(RightWing.org) – Fox News and Donald Trump have not been reading off the same sheet of music for a while. The former president has criticized the network for months over its scarce coverage of his campaign. He recently suggested he wouldn’t attend the first Republican debate in August unless Fox changed its tune. However, a couple of hosts recently appeared to take his side regarding his ongoing battle with Special Counsel Jack Smith.
On Monday, June 26, CNN released a roughly two-minute audio clip of a conversation Trump allowed a publisher and writer working on a book by his former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to record in July 2021. Excerpts from the recording appeared in the special counsel’s 49-page indictment.
Shortly after midnight on Tuesday, Trump posted a searing Truth on his social media platform, lashing out at Smith. He accused the “deranged special prosecutor” of working with the Justice Department and FBI to “illegally leak” and spin the tape. Trump went on to claim the recording was “actually an exoneration” instead of the smoking gun the feds “would have you believe.” He concluded his post by reminding followers that the ongoing witch hunt is “another election interference scam” perpetrated by “cheaters and thugs.”
“You know what? If Trump thinks it’s an exoneration of him, perhaps somebody on his side actually did the leaking to CNN and Maggie Haberman,” Fox News host Steve Doocy said. https://t.co/wWbka5VEh7
— The Hill (@thehill) June 28, 2023
Later in the day, Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy speculated that “somebody on [Trump’s] side” leaked the audio recording if the former president thought “it’s an exoneration of him.” Co-host Brian Kilmeade responded that the suggestion made sense.
“It does,” Doocy replied, adding that Trump was “admitting he’s got classified documents” in the clip.
So far, Trump hasn’t explained how the audio clears him of any wrongdoing. He discussed it during an interview aboard his private jet with Semafor and ABC News. “If you want to know the truth, it was bravado,” he explained. He also said he didn’t have any documents with him while discussing his former chief of staff’s book.
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