We don't know how – no one really knows how this is going to play out. We just know that it is going to be a factor. We have crossed the Rubicon from people saying, you know, on the left, President Trump should be indicted to the discussion is going to be President Trump was indicted. And however long this case takes, and very clearly, it's not going to play out throughout the court system in less than the year that it's going to take to, you know, to, you know, reach a Republican nominee.

And so this action, this political persecution is going to influence our politics every single day for the next year until a Republican nominee is chosen, and that is, by definition, election interference. This is wholly inappropriate, you know, a complete perversion of our political system, and I think people need to, hopefully, understand and see what's going on here through these imposter D.A.s like Alvin Bragg. But this is coast to coast, you know? This is Kim Foxx in Chicago, this is George Gascon in California, this is George Soros funding all of these people where we've put socialists in charge of the American judicial system. We've put people who don't understand or appreciate orstand up for American values in charge of our legal system to distort it intentionally and deliberately and, unfortunately, Donald Trump is the first but won't be the last person to be persecuted under that system.

MARIA BARTIROMO (FOX NEWS HOST): Well, this is a really good point that you're making because George Soros makes no apology for it. In fact, he wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal just a couple of weeks ago. You're talking about the $40 million that he has donated to get these D.A.s in place. He says I've done it transparently. I've no intention of stopping. The funds I provide enable sensible, reform-minded candidates to receive a hearing from the public. Judging by the results, the public likes what it's hearing. I'm not sure which public he's talking to becausethese D.A.s are using bail reform to put criminals back on the streetexcept if it's Donald Trump.

RATCLIFFE: Maria, they're not D.A.s, they're imposter D.A.s. These are political plants. These are people who are only being supported with, you know, $40 million – in the case of Alvin Bragg a million dollars from George Soros – only because of a promise that you're in this position, you will pursue political prosecution of our opponents, those on the right. And that is, again, happening coast to coast, and that's really what's at stake. This should be a clarion call to Americans who otherwise don't tune in to politics ordon't think that it affects them. It absolutely has, and the bedrock principles of our justice system are clearly under assault where, again, we have socialists who are anathema to, you know, American values in charge largely of our judicial system, you know, through these state D.A.s and prosecutors.

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an 3 23

testimony given by Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo in Dominion Voting System's $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit could punch a hole in the reported lawyers defense strategy for Fox News are using to stave off what one legal analyst called the possibility of a "financial death penalty."

:{:{According to a report from the Los Angeles Times, attorneys for the embattled conservative news network are trying to dismiss private emails and text messages exchanged by on-air personalities and executives where they admitted they were trafficking in lies about 2020 election fraud with Dominion singled out.}:

Attorneys for Fox have suggested that the Fox hosts were just offering opinions, not making statements of fact, when spreading the election lies, but Bartiromo is presenting them with a major problem as they try to make their case.

As the Times is reporting, "In released court documents and deposition testimony connected to the case, Bartiromo is cited throughout for allowing former President Trump's false claims about 2020 election fraud to air on the network in an effort to stop angry viewers from abandoning the network," before adding, "Court testimony shows that in the days leading up to and following the 2020 election, colleagues and executives raised questions about Bartiromo's online activity and expressed concerns that she was influenced by right-wing conspiracy theorists."

With the report adding, "Bartiromo is one of four Fox News and Fox Business Network personalities cited in the suit along with Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro and Lou Dobbs, who is no longer part of the company. Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch admitted under oath that they all promoted false claims about the 2020 election, which he believed was fair," the Times is reporting that Bartiromo stated in testimony that she is a journalist and not an on-air personality providing commentary -- and that is a problem for Fox.

"The difference with Bartiromo is she identifies as a news anchor, as she indicated in her testimony," The Times is reporting. "Hannity, Dobbs and Pirro are considered opinion hosts, and executives at Fox News testified that they are not held to the same journalistic standards as straight news programs."

Even worse for the embattled news network, the Times notes, "Bartiromo testified that no one in management did anything to stop her or force her to correct the record."

"Bartiromo herself made misstatements, such as repeating inaccurate claims that Dominion was owned by voting software company Smartmatic, which is also suing Fox News and other conservative networks for defamation," the report states before adding, "... several Fox News executives in their testimony concurred with Dominion's assertions that Bartiromo did not challenge any of [Sidney] Powell's false statements when she appeared on 'Sunday Morning Futures.' Bartiromo also admitted that she never presented any evidence to counter Powell's claims, even though she was provided with correct information provided by Dominion and other Fox News journalists."

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sadly narrowly re-elected

https://www.alternet.org/2022/11/ron-johnson-has-a-feeling/ biden compro by chinabartir

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https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/here-are-conspiracy-theories-about-dominion-and-2020-election-fox-news-maria-bartiromo

many lnx some vids twts

:{:{}:

A recently published brief from Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News shows Fox executives repeatedly called out anchor Maria Bartiromo, implausibly still considered a straight news anchor by the network, for amplifying election fraud lies on right-wing social media platform Parler.Media Matters has identified at least 12 of these posts from the immediate aftermath of the 2020 election, at least three of which appear to specifically defame Dominion.

In March 2021, Dominion filed a defamation suit against Fox News and its parent company for the false claims the network pushed after the election. Those false claims were extensive: In the two-week period after Fox News declared Joe Biden the president-elect, the network questioned the results of the election or pushed conspiracy theories about it almost 800 times, including by using Dominion as a scapegoat.

Dominion’s brief calling for a summary judgment in its favor, released to the public last week, reveals that the network knew it was pushing false claims about Dominion’s voting machines. As Dominion detailed in the filing, “Literally dozens of people with editorial responsibility—from the top of the organization to the producers of specific shows to the hosts themselves—acted with actual malice.” This includes Fox anchor Maria Bartiromo, whom the filing calls out for amplifying baseless attacks against Dominion both on her show and across social media.

The filing also reveals that Fox executive Gary Schreier and Fox Business News President Lauren Petterson lamented that Bartiromo “sometimes” amplified baseless conspiracy theories.

“On November 7, [Petterson] received an alert that there was a coordinated effort on 4chan to spread claims that Dominion voting systems were used to commit fraud… The next day, Gary Schreier warned Petterson that Bartiromo ‘has gop conspiracy theorists in her ear and they use her for their message sometimes.’”

The filing also mentions that after Bartiromo announced that she would be leaving Twitter for the far-right social media platform Parler, “Petterson commented to Schreier, ‘How about get off social all together.’ Schreier responded, ‘I mean if you say crazy wrong shit on Parler is that better just because Parler won’t flag you?’”

Here are some of the posts that Bartiromo shared on Parler amplifying baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 election:

Dominion’s brief references several instances in which Bartiromo spread election lies on Parler

The filing mentions that on November 5, Bartiromo “posted unfounded allegations of vote ‘dump[s]’ on social media,” prompting Fox host Brett Baier to alert Bill Sammon, the network’s then Washington bureau chief, “We have to prevent this stuff…We need to fact check.”

Maria Bartiromo Parler Post

Maria Bortiromo Parler Post claiming late night vote drop

The filing details that when Bartiromo hosted Trump lawyerSidney Powell on her show on November 8, 2020, she planned to ask about “voting irregularities” and “Bartiromo knew Powell would respond with conspiracy theories about Dominion.”The day before, Powell had sent Bartiromo an email titled “Election Fraud Info” that Powell had “received from a 'source' which the author herself describes as ‘pretty wackadoodle.’”Bartiromo reportedly described the email as “kooky” and “nonsense.” From the filing:

:{:{}:

“Bartiromo … never reported on the existence of this email. Nor did Bartiromo tell her viewers about the source of Powell’s claims or that Trump’s own Senior Advisor and son-in-law rejected the allegations as conspiracy theories. While the claims were laughable on their face, Bartiromo gave them credibility. As Tucker Carlson texted that night, “[t]he software shit is absurd.…Half our viewers have seen the Maria clip.”

Bartiromo also promoted lies from Powell on Parler,including by sharing a November 15 clip from Sunday Morning Futures featuring Powell claiming that “the evidence is coming in so fast” she 'can't even process it all.'”

Maria Bartiromo promoting her interview with Sydney Powell on Parler

The filing also mentions that on November 12, “Schreier notified Petterson and others that Dobbs and Giuliani had ‘[s]poke about servers for the voting machines in foreign country’ on air, but that this claim had not been verified.” (Former Fox Business host Lou Dobbs' program was cancelled in February 2021, days after he was named in a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit brought by Smartmatic, another election software company targeted by Fox.) That same day, Schreier had been warned that, per the filing, Bartiromo was “sharing conspiracy theories about Dominion on Parler, to which he responded ‘I don’t know why she invites this.’”

Maria Bortiromo Parler Post saying she'll talk about supposed dominion rigging on her show

Maria Bortiromo Parler Post claiming Venezuela interfered in the election

Bartiromo continued to attack Dominion on November 17, sharing a Gateway Pundit article alleging “Mass Dumps” of votes “for Biden” on Parler, in addition to promoting her segment featuring election fraud claims from disgraced Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani.

Maria Bortiromo Parler Post claiming dominion voting machines were seized in Europe

Maria Bartiromo claiming experts found massive fraud in michigans election

Maria Bartiromo posts on Parler about her interview with Rudy Giuliani

Beyond the posts referenced in Dominion’s filing, Bartiromo spread other election-related lies on Parler in the weeks surrounding the 2020 election.

