House Democrats demand answers from Fox News on edits to Trump's Epstein comments
The letter from Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), first obtained by CNN, accuses Fox News of omitting key context from Trump's response when asked by Fox & Friends host Rachel Campos-Duffy whether he would commit to making the Epstein files public. Garcia is requesting that the network provide all internal records and communications related to the interview with Trump's campaign.
'Considering President Trump's well-documented past social ties with Jeffrey Epstein, Fox News's selective omission raises serious concerns that the network may have deliberately sought to shield then-candidate Trump from any further association with Epstein,' the letter to Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and Fox Corp chairman Lachlan Murdoch reads.
'It is legitimate to ask whether President Trump himself or those close to him may have actively encouraged' the edit, Garcia adds.
The network, meanwhile, is denying any claims that it deceitfully edited the interview, noting that the entire conversation was later made available on its digital site.
Donald Trump sits down for an interview with Fox & Friends Weekend hosts in June 2024. That interview is now under scrutiny over the way the network edited Trump's comments about his stance on releasing the Epstein files (Fox News)
'As previously stated, there was no selective or deceptive editing whatsoever. Portions of the initial interview that aired on Fox & Friends Weekend with then-candidate Trump on June 2, 2024 had standard editorial cuts for time and the full answer to the Epstein question aired on the following day's show,' Fox News said in a statement.
'The entire unedited interview was also run on multiple FOX News Media platforms with full transparency on June 3, 2024, including audio, digital and streaming, while the entire transcript was posted on foxnews.com,' the network added.
During the televised portion of the interview that originally aired on Fox & Friends Weekend, Trump appeared to be fully in favor of releasing the Epstein case documents, unequivocally telling Campos-Duffy that he supported that decision.
During the unedited version that was later made available online, however, Trump hedged and suggested that he would need to redact or fully withhold some documents and evidence because it could contain 'phony stuff' that could potentially 'affect people's lives.'
'Yeah, yeah, I would. I guess I would. I think that less so because, you don't know, you don't want to affect people's lives if it's phony stuff in there, because it's a lot of phony stuff with that whole world,' Trump told Campos-Duffy when asked if he'd declassify the Epstein files.
'Do you think that would restore trust? Help restore trust?' the Fox host wondered.
'I don't know about Epstein, so much as I do the others,' he deflected, referencing files related to the John F. Kennedy assassination and the 9/11 terror attacks. 'Certainly, about the way he died. It'd be interesting to find out what happened there, because that was a weird situation and the cameras didn't happen to be working, etc., etc. But yeah, I'd go a long way toward that one. The other stuff, I would.'
While the edit for the television broadcast drew attention at the time, especially after Trump sued CBS News for 'election interference' over edits 60 Minutes made to an interview with Kamala Harris, the Fox News sit-down has gained further scrutiny and criticism in recent days amid the uproar over the Justice Department's conclusion that Epstein had no 'client list' and died by suicide.
Amid the MAGA meltdown over the DOJ's memo and Trump now claiming the files are a Democrat-created 'hoax' while angrily demanding his 'stupid' supporters move on from Epstein, Democrats have looked to politically take advantage of the controversy by calling for the release of more documents and evidence.
Following CBS News parent company Paramount's recent $16 million settlement with the president over the 'meritless' 60 Minutes lawsuit, which occurred as Paramount seeks an $8 billion merger that requires the Trump administration's approval, Democratic senators questioned FCC Chairman Brendan Carr about the Fox News edit.
Carr, who is currently investigating CBS regarding the editing of its Harris interview, was asked last week by Sens. Chuck Schumer and Ed Markey why he wasn't probing the conservative cable giant.
'This selective editing appears to be far more misleading than the run-of-the-mill editorial decision-making in CBS's interview with Harris,' the senators' letter stated, adding that rather than investigate Fox, Carr's FCC 'should stop its partisan investigations into the news media and cease interfering with independent journalism altogether.'
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