- Before President Donald Trump issued an angry series of attacks against Fox News on Sunday, he was notably annoyed by a live broadcast showing fans chanting “F— Trump” while celebrating the US victory in the Women’s World Cup, two advisers told the Associated Press.
- “Fox News is changing fast, but they forgot the people who got them there!” Trump tweeted as part of a tweetstorm in which he also criticized the network’s weekend anchors.
- He also seemed to be angered that Fox News cited information from a New York Times story detailing the conditions at a migrant detention center.
- Trump’s attack took many by surprise, as the network is seen as cozy to his administration.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
President Donald Trump’s stinging attack on Fox News on Sunday may have been at least partly provoked by a live segment showing soccer fans chanting “F— Trump.”
The Associated Press has cited two anonymous advisers as saying that Trump was “particularly annoyed” Sunday by a live broadcast by Greg Palkot from the Women’s World Cup in France.
The broadcast showed fans in a Parisian bar celebrating the US’s title victory while chanting insults about the president.
https://twitter.com/TinaAguayotv/status/1147964834656522246?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
In a series of tweets Sunday, Trump unleashed on the network.
The attack took many by surprise, as coverage of his administration on the network is overwhelmingly positive and certain hosts even serve as informal advisers and sounding boards for his policies.
Watching @FoxNews weekend anchors is worse than watching low ratings Fake News @CNN, or Lyin’ Brian Williams (remember when he totally fabricated a War Story trying to make himself into a hero, & got fired. A very dishonest journalist!) and the crew of degenerate......
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 7, 2019
"Watching Fox News weekend anchors is worse than watching low ratings Fake News CNN," Trump wrote.
He went on to attack the network for hiring the former Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile as a pundit and to criticize the ratings of the network anchor Shep Smith.
He also seemed irritated Sunday that Fox News cited The New York Times in its reporting; Matthew Gertz of the liberal watchdog Media Matters for America pointed to a segment in which a Times report was used as a hook to discuss conditions in migrant detention facilities.
Fox aired segments at ~ 12:20 p.m. and 1:20 p.m. that used the Times report as a hook to discuss migrant detention conditions. pic.twitter.com/oWghaX00tE
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) July 8, 2019
"But Fox News, who failed in getting the very BORING Dem debates, is now loading up with Democrats & even using Fake unsourced New York Times as a 'source' of information," Trump tweeted.
"Fox News is changing fast, but they forgot the people who got them there!"
Trump's attacks on Fox News are not unprecedented. Earlier this year he criticized the network for hosting Democratic presidential candidates for town-hall discussions.
Back in 2015, Trump was involved in a long dispute with the network after facing critical questions from the debate moderator Megyn Kelly. Reports at the time indicated a divide among the network's executives over whether to back Trump's candidacy.