For example, Bartimoro pushed the debunked claim that dead people had votedby the thousands in Michigan. She also shared content from the Gateway Pundit alleging that a “voter fraud training” was held in the state:

Maria Bartiromo posts on Parler about dead people supposedly voting in 2020

Maria Bartiromo sharing an article alleging voter fraud trainings in detroit

Bartimoro additionally implied that there was cheating during the election and might be during Georgia's U.S. Senate runoff election, and she shared content casting doubts about election integrity:...

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mma 11 22

Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo will provide live commentary during Fox News’ election night coverage, giving one of the network’s biggest conspiracy theorists an opportunity to once again spread misinformation about voter fraud and other debunked ideas.

In the 2020 election cycle and its aftermath, Bartiromo repeatedly and baselessly questioned the reliability of Dominion voting machines and software, part of a pattern of coverage at Fox that led to the company bringing a defamation lawsuit against the network. . That litigation is ongoing, and Bartiromo has reportedly been called to be deposed in the case.

As Media Matters previously documented, Bartiromo amplified numerous conspiracy theories following the 2020 election, including providing a platform for Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Syndey Powell to spread bad information about Dominion Voting Systems. On November 8, 2020, Powell told Bartiromo that “there had been a massive and coordinated effort to steal this election from we the people of the United States of America,” including “an algorithm to calculate the votes they would need to flip, and they used the computers to flip those votes.” Bartiromo didn’t challenge the assertion. “If this is true, this appears systemic,” she responded.

Dominion’s lawyers noted in their lawsuit that Bartiromo knew Powell’s comments were “false, or recklessly disregarded the truth,” as she had previously discussed with former President Donald Trump that any perceived lead he had in voting could lessen as mail-in and absentee ballots were cast.

On November 12, 2020, Bartiromo interviewed Giuliani about Dominion, suggesting that the company had financial ties to foreign countries perceived to be hostile to the United States. “Are you seeing money coming from places like Venezuela and Cuba?” Bartiromo asked. In his halting, rambling response, Giuliani claimed Dominion is “a foreign company — that raises questions immediately, why are we having a foreign company do our elections? It is Canada — maybe.” He later characterized it as “a Venezuelan company that has Chinese parts in it.”

Three days later, on November 15, 2020, Bartiromo interviewed Powell again. During that interview, Powell claimed that there had been massive voter fraud, and that public officials in states that used Dominion systems were getting “kickbacks” for stealing the election for Biden. “President Trump won by not just hundreds of thousands of votes, but by millions of votes, that were shifted by this software that was designed expressly for that purpose,” Powell said. The officials who supposedly stole the election got “substantial sums of money” laundered to them through family members, she said. Bartiromo didn’t challenge these preposterous allegations either.

In addition to amplifying Trump’s lawyers’ claims, Bartiromo also gave oxygen to a host of additional absurd conspiracy theories. On November 4, 2020, she claimed that “there were tons of ballots found under a rock in Arizona.” In fact, there were 18. On November 6, 2020, she promoted the so-called Sharpiegate conspiracy theory, which had already been repeatedly debunked by fact-checkers. On November 9, 2020, Bartiromo’s guests suggested that dead people were voting in large numbers. They were not. Later that month, Bartiromo allowed Trump to push his election denialist claims on her show, a programming decision Trump referred to as “brave.”

This pattern continued into December, when former Speaker of the House NewtGingrich appeared on her show to lay out a number of already discredited conspiracy theories, including false claims of a trucker delivering ballots from New York to Pennsylvania and a rehash of the claim that voting machines were somehow controlled by foreign governments. The same month, she and Herschel Walker, now a Senate candidate in Georgia, spread lies about the 2020 election.

Bartiromo also played a direct role in questioning the results of the election. On November 9, 2020, she appeared as a guest on fellow Fox star Sean Hannity’s radio show. “I have not given up on [Attorney General] Bill Barr,” she said. “I am expecting a full-on investigation of these irregularities that we're seeing in terms of voting and the ballots.” On November 30, 2020, she said that Trump’s lawyers “say they have a stack of affidavits of people, sworn testimony that say that they saw the Dominion machines change votes."

On the day the Electoral College was scheduled to vote to confirm Joe Biden as the next president, Bartiromo claimed to have spoken “with one source high up in the intel community."

“He said, ‘Trump did win,” Bartiromo continued. “‘There was election fraud, but to prove it requires the FBI and the DOJ to drill down on all of the election fraud issues related to voter and ballot issues. They're not doing it because the wrong people run the place, and they didn't want Trump to win. Now they've run out the clock with the Electoral College here.’”

Bartiromo’s false claims continued after the fascist insurrection on January 6, 2021. She alleged, without evidence, that “Democrats” in “MAGA clothing” were partiallybehind the attack. In interviews with Republican lawmakers after the attempted coup, she repeatedly claimed that “70% of Trump voters” believed the election was stolen, thereby offering a circular self-justification for continuing to push that incorrect information and excuse the riot. On Biden’s Inauguration Day, she failed to push back on numerous false claims put forward by Goya CEO Bob Unanue, including inflating the number of people who voted for Trump.

She continued pushing election denialist conspiracy theories throughout 2021. On March 16, 2021, she gave Trump another friendly interview filled with falsehoods about the election and Trump’s attempts to overturn it, including his pressure campaign against election officials in Georgia. Trump was back on her show in April of that year, repeating the lie that he won the election. In May 2021, she implied that Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) was wrong to keep “talking and pushing back on President Trump, who says the election was stolen” and that she “has not acknowledged the issue around mail-in ballots.” In July 2021, she encouraged Trump to lie about the number of votes he’d received and the states he claimed to have won.

Bartiromo's recent coverage of the midterms has been no different. In October, she pushed a conspiracy theory that Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman, who is recovering from a stroke and requires auditory assistance, was being fed answers through a closed caption system he used during an NBC interview. Fox viewers can likely expect more of the same this election night.

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https://www.mediamatters.org/climate-deniers/right-wing-media-used-opec-oil-cuts-blame-biden-domestic-gas-price-volatility

mma 10 22

On October 5, OPEC [saudi?] and non-OPEC allies decided to impose cuts on oil production despite the fact that they were cautioned against doing so by the United States. The cartel will cut 2 million barrels, a move that could further elevate gas prices in the lead-up to midterm elections. To help ease the impact of the cuts, President Joe Biden, during remarks on gas prices and energy security delivered on October 19, announced a 3 point plan to address rising costs and global oil supplies, including the release of 15 million barrels of oilfrom the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Biden also called for oil companies to increase production instead of buying back stocks and paying dividends to their shareholders, and warned these companies not to gouge gas prices as the cost of oil comes down.

Fox has painted Biden as chiefly responsible for rising gas prices in a ploy to hurt Democratic candidates in the final weeks of midterm campaigning. Other right-wing media outlets and personalities have followed suit, and criticism has been magnified by a claim made on October 12 by Saudi Arabia’s ministry of foreign affairs saying that Biden asked OPEC to postpone the oil cuts for a month.

In response, right-wing media is using the same playbook and the same series of debunked arguments and disinformationfrom earlier in the year when Russia first invaded Ukraine and global energy security became a concern.

Right-wing media is once again misleading voters about how the global energy market works to push a pro-fossil fuel agenda.

Conservative media outlets are pushing the idea that drastically increasing oil production in the U.S. is a quick and common-sense solution to the problem of high gas prices because it would allow the U.S. to be “energy independent," a term experts have pointed out is widely misunderstood. The U.S. has imported oil for decades and will continue to do so for economic reasons. Importing and exporting some energy is necessary to meet the needs of the market. In that sense, we will probably never be truly energy independent in a fossil fuel economy. If we understand energy independence to mean the U.S. exports more energy than we import, that is still the case. In fact, by this standard, U.S. energy independence reached its peak in 2021 when Biden was president.

Former Secretary of State under Trump and Fox News contributor Mike Pompeo: “Energy independence doesn't just mean lower costs for Americans. It means not having to beg Venezuelan dictators or the Iranian regime for more oil.” Twitter, [10/9/22]
Host columnist for the conservative The Washington Times and Newsmax contributor Kelly Sadler on Newsmax’s Wake Up America: “They [Democrats] want to put the fossil fuel industry out of business…as a result, we are not — we are no longer energy independent.”Newsmax, *Wake Up America*, [10/10/22]
Martha MacCallum, host of Fox News’ The Story: “There's no reason why we can't be energy independent. We have before.” MacCallum continued, “We scolded a lot of our energy companies out of expanding and growing their businesses because they have been told by several administrations, not the last one, that they were going to be out of business soon. Fox News, *The Story with Martha MacCallum*, [10/12/22]

Right-wing comedian and radio host Tim Young: “I'm so old, I remember when America was energy independent.” Twitter, [10/12/22]

Founder of dark money group Power the Future Daniel Turner said, “Americans could use energy independence right about now.”Turner: “Gas prices are near $4.00. Core inflation has hit a new 40-year high. Average winter heating costs will rise by 28%. Americans could use energy independence right about now.” Twitter, [10/13/22]

Fox News contributor Joe Concha: “We backed ourselves into this corner.” Concha: “The fact that we have to depend on Venezuela and OPEC+ which is basically Russia and Saudi Arabia instead of energy independence that we had here at home — gas and oil leases off of the Gulf Coast, off of the Alaska coast, ANWR, obviously XL pipeline. Now we’re dependent on all these other countries, we backed ourselves into this corner.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [10/13/22]

