2 Fox stars join Trump at Missouri rally

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — The show onstage might well have been called Fox & Friend. As President Donald Trump wrapped up the midterm election cycle with a late-night 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.”

The network did not say how it was addressed. 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.

Hannity, who told the audience at Trump’s rally that “all these people in the back are fake news,” also tweeted Tuesday that he was not referring to any of his Fox News colleagues.

Pirro did not immediately issue a statement.

Key Trump officials often appear on Fox, and the president has recruited one top administrator, national security adviser John Bolton, from the network and may be considering another former Fox personality, Heather Nauert, as his new ambassador to the United Nations. Hannity