| | | Trump Predicts ‘Beginning of the End’ for Fox News
NOSTRA-DONALD
Matt Wilstein Senior Writer
Published Jan. 28, 2020 11:16AM ET
Kevin Lamarque
President Donald Trump lashed out Tuesday morning at Fox News even as the network continued to defend him at every turn of the ongoing impeachment trial. “Really pathetic how @FoxNews is trying to be so politically correct by loading the airwaves with Democrats like Chris Van Hollen, the no name Senator from Maryland,” Trump tweeted, equating political correctness with any attempt to hear from the “other” side.
“So, what the hell has happened to @FoxNews,” he continued. “Only I know! Chris Wallace and others should be on Fake News CNN or MSDNC. How’s Shep Smith doing? Watch, this will be the beginning of the end for Fox, just like the other two which are dying in the ratings. Social Media is great!”
The president appeared to be referencing recent moments when Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace has dared to challenge his most fervent defenders on-air, be it lawyer Alan Dershowitz and conservative pundit Katie Pavlich. The Daily Beast reported this month that MSNBC is in talks with Shepard Smith about possibly joining that network after his abrupt exit from Fox last year.
Bolton Was Concerned Trump Did Favors for Leaders of China, Turkey: NYT
YIKES
Julia Arciga Reporter
Updated Jan. 28, 2020 6:57AM ET / Published Jan. 27, 2020 9:18PM ET
Win McNamee/Getty
President Trump’s former National Security Adviser John Bolton reportedly describes in a manuscript of his forthcoming book that he told Attorney General William Barr he had concerns about Trump giving favors to the leaders of Turkey and China. The New York Times reports that Barr, according to Bolton’s account, said he, too, was worried that Trump gave off the impression that he had influence over independent Justice Department investigations relating to entities in both countries. The attorney general also pointed to discussions Trump had with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
More specifically, Bolton writes that Barr specifically brought up Trump’s discussion with Xi about Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE, the Times reports. The president in 2018 lifted sanctions against ZTE, which were put in place after the firm did business with North Korea, Iran, and other countries. The attorney general also referred to comments Trump made to Erdogan in 2018 regarding a DOJ probe into Halkbank, one of Turkey’s largest state-owned banks, which was being investigated for allegedly helping Iran avoid U.S. sanctions. The department ended up indicting the bank in October for allegedly helping Iran.
The Justice Department has not spoken publicly on the matter. Bolton, his publisher, and his literary agency said they did not share the manuscript with the Times. The newspaper reported that Bolton’s discussion with Barr was included in a manuscript submitted for White House review almost one month ago. |
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