Former Trump economic advisor Stephen Moore on America’s Newsroom suggested that Biden’s plan to reduce oil and gas production in the future is responsible for rising energy costs. Moore: “We didn't talk a lot about OPEC when Trump was president because we were the number one producer of oil and gas. This administration has come in with a radical climate change agenda, which — he even admits he wants to take our oil and gas production down to zero in the next 12 years. That's the leading factor for why the price of gasoline has gone from 2.50 a gallon under Trump to now in many places it’s like $5 a gallon.” Fox News, *America’s Newsroom*, [10/14/22]

Fox News anchor Dagen McDowell on*The Five *suggests that Biden is blocking the US from controlling world oil prices:“[Biden] won’t open our spigots wide open and start pumping all that delicious natural resources. … Four years ago, we were a net exporter of petroleum products, first time since 1949, we were the swing producer in the world, we controlled world oil prices. … Joe Biden could do that, but he won’t because he is obviously both a masochist because he likes taking it from Saudi Arabia and also a sadist because he likes inflicting pain on the people of the United States.” Fox News, *The Five*, [10/15/22]

Right-wing media push pro-industry talking points claiming that U.S. oil producers are hindered from drilling, blame elevated gas prices solely on decisions made by Biden

Gas prices have been elevated by increased demand following the easing of pandemic restriction and by oil supply disruptions created by Russia’s war on Ukraine. Prices dipped slightly toward the end of the summer, only to rise in late September, but are currently on the downtrend once again. Aside from OPEC’s recent decision to cut supply, a refinery fire in the Midwest and facility maintenance on the West Coast have reduced inventories to record lows, and a looming European ban on Russian oil, which will take effect in December, is also contributing to price increases.

The U.S. oil industry is not being hampered by the Biden administration, as it has claimed to evade blame.In March, CEOs of major oil producers stated that they were not planning on investing in any new drilling due to pressure from investors for bigger shareholder returns. To be sure, the current climate of increased demand and global supply disruptions caused by Russia’s war on Ukraine has increased the price of oil, lavishing these companies with record profits while U.S. and global consumers have been hurt by high energy costs.In fact, U.S. oil producers are sitting on 9,000 unused drilling leases for public lands, and while right-wing media push the industry claim that Biden is suppressing domestic production, U.S. oil production on public lands is near all-time highs and is on track for record output in 2023.

Fox Business contributor Phil Flynn: “The Biden administration has made it a very toxic country to invest in when it comes to fossil fuels.”Flynn continued, “Because already, they have canceled the Keystone Pipeline, they have slowed down the permitting process.” Fox News, *America Reports*, [10/5/22]

Podcaster and author of “The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels” Alex Epstein blamed Biden for making the U.S. “vulnerable.”Epstein said, “The Biden Administration is calling an OPEC production cut a “hostile act.” But if it hadn’t been for the hundred+ ‘hostile acts’ toward the US oil industry of President Joe ‘I guarantee you, we’re going to end fossil fuel’ Biden we wouldn’t be so vulnerable to OPEC.” Twitter, [10/5/22]

New York Post Editorial: “Rather than White House whining about OPEC, America needs to drill, baby, drill — but Biden refuses.” New York Post, [10/5/22]

Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo onAmerica’s Newsroom: “It's not just about the leases — it is about all the rules, the regulations, the bureaucracy that this administration has put in place to stop, lessen and kill the fossil fuel industry.” Fox News, *America’s Newsroom*, [10/6/22]

Fox News host Harris Faulkner claimed Biden is “suffocating” domestic oil production. “Saudi Arabia leads OPEC+ and the Biden White House has been pressuring them to do more to help us while President Biden's policies have suffocated our own oil production at home.” Fox News, *The Falkner Focus*, [10/6/22]

Fox Business anchor Larry Kudlow: “What the Bidens have done with their very extreme climate radicalism, is they’ve taken the power of energy away from the United States and given it back to the Saudis and OPEC and Russia.”Fox News,*America Reports*, [10/6/22]

Former Fox Nation host Lara Logan on Newsmax: “The Biden administration is at war with fossil fuels.” Logan continued, “You're going to go to war on fossil fuels. You're going to have idiots like that person that they have in California who bans combustion engines and that the oil producing countries are just gonna take it.” Newsmax, *Eric Bolling the Balance*, [10/6/22]

Wall Street Journal: “The White House blames the industry for high gas prices while it does everything it can to make drilling more difficult and financially risky.” Wall Street Journal, [10/6/22]

Climate contrarian and frequent Fox News guest Michael Shellenberger: “By working against domestic oil production, it’s Biden who has allowed the Russians & Saudis to raise gas prices.”Shellenberger: “Biden just now said gas prices are ‘inching up because of what the Russians & the Saudis just did’ and ‘there's nothing beyond the capacity if we work together.’ But by working against domestic oil production, it's Biden who has allowed the Russians & Saudis to raise gas prices.” Twitter, [10/7/22]

Foxnews.com: “Joe Biden has hampered domestic energy industry while pleading for more foreign oil.”Foxnews.com, [10/7/22]

One America Newsroom host Addison Smith: “[Biden] cut the Keystone XL pipeline on day one.”He went on, saying, “He's campaigned on Green New Deal policies. He eliminated American energy independence byhalting drilling on federal lands. He's always groaning about how the sun monster is going to destroy us all if we don't buy electric vehicles and stop using fossil fuels.” OAN, *In Focus*, [10/7/22]

Kelly Sadler: “They want to put the fossil fuel industry out of business.”Sadler continued, “Joe Biden campaigned on that. As a result, we are not — we're no longer energy independent. Newsmax, *Wake Up America*, [10/10/22]

Chief National Initiatives Officer at the industry-funded Texas Public Policy Institute, Chuck DeVore: “Biden’s anti-domestic energy policies have caused oil and natural gas producers to be wary of spending money to boost production. While big banks’ woke capital restrictions are gradually starving the oil and gas sector of the money needed to drill new wells.” Foxnews.com, [10/11/22],

On Fox News, Chuck Devore said: “They can’t have it both ways. Either they have policies that make it more difficult to produce American energy and push up energy prices, and, you know, hasten the transition to electric vehicles, or they don’t. … Let’s change the policy so that people can benefit from lower energy prices today.” Fox News, *Fox News at Night*, [10/13/22]

Fox Business reporter Ed Lawrence on The Faulkner Focus: “The first day President Biden was in office canceling the Keystone Pipeline. The war on fossil fuels. No change in policy from this White House.” Fox News, *The Faulkner Focus*, [10/12/22]
Right-wing radio and Fox News host Sean Hannity suggests that in order to stop climate alarmists Republicans need to stop Democrats from controlling the House and Senate:“Could you imagine if we don't stop the madness that is the climate alarmists, cultists New Green Deal, socialist movement? Can you imagine even a worst-case scenario where the Democrats get to control the House and Senate and they get a bigger majority in the Senate and they end the legislative filibuster? ” Hannity Radio, [10/14/22]
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on his podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz: “If Joe Biden and Schumer and Pelosi get their way, gasoline…. is going to be $10 [per gallon] and then it’s going to be $12 then it’s going to be $20.” *Verdict with Ted Cruz*, [10/14/22]
Fox anchor Sandra Smith on America’s Newsroomsuggests that Biden is blaming oil companies instead of taking responsibility for high gas prices: “It's been OPEC, it's been now the Saudis, it's been Vladimir Putin, and most recently it's also been pinning a lot of blame on the oil companies themselves. … The president has been putting the onus on the oil companies that he told he would bring the end of the fossil fuel industry to ramp up their production.” Fox News, *America’s Newsroom*, [10/14/22]
Right-wing TV personality and former advisor to Trump Kimberly Guilfoyle said: “Gas prices are $1.44 higher under Joe Biden. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is at a 40-year low. Home heating costs will soar by 28% this winter. Brought to you by Joe Biden's war on American energy.” Twitter, [10/20/22]

American Petroleum Institute president Mike Sommers said on Mornings With Maria that the administration is being contradictory on oil production: “This is a very precarious position we're in today at a time of dramatic geopolitical upheaval… The one thing this administration has done from the very beginning is they’ve tried to do everything they could to prevent production in the United States… This administration continues to talk out of both sides of its mouth, saying they want more production but not putting more policies in place that would actually encourage more production.” Fox News, *Mornings with Maria*, [10/20/22]

Right-wing media attack Biden for Strategic Petroleum Reserve use, foreign oil imports, and efforts to stabilize global oil supply

To help manage global oil prices, Biden began releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves in March. The latest release of 15 million barrels, announced on October 19, is the last of those planned releases. Right-wing media have suggested that drawing down the reserve makes the U.S. vulnerable to other disasters where the reserve would be needed to shore up supplies while doing nothing to address gas prices. As it stands, the reserves are still more than half full. The move has modestly lowered gas prices, however, experts agree it is not a long-term solution. Biden is also considering easing sanctions on Venezuela for Chevron to resume pumping oil there, allowing the country to export to U.S. and European markets.

Right-wing media has disingenuously argued that getting oil from Venezuela would be more environmentally damaging than producing more oil in the U.S., thus, increasing production domestically would be the more ethical choice. This is a common fossil fuel industry talking point that bad actors use to encourage long-term investments in expanding domestic production, meant to delay an economy-wide transition to renewable energy and ensure that we are reliant on fossil fuels for decades to come. This would be the worst possible outcome for the environment. The same individuals who praise the U.S. for having such “clean” energy production compared to other countries are also fighting against regulations implemented by the Biden administration that are meant toprotect vulnerable communities and hold the industry accountable for the extensive damage it will inevitably cause to ecosystems, the climate, and public health.

