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- The panel on Fox News’ “The Five” got heated Wednesday evening when co-host Juan Williams went off on his colleagues who were entertaining President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated voter fraud claims.
- “Let me ask you something: Do you think the news division of Fox News isn’t interested in every one of these [voter fraud allegations]?” Williams said before significant crosstalk ensued.
- “This is shameful!” he said after being talked over by the other co-hosts.
- Fox News has been in a bind of its own making now that Trump has turned on the network, with Williams’ mini rant marking another instance of tensions among on-air talent.
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During a contentious exchange on Fox News’ “The Five” on Wednesday, co-host Juan Williams said it was “shameful” for his colleagues to be entertaining President Donald Trump’s election conspiracy theories.
Williams, a Democrat who normally serves as the lone liberal panelist on the show, appeared especially irritated when co-host Jesse Watters rattled off a series of unsubstantiated voter fraud claims in support of Trump.
—Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) December 2, 2020
“This is shameful!” Williams said as Watters talked over him.
Williams also called Trump’s assertions “nonsense” and “ridiculous.”
“Let me ask you something: Do you think the news division of Fox News isn’t interested in every one of these [voter fraud allegations]?” Williams said to co-host Dagen McDowell, who was raising questions around why Democrats and media outlets were not devoting more attention to “isolated cases” of mail-in voter fraud.
Instances of voter fraud with mail-in ballots are quite rare, with individual errors presenting a much bigger problem for local elections officials.
Williams argued that there would be interest among Fox News' reporters if Trump's allegations were backed up by evidence, but that instead they have repeatedly fallen flat in court.
The heated exchange between Williams and his co-hosts, particularly Watters and comedian Greg Gutfeld, typified the conundrum Fox News has found itself in ever since Trump turned on the network once their Decision Desk called the race for President-elect Joe Biden.
While the news division has fact checked Trump's voter fraud theories, some opinion hosts are still holding out.
For Williams, at least on Wednesday, enough was enough.
"I think Juan sounds nervous," Watters said before reading the teleprompter to cut to commercial.
"Oh, I'm nervous. Oh yeah, yeah," Williams said sarcastically before the break.