Fox News called US President Joe Biden a “would-be dictator” who tried to “get his political rival arrested” during a live broadcast of Donald Trump’s post-impeachment speech.
The network was the only major cable news network to carry Trump’s Tuesday night speech live, with CNN and MSNBC opting not to air the address.
Towards the end of the speech, viewers were treated to a split screen with a separate speech from Biden at the White House. Below the image, the news chyron read: “Wanted dictator speaks at White House after having political rival arrested.”
Screenshot from Fox News Photo: Fox News
The text remained on the screen until Sean Hannity went on the air at 9 p.m.
Fox News has been contacted for comment.
During his speech, Trump claimed he was the victim of “political persecution,” baselessly accused Biden of leading efforts to impeach him, and called Biden “the most corrupt president in the history of the United States “.
Trump has been impeached and indicted twice, and is currently under investigation for election interference.
Explaining the decision not to air the speech live, CNN news anchor Jake Tapper told viewers, “frankly [Trump] it says a lot of things that are not true and sometimes potentially dangerous.”
Similar comments were made by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, who said that “as a new organization it comes at a cost to us to knowingly broadcast false things.”
“We’re here to break the news to you,” Maddow said. “It hurts our ability to do that if we broadcast live what we expect in advance to be a litany of lies and false accusations, regardless of who is telling them.”
Trump previously appeared in court in Florida where he pleaded not guilty to 37 counts of concealing materials containing national secrets, including 31 violations of the Espionage Act.
The former president was released on bail on the condition that he not discuss the case with a list of witnesses.
These are not his only legal problems, with a grand jury in Manhattan voting to indict Trump last month for silencing many payments made to Stormy Daniels.
Trump and his campaign managers are also being investigated in Fulton County, Georgia, over allegations that they illegally interfered in the state’s 2020 election.