Former Trump advisor and frequent Fox News guest Stephen Miller: “You are watching an act of national sabotage, in real-time, carried out by President Biden. If a global emergency cut-off our access to foreign oil we would no longer have the strategic reserves to keep going.” Twitter, [10/5/22]

Conservative radio host Clay Travis: “Joe Biden’s administration is begging the totalitarian [Venezuelan President Nicolás] Maduro regime to produce more oil — unlocking tens of billions of dollars for them in Venezuela — instead of producing more oil here.” The tweet continued, “Aside from rewarding dictators, how is it better for the environment? Of course it isn’t.” Twitter, [10/6/22]

Donald Trump Jr.: “The Wall Street Journal says Biden will ease sanctions on Venezuela to pump more oil but he won’t do anything to bring back American energy independence. … He will deal with the dictatorial regime but not Americans!” Twitter, [10/6/22]

Newsmax host Eric Bolling on Eric Bolling the Balance: “This Strategic Petroleum Reserve is supposed to be for emergencies, for wartime. Biden is using it to try and ease some of the pain at the pump. And it's not working. Prices are still going up…we're way back to Carter years.” Newsmax, *Eric Bolling the Balance*, [10/13/22]

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin on Eric Bolling the Balance: “Our Strategic Petroleum Reserve that is supposed to be for legit emergencies, not these economic political games that Biden's playing. … It's that newfangled, weird, bogus green energy policy that they want to cram down our throats.” Newsmax, *Eric Bolling: The Balance*, [10/13/22]

Fox host Steve Hilton on The Faulkner Focus: Democrats are “acting to prop up the Venezuelan regime.” Hilton continued, “The total basket case authoritarian regime of Maduro by trying to do an oil deal” and that this was another result of “their own stupid policies.” Fox News, *The* *Falkner Focus*, [10/14/22]

Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) on Fox Report with Jon Scott: “We do it cleaner so if you care about the environment, you should be rooting for American energy.” Fox News,*Fox Report with Jon Scott*, [10/15/22]

Stephen Miller suggested Biden has jeopardized U.S. security through domestic energy policy. On Twitter, Miller said, “If every POTUS who wanted lower gas prices at election time raided our emergency stockpile there would be no emergency stockpile. Biden stands alone in his corruption & dereliction. We are now sitting ducks if an adversary disrupts our supply. And Biden still won’t drill in USA.” Twitter, [10/19/22]

Fox’s White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich said critics doubt the efficacy of Biden’s strategy: “The president's critics worry that draining the country's emergency stockpile could leave the U.S. vulnerable in the event of a major military conflict or natural disaster. …The White House has repeatedly claimed [gas prices] in the past are out of the president's control because of external factors like Putin's war in Ukraine and more alarming to the critics the White House is prepared to draw down the reserves even lower.” Fox News, *America’s Newsroom*,[10/19/22]
Fox contributor Katie Pavlich on The Story: “The continued depletion of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve by this president is outrageous and it is a scandal. It is a supply that is supposed to be reserved for the United States, not for Ukraine, but for the United States or in times of natural disasters. Let's not forget this administration sold millions of barrels of U.S. Reserve oil to China over the summer, so he is putting us in a crisis situation.” Fox News, *The Story with Martha MacCallum*, [10/19/22]

Right-wing media claims Biden’s negotiations to keep OPEC+ from cutting oil supply are politically motivated and even impeachable

Despite negotiations with Biden to keep oil supplies stable, OPEC+ announced on October 5 that it would cut its oil supply by 2 million barrels a day in an attempt to push the price to $100 a barrel. The White House has called the move shortsighted, while analysts have noted that it benefits Russia and could push the global economy closer to recession. Some early right-wing reactions suggested that Biden — who in response to OPEC’s decision signaled thepossibility of more releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve — only cared about gas prices rising because of the looming midterms elections.

On October 12, in a rare statement to U.S. media, the Saudi government echoed these sentiments by claiming that Biden asked them to delay the cuts by one month – creating a feedback loop between right-wing media and the Saudi royal family. The White House has disputed these claims.

GOP strategist and influencer Alex Bruesewitz: “Joe Biden is emptying our strategic oil reserves ahead of the midterm elections to temporarily lower gas prices in an attempt to trick voters.” Bruesewitz also claimed this was ”another impeachable offense.” Twitter, [10/5/22]

Former Trump appointee and right-wing media commentator Monica Crowley wrote on Twitter said that “Biden deliberately crippled our energy sector” and drove up inflation, calling these “impeachable offenses." Twitter, [10/5/22]

On Facebook, right-wing outlet Breitbart pushed this message: “Of course, the Biden regime won't give a damn AFTER the election if gas prices soar, but heaven forbid they do so again BEFORE the midterm elections.” Facebook, [10/5/22]

On Facebook, Fox News promoted the idea that, “The president is attempting to circumvent a possible global spike in gas prices just before the midterm elections.” Facebook, [10/5/22]

Fox & Friends co-host Ainsely Earhardt: “He knows if price goes up again Democrats stand to lose in the elections. … Now he’s going to release these 10 million more in November when the elections are.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [10/6/22]

Larry Kudlow on America Reports: “For election year political price-fixing reasons they have depleted our Strategic Petroleum Reserve.” Kudlow continued, “That is a pathetic response and it is a response that damages our national security because we are going to need that thing over time.” Fox News, *America Reports*, [10/6/22]

Sean Hannity: “[Biden’s] decision to drain our Strategic Petroleum Reserves to salvage a few votes is putting our country's national security at risk.” Hannity continued, “It is not, Joe, a national emergency when Democrats believe they are going to lose midterm elections. Fox News, *Hannity*, [10/6/22]

The Gateway Pundit:“BREAKING: Saudi Arabia Foreign Ministry Confirms Joe Biden Attempted to Coerce Kingdom to Cut Oil Prices Until After Midterm Election.” Gateway Pundit, [10/12/22]

Alt-right commentator Jack Posobiec: “BREAKING: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia confirms Biden attempted to coerce them to postpone oil cuts until after the midterms, announce they have rejected his quid pro quo.” Twitter, [10/12/22]

Trump shill and president of conservative organization Judicial Watch Tom Fitton: “So the Biden ‘October surprise’ was to get Saudi Arabia and OPEC to put off announcement of negative oil price news until after our elections.” Twitter, [10/12/22]

Daily Wire founder Ben Shapiro also suggested Biden was engaged in shady negotiations with Saudi Arabia for political benefit:“So Joe Biden refuses to say whether he would support cutting off arms supplies to Saudi Arabia after the Saudis rejected his request to increase oil supply in a slowing economy — a request made for a specified period of time, until right after the election.” Twitter, [10/13/22]

RedState: “It Sure Looks Like Joe Biden Is Trying to Blackmail Saudi Arabia to Interfere in the 2022 Election.” RedState, [10/13/22]

Daily Wire: “Saudi Arabia Torches Biden For Trying To Pressure OPEC Into Not Cutting Oil Production Before Midterms.” Daily Wire, [10/13/22]

:{:{Maria Bartiromo:}: “Saudi Arabia has confirmed in a statement overnight that Biden did attempt to coerce the kingdom to postpone the OPEC
oil production cuts until after the midterm elections.” Fox News,:{ Morning with Maria, :(style="background-color:#ff6600ff"):}:[10/14/22]}:
Fox Business’ Stuart Varney on Fox & Friends:“We suffer the embarrassment of watching our president beg for oil or beg the Saudis, ‘Don't cut oil yet but wait until after the November elections.’” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [10/14/22]

Fox News host Laura Ingraham on The Ingraham Angle: “Now with the Biden administration attempting to pressure a foreign government to influence the outcome of the U.S. election, do you think that might be a big story?” Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, [10/14/22]

Fox News correspondent Kevin Corke on the Fox & Friends First: “The diplomatic chill coming after the Saudis say, ‘Yeah, we rebuffed a White House request to delay our oil reduction plan until after the midterms.’ …The allegation has people thinking, this White House pretty much did what they accused former President Trump of doing.” Fox News, Fox & Friends First, [10/14/22]

Mike Pompeo on America’s Newsroom: “This is pure politics. … Three weeks out from the election. … The point that was made earlier, we now have the Strategic Petroleum Reserve at a 40-year low.” Fox News, America’s Newsroom, [10/18/22]

Harris Faulkner on Outnumbered: “Less than three weeks ahead of the midterm election. His critics are calling it a desperate attempt to drive down the gas prices as the economy and inflation have emerged as a concern for voters.” Fox News,*Outnumbered*, [10/19/22]

The Federalist’s Margot Cleveland: “Joe Biden can’t stop spending other people’s money. Even at $72 a barrel, it will cost taxpayers over $21 billion to replace the oil he’s robbed from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for his midterm election slush fund.” Twitter, [10/20/22]

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) Press Secretary Abigail Marone: “Saying the quiet part out loud: Biden is draining our strategic oil reserves to try and win an election.” Twitter, [10/20/22]

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https://www.alternet.org/2022/09/so-unfortunate-maria-bartiromo-and-gop-congressman-trumps-special-master-pick-in-documents-probe/

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8 22 an raw

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) suggested over the weekend that Democrats are engaging in voter suppression because many people in Wisconsin believe he is a "tool" of Russia.

During a Sunday interview on Fox News, host Maria Bartiromo argued that there was reason to "distrust and question" the honesty of elections.

"That was part of what went on in 2020," she told Johnson. "People were questioning. Well, can we trust them? We know what they just did in the Russia collusion hoax."

"You say they are interfering with your election!" the host exclaimed, "because of these smears on you."

