Fox News rebukes top anchorman after speech at Trump’s final rally

FOX News has said it does not condone any of its journalists appearing in a campaign event, hours after prime-time host Sean Hannity spoke at President Donald Trump’s final rally before the midterm election.

Voters were having their say as Mr Trump (right) faced the first US national election of his presidency against a Democratic party hoping to turn the page on a stunning defeat in 2016.

Fox called Hannity’s rally appearance an “unfortunate distraction” that has been addressed.

But the network statement issued yesterday did not explain how it was addressed. Hannity, who had said earlier on Monday that he would not appear on the campaign stage, tweeted that he was “surprised, yet honoured” by the president’s request that he come up on stage.

And he said that he was not referring to any Fox colleagues when he pointed out the “fake news” reporters standing in the press area.

Meanwhile, long queues and malfunctioning machines marred the first hours of voting in some precincts across the US.

Some of the biggest problems yesterday were in Georgia, a state with a hotly contested gubernatorial election. Voters reported waiting up to three hours to vote.

At a polling place in Snellville, Georgia, more than 100 people took turns sitting in children’s chairs and on the floor as they waited for hours.

Voter Ontaria Woods said about two dozen people who had come to vote left because of the queues.

At a poll site in Atlanta, voters waited in the rain in long lines that stretched around the building.

Hannah Ackermann said officials at the polling site offered various explanations for the delay, including blaming workers who did not show up and overloaded machines.

Democrat Stacey Abrams will be the first black female US state governor if she is elected in Georgia in a tight race with Brian Kemp who is the Republican candidate.

Mr Trump and vice-president Mike Pence campaigned for Mr Kemp while former president Barack Obama and talk show host Oprah Winfrey were among those to join Ms Adams on the campaign trail. The state has been strongly Republican in recent decades but is seen to now be a Democratic target.

Former president Jimmy Carter, who was governor of Georgia before his stint in the White House, has also backed Ms Abrams.

Pollsters, who largely failed to predict Mr Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton two years ago, were more reluctant to commit themselves ahead of these midterms in which the presidency is not up for grabs but the shape of federal and state government is.

Democrats could derail Mr Trump’s legislative agenda for the next two years should they win control of the House or the Senate.

Perhaps more importantly, they’d claim subpoena power to investigate Mr Trump’s personal and professional shortcomings.

Some Democrats have already vowed to force the release of his tax returns.