Fox rebukes hosts for joining Trump rally
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — The show onstage might well have been called Fox & Friend. As President Trump wrapped up the midterm election cycle with a latenight rally in southeast Missouri on Monday, he was joined by a trio of conservative media rock stars.
Introducing the president as he stumped for Republican candidates was Rush Limbaugh, the radio host who was born and raised in Cape Girardeau. Then after Trump took the microphone, he invited two Fox News personalities, Sean Hannity and Jeanine Pirro, to join him on stage, where each also delivered a short speech backing the president.
The participation of the Fox hosts in a political rally struck even executives at the network as inappropriate.
“Fox News does not condone any talent participating in campaign events,” the network said in a statement Tuesday. “We have an extraordinary team of journalists helming our coverage tonight, and we are extremely proud of their work. This was an unfortunate distraction and has been addressed.”
How it was addressed the network did not say. Hannity followed up with his own statement saying that Trump’s invitation to come on stage was spontaneous, but the popular conservative host expressed no regret about accepting. The only thing he lamented was that some took his onstage attack on the “fake news” to include his colleagues from Fox.
Pirro did not immediately issue a statement.
The line between the Trump White House and Fox has always been a little blurry, but in that moment, the fusion of president and network seemed complete.
Trump has long relied on the network as his outlet of choice. His vice president, Cabinet secretaries and staff members appear with great regularity.
The pipeline also works the other way. The president recruited his current national security adviser, John Bolton, from Fox, and he is considering naming another former Fox personality, Heather Nauert, as his new ambassador to the United Nations as early as this week. His son Donald Trump Jr. is dating Kimberly Guilfoyle, who left her position as a Fox host last summer to “dedicate myself full time” to supporting the president’s political activities.