Bartiromo added: "Tell me about your opponent and why you believe you are being smeared and this is the result: 50% for [Mandela] Barnes, 46% for Johnson in the Wisconsin senate race [polls]."

Johnson claimed Democrats "interfered in the 2020 election far greater than anything Russia or China could ever do."

The senator said that Democrats leaked a briefing about his connections to Russia.

"Basically saying that I'm a tool of Russia, which I am not," Johnson remarked. "It's a completely false accusation. The Wisconsin press picks that up and [some] people in Wisconsin think I'm a tool of Vladimir Putin."

"Nothing could be further from the truth," he insisted. "But they have smeared me publicly and they just might impact the 2022 election here in Wisconsin as well. Because, let's face it, Maria, they do not want me reelected because I would be chairman on the permanent subcommittee on investigations. They know I will investigate their corruption."

Watch the video clip below from Fox News.

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an 7 22

no lnx twt pix

Fox Business host Maria Bartiromodedicated a segment of her Tuesday morning show to making a huge deal over a typo that appeared in a tweet posted by President Joe Biden on Monday.

Bartiromo, a media loyalist to former President Donald Trump, referred to the mistake as "tone-deaf."

Image via @atrupar/Twitter.

The error appears in the left-hand bubble pictured above, where "person" is misspelled as "peson." Its definition also does not fit into the "tone-deaf" narrative, although it is ironic when set against Fox's "fair and balanced" motto:

An instrument in the form of a staff, with balls or crockets, used for weighing before scales were employed.

READ MORE: 'We’re just waiting for him to die': Ex-GOP spox says party has no plan to purge itself of Donald Trump

The mockery was swift.

"Mario Bartiromo devoted a segment of her show this morning to this. Can you even spot the typo?" Vox's Aaron Rupar quipped.

"Trump’s Twitter feed was an all-you-can-eat buffet of typos but ok. I mean - he misspelled his own wife’s name. He misspelled everything from Marine Core & Air Force Once to covfefe and lasting peach. There were too many typos to even tally, but sure - let’s impeach Biden," wrote user Jo.

"Yes but 1) it's in the graphic, not Biden's tweet 2) the graphic and probably even the tweet were produced by someone other than the President 3) the typo'd word refers to a spring scale, so 4) how is any of that "tone deaf"? Tone deaf is tossing paper towels after a hurricane," joked another.

READ MORE: Watch: Jared Kushner reveals what Donald Trump tried to omit from his post-insurrection address

Some people never even saw the misprint:

They can't complain about the high gas prices so now we're on to typos that are suppose to be tone deaf. No wonder they were down graded. Btw, I read it as person, didn't even notice the typo.

It literally took me until I read this to find the typo.

Ditto. I read it like 10 times and didn't notice. Wow they're reaching. Trump tweeted out straight stupid for 4 years but now they're suddenly spelling/grammar nazis too instead of just regular nazis. Of course.

Same. I had to check comments, and I’m usually pretty good at spotting typos. How is this typo “tone-deaf,” though?

It's not. They're desperate for something to whine about

Additional reactions are here.

READ MORE: Eighth January 6th hearing made Donald Trump 'look horrific': Fox News host

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an 7 22

Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo had United States Congressman Ronny Jackson (R-Florida) as a guest on her show on Sunday and their discussion quickly unraveled into a rapid-fire validation of conspiracy theories that Bartiromo made up on the spot about President Joe Biden.

Bartiromo suggested to Jackson that Biden – whom she criticized for isolating himself while running for president during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic – is being secretly drugged by, possibly, former President Barack Obama or First Lady Jill Biden so that he can function.

"There were signs that Joe Biden was declining during the 2020 campaign. I mean, let's face it, he stayed in the basement the whole time during the campaign, uh, so who knew what when? Are they hiding this and feeding him drugs to allow him to function? I know he goes home to Delaware a lot, more than any other president. So I guess my question is, what did Obama know? What did Jill Biden know? And who is running the White House right now, and are they covering up for these mental issues?" Bartiromo asked Jackson, who revealed this week that Obama had scolded him for a tweet that he had posted disparaging Biden's cognitive health.

"Well, that's the big question everybody's asking. Who's really pulling the strings and running the country right now?" Jackson replied.

"We don't really know the answer to that. We don't know if it's [former National Security Advisor] Susan Rice or Ron Klain or if it's Jill Biden or who it is. But somebody else is doing this. They're doing exactly what you said," Jackson continued.

"They're rolling him out at specific times during the day," Jackson added of the president. "He's got good days and bad days and whether or not they have him on drugs I dunno but there are drugs out there that can increase your alertness and your memory and things of that nature, you know, to cover stuff like this up temporarily. So I'm sure some of that's going on as well but we don't know because his physician hasn't stood up and took the questions that I took when I was Trump's physician and answered those questions."

Watch below or at this link.

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new 5 22

https://www.mediamatters.org/january-6-insurrection/john-eastmans-latest-legal-filing-reveals-dual-role-fox-news-hosts-service

Politico reported Friday that John Eastman, the disgraced ex-law professor who formulated many of former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, was also apparently in communication with Fox News host Mark Levin.The story gets even more interesting from there, revealing the shell game that right-wing media personalities engage in while doubling as political operatives.

A legal filing by Eastman’s attorneys reveals that, among the messages Eastman is still attempting to conceal from the House January 6 committee are 12 pieces of correspondence with an individual matching Levin’s description as “a radio talk show host, is also an attorney, former long-time President (and current board Chairman) of a public interest law firm, and also a former fellow at The Claremont Institute.” Other details, including a sloppy attempt to redact an email address, also connect to Levin, who did not respond to Politico’s requests for comment.

Eastman’s contention, however, is that he was not communicating with Mark Levin the media personality, which would forfeit attorney-client privilege on those communications. Instead, he was speaking with Mark Levin the attorney, and formulating legal strategies regarding the election.

A quick law lesson: The “dual role”

In their legal filing, Eastman’s attorneys argue that he should not have to turn over certain communications with right-wing media figures, even as other communications with those same people have been submitted. This question turns on a body of case law involving lawyers who serve in a “dual role.”

This area of law normally involves people who both are attorneys and have personal business interests, in which case a court must determine in which capacity they were acting and whether those communications or actions in question retain the legal privileges of secrecy.

The brief acknowledges that Eastman could find no previous instance in law having to do with media figures who were also attorneys, but it argues to extend this doctrine accordingly.

“Many members of the modern ‘media’ have multiple roles,” the filing argues, contending that some of Eastman’s communications with Levin in fact “involved work product communications with attorneys who also wear media ‘hats.’”

Eastman’s legal and media “hats” collide

In the case of Eastman, however, his work as an attorney in conservative causes and his public media presence have been so closely intertwined as to demonstrate that any such ethical separations quite simply do not exist in the right-wing media and political ecosystem.

Most notably, Eastman first came to Trump’s attention via an appearance on Levin’s Fox show back in May 2019, in which Eastman argued that Trump had the power as president to fire people who were investigating him. “The notion that the president can’t determine the course of an investigation is the most basic violation of separation of powers,” Eastman argued — even including an investigation involving the president himself.

The New York Times reported last year that Trump had never met Eastman before watching this episode. “Within two months, Mr. Eastman was sitting in the Oval Office for an hourlong meeting,” the Times reported.

In addition, Eastman’s new filing notes that he has had different sets of communications with an “opinion editor at Newsweek,” who is also affiliated with different conservative legal organizations. That description matches Newsweek editor Josh Hammer, who published Eastman’s disastrous op-ed in 2020 asserting that then-vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris was not a U.S. citizen and thus ineligible to run for office, even though she was in fact born in California. In this instance, clearly, the Venn diagram of the conservative legal and media worlds was simply a perfect circle.

And while Eastman was advising Trump on his theories of reversing the election results, he also advanced those ideas on former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s show.

Levin uses his media platform to push far-right legal theories

While apparently acting under the privileges of an attorney corresponding with Eastman on their efforts to overturn the election, Levin also used his media platform with Fox News to publicly advocate for the same pseudo-legalistic theories. For example, he and Fox News contributor Ken Starr advocated the weekend after the election for state legislatures to overturn their election results and instead appoint pro-Trump slates to the Electoral College.

During an appearance on the December 10, 2020, edition of Hannity, Levin also advocated for the bizarre lawsuit in which Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the election results in four swing states. [vid]

then on January 3, 2021, Levin said on his Fox show that it was Congress’ job to choose who won the presidential election — and he claimed members of Congress would be “shredding the Constitution” if they didn’t reject Biden’s victory.

In the nearly year and a half since the January 6 insurrection, Levin has used his radio show to chastise Congress for investigating the insurrection, spread conspiracy theories about the FBI having “instigated” the riot, defend Eastman’s idea that then-Vice President Mike Pence had the power to reject the election results, and compare riot defendants to "people in the civil rights movement."

Just this past Wednesday, Levin said on his radio show that people should not cooperate with the January 6 committee, “certainly not under these circumstances,” and he further called the entire inquiry a violation of the Constitution. So, are these pronouncements purely an aspect of his role as a media commentator, or do they also connect to the “hat” he wears as an attorney? [[aud]

the dirty secret of right-wing media: They’re all in the “dual role”

In an odd way, however, Eastman’s legal team has delivered a sort of public service through this “dual role” argument, in that it puts all the rest of Fox News and other right-wing media figures, such as Josh Hammer, into their proper perspective. Essentially, all of these conservative media personalities wear different “hats” in both their media jobs and as political operatives — and they will swap labels for whichever one serves them most conveniently in any particular moment.

