It seems Bill O’Reilly took the “No Spin Zone” with him when he departed Fox News.
After the bombshell news that emerged from U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor’s testimony, the network’s hosts and personalities took their spin to a new level, peddling absurd conspiracies about the diplomat and declaring reports on his testimony to be fake news.
As leaks of Taylor’s prepared testimony further confirmed that Trump linked military aid for Ukraine with a demand that the country investigate the Biden family, Fox News reported that Taylor told lawmakers he had no firsthand knowledge that Ukraine knew about the military funds being withheld.
Check out the spin by Fox News' "hard news" division on Bill Taylor's testimony:
Sources tell Fox Taylor admitted he had no firsthand knowledge Ukraine knew that military aid had been suspended at the time of the July call. This favors the White House defense of no quid pro quo. pic.twitter.com/oQFJfafipX
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) October 22, 2019
Taylor’s testimony revealed a number of conversations between top officials in which a quid pro quo was discussed in relation to Ukraine announcing an investigation of the Bidens. Yet instead of discussing the contents of Taylor’s testimony during an interview with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Fox’s Laura Ingraham attacked Taylor as a “global elitist” who doesn’t like Trump’s style, rather than the career diplomat who attempted to push back on Trump’s pressure campaign.
Laura Ingraham says the impeachment inquiry is "the revenge of the globalists here. They're so angry that he's been successful on so many levels" pic.twitter.com/awNNx1OYYr
— Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) October 23, 2019
Ingraham again raised the notion of the global elite running the impeachment inquiry during her interview with former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker a few minutes later. Whitaker notably claimed during this interview that abuse of power was not a crime.
Whitaker thinks abuse of power is "not a crime." pic.twitter.com/OpqRnFs6hd
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) October 23, 2019
During a discussion with Lou Dobbs on Fox Business Network later Tuesday, Sidney Powell, who represents Michael Flynn in the case brought by special counsel Robert Mueller, said she doesn’t think its a “big deal” that the White House had “two channels” for working with Ukraine. She also claimed it’s fine for Trump to use whatever tool is at his disposal to deal with a corrupt government.
“The president has every right to use whatever means he can to get things accomplished in Ukraine as long as it’s lawful, and there’s nothing that requires him to follow traditional practices in going through corrupt government agencies to do it,” she said.
Twisted Truth. @SidneyPowell1 on the Dems' attempt to hide the facts about @POTUS & Ukraine. #AmericaFirst #MAGA #Dobbs pic.twitter.com/c526zqKVWo
— Lou Dobbs (@LouDobbs) October 23, 2019
Fox News host and Trump-hype man Sean Hannity decided to distract from the revelations with cries of fake news. On Tuesday evening, he claimed he has “many sources” telling him that witnesses aren’t actually cooperating with what he calls Rep. Adam Schiff’s (D-CA) “phony witch hunt.” He appeared to argue that any leaks to the media coming from the room — which would include written opening testimony — are made up.
Hannity says he has "MANY sources" telling him that all the impeachment witnesses have completely debunked the claim that Trump withheld aid from Ukraine to get an investigation pic.twitter.com/egvtx32DNS
— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) October 23, 2019
