- President Donald Trump in a tweet on Monday accused Fox News of pushing “fake news” over political polls that show him at a disadvantage.
- The network reported that its polls showed him losing to five Democratic challengers in hypothetical head-to-heads.
- “Something weird going on at Fox. Our polls show us leading in all 17 Swing States,” the president tweeted on Monday.
- Trump has surprised many with his attacks on the network recently, home to outspoken Trump supporters like Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson.
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President Donald Trump resumed his spat with Fox News on Monday night, accusing the anchor Bret Baier of pushing “fake news” after a poll by the network showed Trump faring poorly against five prominent Democrats.
“@FoxNews Polls are always bad for me. They were against Crooked Hillary also. Something weird going on at Fox. Our polls show us leading in all 17 Swing States,” the president tweeted on Monday.
He went on to say he did not spend 30 hours with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos for an interview broadcast in full Sunday night, which ABC claimed and Baier had also reported.
“More Fake News,” the president wrote in the message directed at Baier.
.@FoxNews Polls are always bad for me. They were against Crooked Hillary also. Something weird going on at Fox. Our polls show us leading in all 17 Swing States. For the record, I didn’t spend 30 hours with @abcnews, but rather a tiny fraction of that. More Fake News @BretBaier
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 17, 2019
Fox's poll published on Sunday said Trump was trailing each of the top five Democratic presidential contenders in hypothetical match-ups and would lose to the Democratic front-runner Joe Biden by 10 points.
FOX NEWS POLL #FoxNews #2020election pic.twitter.com/5oOh5VArZo
— Fox News Sunday (@FoxNewsSunday) June 16, 2019
It is not clear what he meant by "our polls." Recent internal Trump campaign polling showed him trailing Biden in several crucial states, and only narrowly ahead in the traditionally red state of Texas.
Trump's 2020 campaign fired three pollsters after the data was leaked to the media.
Surprising many, Trump has in recent weeks launched into a series of attacks on Fox News - a network that provides a steady, though not unbroken, stream of positive coverage for his administration. Its top-rated host, Sean Hannity, is a friend and ardent supporter.
In May Trump attacked the network for hosting his Democratic rivals for the presidency.
"They're putting more Democrats on than you have Republicans. Something strange is going on at Fox. Something very strange," Trump told supporters at a rally in Pennsylvania.
In April, he lashed out at the network for hosting Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Former White House officials told Politico that Trump has become so accustomed to being praised by Fox network hosts that he has become hyper-sensitive to coverage that could be interpreted as critical.
While running for the presidency in 2016, Trump became embroiled in a high profile public battle with Fox News, after he was questioned about his attitudes to women by former anchor Megyn Kelly.