The examples abound. Most notoriously, there is Sean Hannity’s true role as a Republican operative and Trump’s “shadow” chief of staff, while leveraging his media presence to assist his favored political candidates. Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo scripted her TV interview with Trump to aid his effort to overturn the election results, and recently used her show to spread a COVID-19 conspiracy theoryshe apparently picked up from a Republican Senate candidate. And of course, numerous Fox News personalities have a long-running track record of appearing at Republican campaign rallies and fundraisers.

The proper response to this shell game is to simply stop humoring it. Instead of allowing Fox and other right-wing media figures to decide on a moment-to-moment basis whether they are journalists or political operatives, they should be recognized as political operatives at all times, and called out for the manner in which they use media trappings for a partisan front operation.

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ref

https://www.mediamatters.org/voter-fraud-and-suppression/maria-bartiromo-spreading-midterm-variant-conspiracy-theory-she-got

despite purportedly working on the “straight news” side of Fox Business’ programming, anchor Maria Bartiromo has been steadily pushing a conspiracy theory in which public health guidance about COVID-19 is just a smoke screen for Democrats to commit voter fraud in the upcoming midterm elections. Bartiromo picked up the term “midterm variant” from Republican politicians — and she’s not alone at the network in spreading the idea, either.

This claim is also tied to the network’s long-running attempts to lie about mail-in voting, after Fox News spread the Trump administration’s discredited claims. Fox painted lurid fantasies about mail-in voting in the run-up to the 2020 election, claiming it leads to fraud, then attempted to invalidate hundreds of thousands of votes in order to support Trump’s effort to subvert the election.

Now, it seems, the network is dusting off its playbook to undermine the upcoming midterm elections. Bartiromo communicated directly with the Trump White House in its efforts to subvert the 2020 election, and she also had discussions with Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich (and now-U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker) about sending supposed election thieves to prison. (Voting technology firm Smartmatic is now suing Fox News for $2.7 billion — and has named Bartiromo as a defendant for her role in promoting the conspiracy theory which said that the company altered the 2020 election result.)

In this latest instance, it appears that Bartiromo picked up the talking point about a “midterm variant” from a different Republican politician — and she has since made it her own. [vid]

missouri Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate Eric Schmitt appeared to introduce the idea of the “midterm variant” to Maria Baritomo when he accused President Joe Biden of attempting to seize control of election procedures: “If he can't get federal — and he can't federalize the elections, there will be a midterm variant, watch, that's coming, where he empowers administrative agencies.” In a later segment, he said, “And by the way, get ready — no, and get ready for the midterm variant. That's what's coming, right.” On both occasions, Bartiromo applauded the point, initially calling it a “great point” and later commenting, “You know, I'm laughing but it's not funny.” Fox News, *Sunday Morning Futures*, [1/16/22; Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 1/28/22]

While talking to Fox contributor Dr. Marty Makary, Bartiromo predicted, “Well, it certainly feels like it's all about power for these politicians, honestly. I'm waiting patiently for the quote, unquote, ‘midterms variant,’ OK. We're going to see the midterm variant coming up soon. They'll call it something else ahead of the midterm elections.” Fox Business, *Mornings with Maria*, [4/12/22]
After ranting about the government allegedly censoring the truth about the origins of COVID-19, Bartiromo claimed, “So, is this all by design going into the midterm elections, and I mean it about the midterm variant.” Fox Business, *Mornings with Maria*, [4/29/22]
While discussing the impact of the Roe draft leak Bartiromo said, “If this doesn't work for them, there's always the midterms variant,” adding “Maybe that keeps us all home from voting and forcing us to do mail-in.” Fox Business, *Mornings with Maria*, [5/3/22]
While discussing the GOP’s agenda after the midterm elections, Bartiromo posited that the midterms will be impacted by “the midterms variant,” saying, “How about if the Republicans take over? Because The Washington Post is reporting more COVID on the horizon in the fall. As I've been predicting, the midterms variant is on the way.” Fox Business, *Mornings with Maria*, [5/9/22]

Other Fox hosts are apparently not to be outdone. On the Monday night edition of Fox’s The Ingraham Angle, host Laura Ingraham hearkened back to her early role in pushing conspiracy theories against the “scam” expansion of mail-in voting, all the way back in April 2020.

Previously, U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) called the omicron variant the “Midterm Election Variant” in a tweet back in December 2021, reiterating his claims during an appearance on Fox News Primetime with host Pete Hegseth. “I mean, they’re looking at the poll numbers that have been plummeting like crazy over the last few months and they’re getting desperate right now,” Jackson claimed. “This unsolicited mail-in balloting worked so well for them in the last election, they need to come up with a reason to be able to do this again. They need to keep the fear level at a certain point so that they can justify this.”

The truth, however, is that it’s Fox that has to keep the “fear level” up surrounding elections. Both on the air and in the courtroom, Fox appears determined to keep lying about the 2020 election — and to keep casting doubt on all the elections to come.

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fox host at cpac?!

https://www.salon.com/**2021/07**/12/trump-cranks-it-up-at-cpac-why-raising-the-spectacle-of-right-wing-madness-right-now-is-so-scary/

no lnx

Every revolutionary movement needs a martyr and it appears that the MAGA revolution has finally found one for itself.

Ashli Babbit, the Jan. 6th insurrectionist who was shot by a security guard as she climbed through a broken window just a few feet away from members of Congress, is Donald Trump's Horst Wessel, the German brownshirt who was murdered in 1930 and turned into a martyr by the Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels. Trump himself is making the case for Babbit, having mentioned her in every appearance he's made in the last week.

At his recent Florida rally, Trump wondered: "Who shot Ashli Babbit? We all saw the hand... Now they don't want to give the name." At his press conference on Wednesday in which he announced his laughable "class action" lawsuit against the Big Tech companies, he went a little bit farther saying, "there were no guns in the Capitol except for the gun that shot Ashli Babbitt. And nobody knows who that man were...the person that shot Ashli Babbitt right through the head, just boom. There was no reason for that." Then this past weekend he went all the way, describing the insurrection as a love fest and Babbit as an innocent victim in an interview with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo:

Bartiromo took the ball and ran with it, saying that Babbitt climbed out of a broken window (as if she was trying to escape the vicious gunman) after which both she and Trump speculated that the officer who shot Babbitt was part of a Democratic official's security detail, casually mentioning Chuck Schumer in the process. The implication was obvious: the Democrats shot Ashli Babbitt for no good reason. The fact that we have all seen the footage of the shooting is irrelevant: We can believe them or we can believe our lying eyes.

Over the weekend, Trump appeared at his second CPAC conference in five months — this time in Texas. (Salon's Zachary Petrizzo delivered these dispatches from the event.) Trump gave his usual speech, to a notably more excited crowd than the last one in February in Florida. He's barely able to keep from announcing to his adoring fans that he's running again and they are all clamoring for him to do it. And it's clear that he will be running to avenge his bogus claims that he actually won the election. The Big Lie will never die.

It all sounds bizarre but when you talk about this stuff in the context of CPAC, it is really not all that crazy. Sure the violent insurrection gives their standard reckless rhetoric a feeling of urgency that wasn't there before, but if you look back you can see that's been there for decades.

Back in 1973 when the American Conservative Union (founded in 1964) first started holding these get-togethers, the GOP was in terrible disarray in the wake of Watergate and far-right organizers saw an opportunity to reshape the party in their conservative image. They invited Ronald Reagan to give the first keynote and the "New Right" never looked back.

CPAC has always been used as a way to take the temperature of the party activists and in that way, it's very instructive. The straw poll that's taken every year (or now, every few months, apparently) has not always been predictive of the party's nominee, but it shows what ideas and issues most excite the base. It's almost certain that the feedback loop between this group and the right-wing media guides the party as much as party officials and pollsters do. For the first quarter-century, the conference was an ideological gathering designed to promote the conservative movement agenda of anti-communism, small government, strong military, Christian Right values, low taxes, etc. But with the rise of the right-wing media — first talk radio, then Fox News — by the turn of the century, it became much more of a right-wing celebrity spectacle that sought to shock the political media, which loved to cover it since it was always held in DC. (This is the first year they've ever held the event outside of DC.) In fact, for the past 20 years, CPAC was basically the same circus that Trump took on the road for his beloved rallies. During the Bush years, politicians showed up and there were panel discussions of issues but the stars of the show were people like Ann Coulter, who pretty much made her name at these events. And they said things which, looking back, make January 6th seem inevitable.

At the 2002 meeting, Coulter said, "we need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too, otherwise, they will turn out to be outright traitors." A few years later she made news again with another notorious speech:

On Democrats: "Someday they will find a way to abort all future Boy Scouts."

College professors: "sissified, pussified." Harvard: "the Soviet Union." John Kerry: the other "dominant woman in Democratic politics."

Her post-9/11 motto: "Rag head talks tough, rag head faces consequences." For good measure, she threw in a joke about having Muslims burn down the Supreme Court — with the liberal justices inside.

Then came questions. A young woman asked Coulter to describe the most difficult ethical decision she ever made. "There was one time I had a shot at Bill Clinton," Coulter said.

She meant that literally. Meanwhile, down in the bowels of the hotel hosting CPAC, they sold merchandise with adorable sayings such as "Happiness is Hillary Clinton's face on a milk carton" and "Rope. Tree. Journalist. Some Assembly Required." At the next year's event, Coulter said, "I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate, John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'fa**ot,'" and when she was rebuked for saying it, she called it "speech totalitarianism."

There is nothing new under the right-wing sun.

In recent years, some of the acts were scrapped. Coulter was not invited in 2015, and in 2017 the right-wing provocateur Milo Yianopoulos was canceled when it was revealed that he had made positive statements about pedophilia. They were no longer needed anyway. The show was by then dominated by Donald Trump who had made his first big political splash there in 2013 spreading the "birther" lie, which the attendees ate up with a spoon. And while Coulter climbed her way back to CPAC this weekend, participating on an obscure panel going on about immigration and making grotesque racist statements, as usual, her act doesn't shock anymore and nobody cares. Who needs Coulter anyway when you have Trump?

HEATHER DIGBY PARTON

Heather Digby Parton, also known as "Digby," is a contributing writer to Salon. She was the winner of the 2014 Hillman Prize for Opinion and Analysis Journalism.

Supposed “news” side anchor Maria Bartiromo gave Trump her questions and messaging guidance in advance of an interview

CNN reported that Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo gave Meadows the questions in advance of her interview with President Donald Trump on the November 29, 2020, edition of her weekend show on Fox News, Sunday Morning Futures.The texts reveal that Bartiromo also provided Trump with explicit messaging guidance and instructions on how to respond to her softball questions, which she intended to help him better make his case that the election outcome was illegitimate. The segment was Trump’s first TV interview since the election, and it aired roughly three weeks after all the major media outlets, including Fox News, had projected Biden as the winner.

Bartiromo texted Meadows that morning, hours before the interview with Trump, to claim that “the public wants to know he will fight this,” and that people “want to hear a path to victory” and that “he's in control.” (The entire premise of Bartiromo’s line of questioning was false, because a majority of “the public” had just voted for Biden.)

She then laid out the first question she would ask: “1Q You've said MANY TIMES THIS ELECTION IS RIGGED... And the facts are on your side. Let's start there. What are the facts? Characterize what took place here. Then I will drill down on the fraud including the statistical impossibilities of Biden magic (federalist).” (Based on Bartiromo’s word choice, it is possible that she was referring to a piece from a week earlier in the right-wing site The Federalist, titled “5 More Ways Joe Biden Magically Outperformed Election Norms.”)

Surely enough, the interview began exactly with that question: “Mr. President, you have said many times that this election was rigged, that there was much fraud, and the facts are on your side. Let's start there. Please go through the facts, characterize what took place."

throughout the rest of the interview, Bartiromo provided Trump with a platform to air a litany of lies about the election results, going on for 45 minutes, including his outlandish claims about voting machines being used to change the results. Dominion Voting Systems is currently suing Fox News for $1.6 billion for the network’s role in Trump’s defamation campaign against the voting machine company. Another voting technology firm, Smartmatic, is suing Fox News for $2.7 billion and has also named Bartiromo as a defendant for her role in promoting conspiracy theories that the company played a role in altering the election result.

Separately, ABC News’ chief Washington correspondent, Jonathan Karl, reported last year that Bartiromo had called then-Attorney General Bill Barr in mid-November 2020, complaining to him that the Justice Department had not taken action against supposed voter fraud. “She called me up and she was screaming,” Barr told Karl. “I yelled back at her. She’s lost it.” Fox News denied the reports of Bartiromo’s unprofessional conduct — though this wasn’t exactly convincing, because Bartiromo had publicly stated her hopes for Barr to intervene and help reverse the election results.

Sean Hannity was “at war with” Chris Wallace and Fox’s supposed news side

Another Fox News host who is heavily implicated in the latest texts is Sean Hannity, who was already known to have functioned as Trump’s “shadow” chief of staff and as a constant sounding board for the disgraced former president. Previously released texts had shown that Hannity tried to work on damage control after the failed coup attempt on January 6, and that he had urged the White House to have Trump call off his supporters from attacking the Capitol. (In public, Hannity claimed the attackers were left-wing infiltrators.) Other texts show that Hannity took instructions from Meadows on coordinating get-out-the-vote messaging on Election Day in 2020. The latest revelations demonstrate the extent of Hannity’s efforts to keep Fox News from straying away from the administration’s illegal efforts to cling to power.

On December 6, 2020, Meadows sent Hannity a link to an article in The Hill, highlighting a segment from that morning’s edition of Fox News Sunday in which the show’s then-host Chris Wallace pointedly interrupted Trump’s former secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, after Azar had referred to Joe Biden as “Vice President Biden.”

“He's the president-elect, sir,” Wallace replied, repeating that point again in their conversation.

In texts to Hannity, Meadows castigated Wallace and Fox, writing, “Doing this to try and get ratings will not work in the long run and I am doubtful it is even a short term winning strategy.”

“I've been at war with them all week,” Hannity replied.

Meadows later asked on December 11, 2020, for Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott’s direct phone number — noting that he wished to avoid making a call to the network’s main switchboard. Hannity asked the next day whether Meadows had gotten through to Fox executives, again declaring, “I’ve been at war with them.” (As it turned out, Meadows had not yet called Scott, as he had been too busy working on the Trump administration’s lame-duck pardons.)

Keep in mind that the major news networks had all projected Biden as the winner a month before, on November 7 — and yes, that included Fox. The network, however, undermined its own decision desk’s projections by attempting to subvert the election results nearly 600 times in just the two weeks after the election call.

To the degree that tension existed between the opinion and alleged “straight news” sides at Fox, that conflict has since been resolved by Chris Wallace’s decision a year later to quit the network. Wallace said recently that he had been fine with opinion content on the channel, but he had reached his limit. “When people start to question the truth — Who won the 2020 election? Was Jan. 6 an insurrection? — I found that unsustainable.”

Hannity, of course, is still at Fox, where he is launching smear campaigns, parroting Kremlin spokespeople, and helping Trump to continue pushing the Big Lie.

Sean Hannity wrote one cheesy Trump campaign ad — and he may have written yet another one that never aired

This latest batch of text messages also reveals that Hannity lied last year about the extent of his connections to the Trump campaign — seemingly confirming a story that Hannity had previously described as being “full of shit.”

Last year, Wall Street Journal senior White House reporter Mike Bender published a book about the 2020 election and its aftermath, titled Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost. The book revealed that Hannity had actually written a Trump campaign ad, which insiders even referred to as “the Hannity ad” and “the one Hannity wrote.” The specific ad in question was an attack spot that seemed to deploy every anti-Biden talking point at once, referring to him as a “47-year swamp creature” who had “accomplished nothing,” and tying him to the so-called “radical, socialist Green New Deal.” Trump’s campaign staff reportedly ridiculed it.

“Inside the campaign, the spot was mocked mercilessly, mostly because of the dramatic, over-the-top language and a message that seemed to value quantity over quality,” Bender wrote. The campaign came up with a solution to the problem, by running the ad only during Hannity’s own show on Fox News: “If Trump and Hannity watched the spot on television – and were satisfied enough to stop asking about the commercial – that seemed to be the best result of the ad. The cost of that investment: $1.5m.”

Hannity, however, denied the story in very strong terms. “The world knows that Sean Hannity supports Donald Trump,” he told Bender. “But my involvement specifically in the campaign — no. I was not involved that much. Anybody who said that is full of shit.”

On December 8, 2020, however, as Hannity and Meadows commiserated via text, Hannity bemoaned that the campaign had not done more on the topic of election fraud during the campaign — including regarding an ad he had written for them.

“I was screaming about no ads from Labor Day on,” he wrote. “I made my own they never ran it. I'm not pointing fingers. I'm frustrated.” It is possible here that Hannity may have been referring to yet another campaign ad that he wrote, but which still went unaired.

Hannity’s vulgar denial to Bender of the earlier campaign ad not only reveals that he is a liar, but there’s more. In this instance, he also lied to a news reporter at The Wall Street Journal, the most prominent of the Murdoch media empire’s journalistic front operations and a perpetual doormat for the opinion side. The fact that he would lie to one of his colleagues from another Murdoch publication clearly demonstrates the sense of leverage Hannity has over anyone who thinks they really can report news while working at a Murdoch outlet.

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an 3 22

cNN's Erin Burnett is weighing in on the far-right downward spiral of Fox News' Maria Bartiromo. On Thursday, March 16, Burnett appeared on The Axe Files where she discussed her former co-worker with host David Axelrod.

While Burnett did commend Bartiromo for her professional strength she admitted she believes she's "lost her way."

“I always thought her greatest strength was that she was a hard worker and I feel that she lost her way. Clearly, she’s lost her way,” she said. “I’m obviously not personally close to her, but I think it’s sad what has happened to be honest because she was a very hard worker.”

At another point during the interview, Axelrod asked Burnett about the presumed "rivalry" between the two anchors asking, "Did you feel as if you guys were competing, pitted in any way?”

To that question, Burnett replied, “We definitely were, and I don’t know, maybe as life goes on I’ll get more perspective on it, I think there is a desire out there for there to be a women versus women thing. I hope that that’s lessened over time, but when I was there that was certainly part of it.”

Burnett also referenced the Vanity Fairarticle, titled Who is Wall Street Queen B.?, as she addressed the so-called rival between the two of them. “Vanity Fair did an article that was about me versus Maria and I was like ‘why would that be the article?’" Burnett said. "There was a desire for that sort of narrative.”

Burnett's latest interview comes days after Bartiromo was criticized for her remarks slamming the White House's response to the Ukraine invasion. During her segment on Sunday, she said, “Some people have told me … this administration does not see Putin as the enemy, they see him as a partner on many issues."

10 21 an

"Put some facts out there': Dem clashes with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo over 'bank surveillance' conspiracy theory

David Edwards Raw Story

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) disagreed with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday after she accused Democrats of "bank surveillance" because of a new proposal from the Biden...

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senator’s unhinged rant on Build Back Better plan shows how desperate GOP is to stop it

Aldous Pennyfarthing DailyKos

October 04, 2021

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) appeared "exclusively" on Fox Business' Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo this week to weigh in on Joe Biden's $3.5 trillion Build Back Better [human infra...]

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421

smartmatic ~ dobbs, pirro and bartir

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an 321

Irony is dead': Maria Bartiromo is very concerned about all the time Joe Biden spends in Delaware

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costs seem common sensical?

former White House adviser Stephen Miller on Sunday accused Democrats of "madness" over a push to enact comprehensive immigration reform.

Miller made the remarks on Fox News after network host Maria Bartiromo announced that a "new border crisis is afoot" due to a reform bill that has been introduced by Democrats.

For his part, Miller argued that granting citizenship to immigrants would "erase the essence" of the United States.

"The legislation put forward by Biden and congressional Democrats would fundamentally erase the very essence of America's nationhood," Miller claimed, explaining that he was upset by the idea that immigrants could legally regain entry after being deported by a former administration.

"This is madness!" he exclaimed. "This administration has already dismantled border security, canceling President Trump's historic agreements with Mexico and with the northern triangle countries, restoring catch and release and additionally gutting interior enforcement, issuing a memo, preventing ICE from removing the vast majority of criminal illegal immigrants that it encounters!"

"This is a policy choice disguised falsely to the court and to the country as a resource issue!" Miller shouted. "That is a lie and it's a lie that threatens public safety."

"Wow," Bartiromo replied.

Miller contended that the U.S. has enough resources for enforcement but not enough to treat immigrants humanely.

"So ask yourself, who is going to pay for the education?" he said. "What does it mean when classrooms, God willing, reopen? What does it mean for classroom size? What does it mean for health care? Then you add on top of that the families that are being released. Who is paying for the medical bills? Who's paying for the health care costs?"

"That's coming out of your pocket book!" Miller said. "And it's a public safety issue!"

"If you give low-skilled, illegal immigrants a path to citizenship, that will mean a net fiscal transfer of trillions of dollars longterm to pay for social security, to pay for medical care, to pay for Medicaid," he added. "It's an extraordinary expense to give that to 20 million illegal immigrants."

Watch the video below from Fox News.

He was radicalized at a very young age': New book reveals the ... ›

Alan Dershowitz gives bad news to Fox News' Bartiromo: ‘The outcome of the election will not be reversed’

David Edwards Raw Story

One of President Donald Trump's most high profile legal defenders on Sunday said that he did not expect the results of the election to be reversed.

Alan Dershowitz, who defended Trump at his impeachment trial earlier this year, told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo that the president's legal team has failed to prove claims that the election was stolen by Democrats.

"They have to show that it affected numbers greater th...

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https://www.alternet.org/2020/11/watch-fox-news-host-expertly-debunks-trumps-baseless-and-false-claims-of-widespread-voter-fraud/

alexh

according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, "the November 3 election was the most secure in American history." Regardless, many of President Donald Trump's boosters in right-wing media continue to promote his baseless claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. A great deal of debunking has come from MSNBC and CNN, but on November 15, it also came from a more unlikely source: a Fox News anchor.

The far-right opinion hosts at Fox News and Fox Business — from Sean Hannity to Lou Dobbs to Laura Ingraham — haven't hesitated to promote Trump's bogus voter fraud claims. But the hard news divisions at Fox News and Fox Business, despite having a conservative slant, are less likely to traffic in nonsense conspiracy theories than the opinion hosts. AndFox News' Eric Shawn, who is part of Fox News' hard news division, offered a no-nonsense debunking after Maria Bartiromo devoted an entire show to promoting Trump's conspiracy theory.

Bartiromo featured two of Trump's attorneys: Sidney Powell and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, both of whom claimed that the election had been stolen from Trump.

Shawn, in contrast, aired video of Ben Hovland, a Trump appointee who chairs the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, saying, "The reality is, this the most secure election we ever had, and it was one of the most well-run elections we've ever had…. The American people made their voice heard, and when we spread conspiracy theories and we don't back that up with facts, it has an impact."[twt vid]

shawn addressed Trump's claim that his campaign was not allowed to observe the vote-counting process in Philadelphia, airing part of his November 12 interview with Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt — a Republican in a predominantly Democratic city. Schmidt told Shawn it was "totally untrue" that Trump's campaign was shut out of the vote-counting rooms at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Center City Philadelphia, and when Shawn asked Schmidt if he's seen any evidence of voter fraud in Philly, the Republican responded, "I have not."

Shawn also addressed claims that the Denver-based company Dominion switched votes for Trump to votes for President-elect Biden, noting that Dominion has no affiliation with the Democratic Party.And the Fox anchor went on to say, "election officials across the country insist, as of today: there is no evidence of any widespread fraud affecting the outcome of the presidential election — that our precious democracy was not tampered with, and that such baseless and false claims are an insult to the thousands of elections officials and workers across the country who we have seen dedicating themselves, 24/7, to insure a fair and free election for all of us."

FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES

Trump Jr. says dad’s ‘next move’ is to ‘break up’ the FBI: ‘He has to get rid of these things’

David Edwards Raw Story

Donald Trump Jr. on Sunday called on his father to "break up" the FBI if he wins a second term.

During an interview on Fox News, host Maria Bartiromoasked the president's son what his father would do if the FBI does not

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an 720

https://www.alternet.org/2020/07/valerie-jarrett-battles-fox-news-host-on-obama-spying-claims-youre-making-statements-that-havent-been-proven/

Valerie Jarrett, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, clashed with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo over alleged “spying” on the Trump 2016 campaign.

During an interview on her Fox Business program Mornings with Maria, Bartiromoberated Jarrett about whether Obama had directed the FBI to target then-candidate Donald Trump’s campaign.

Bartiromo preemptively dismissed Russia’s “meddling” in U.S. elections on behalf of Trump.

“That’s been going on for decades as you know,” the Fox News host said. “I’ve gone to Russia many times and have been watching this happen for decades. So we all know that Russia has been trying to meddle."

"But now we’re talking about a very serious situation,” Bartiromo opined, steering the interview away from Russia. “We have a criminal investigation underway. People could go to jail. Do you believe if [former FBI Director] Jim Comey knew that the dossier was fake and garbage and he kept going, re-upping warrants to spy on the Trump campaign that he should go to jail?”[vid?]

https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/maria-bartiromo-agrees-devin-nunes-now-great-time-people-go-out

Lindsey Graham faces revolt from Republican colleagues over plan to investigate whistleblower: WaPo reporter

Some Republican lawmakers are balking at a plan by Sen.…

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https://www.mediamatters.org/maria-bartiromo/pressed-fox-anchor-lindsey-graham-asks-chair-foreign-relations-committee

MARIA BARTIROMO (ANCHOR): Schumer this morning signaling that the Democrats will not accept an acquittal as legitimate. Nancy Pelosi hinting that she is going to call Bolton in the House. John Bolton. What's the Dems next move? And how are you going to get anything done, senator, if you actually got the other side constantly pushing to find out dirt on Donald Trump?

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Well, the president has been successful in spite of all of this. I hope we can turn the page as a nation and focus on issues important. But as Nancy Pelosi calls Bolton, here is what I would say. They're impeaching the president for suspension of aid that was eventually received, trying to leverage an investigation that never happened. This is ridiculous. Mueller broke their heart. They won't let it go. They hate this man. Pelosi is no longer speaker of the House. Just in name only. I don't know if they will ever let it go. But here is what I'm going to do. If they talk to Bolton, I will bring in State Department officials and ask them why didn't you do something about the obvious conflict of interest Joe Biden had? Joe Biden's effort to combat corruption in the Ukraine became a joke, when Joe Biden got before the Ukrainian parliament talking about sweetheart deals and reforming the energy sector, I can only imagine how they were laughing under their breath. What about your son, Vice President Biden, sitting on the most corrupt board in Ukraine, Burisma, receiving $3 million dollars. I can only imagine if a Republican done what Biden had done. But we're going to get to the bottom of this. And I can prove beyond any doubt that Joe Biden's effort in the Ukraine to root out corruption was undercut because he let his son sit on the board of the most corrupt company in the Ukraine, and we're not give him a pass on that.

BARTIROMO: So you’re not going to give him a pass. How are you going to get to the bottom of it? Should we expect your committee to call to testify Hunter Biden, the whistleblower, Adam Schiff, all of those names you've been talking about. Is this going to happen this upcoming week, then?

GRAHAM: It’s going to happen in the coming weeks. Jim Risch is the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. Jim, if you're watching the show, I hope you are, we need to call the chief of staff to John Kerry who was told about the conflict of interest with Hunter Biden being on Burisma's board early on. Heinz, the stepson of John Kerry, was a business partner of Hunter Biden and Devon Archer. And he told the State Department, I'm not part of this deal. I don't think it is right. George Kent told the State Department it would be a conflict for Hunter Biden to be on Burisma's board. Let's start there. Let's call these people in. Eventually, we'll get to Hunter Biden. And I want to know why the Obama administration did nothing about this obvious conflict of interest. Joe Biden should have given up the Ukrainian portfolio or Hunter Biden should have been taken off the board. Because they ruined America's ability to effectively deal with corruption in the Ukraine by having Hunter Biden on the board of Burisma. That is just a fact, and we're going to get to the bottom of it.