Fired Fox Editor at Jan. 6 Hearing: ‘Red Mirage’ Drove Trump to Believe He Won – Even Though It Was Expected

Chris Stirewalt, a major figure in Fox News Channel’s decision to call Arizona for Joe Biden early in the 2020 election, vigorously defended the network’s timing – and the outcome of the unprecedented contest – during live testimony before the Jan. 6 Committee.

The first question Stirewalt was asked: Who won the 2020 presidential election?

“Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., of the great state of Delaware,” Stirewalt declared enthusiastically.

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Stirewalt, a politics editor at Fox News Channel who was fired after the 2020 election, disclosed during an interview on his home network NewsNation that he’d be testifying Monday.

Stirewalt’s testimony supported the Committee’s assertion that a “Red Mirage” – the tendency of Republicans to win on Election Day, while Democrats tend to carry early- and mail-in voting – was expected. Yet Trump took the overnight reversal as a sign that the election was fraudulent, despite being warned repeatedly by advisors of the common phenomenon.

Bill Barr, Trump’s former Attorney General, confirmed in his Monday testimony that people within the campaign and the administration were aware that the outcome was always in question while mail-in and early votes were being counted.

“I didn’t think much of that because everyone understood for weeks that that was what was going to happen on Election Night,” Barr said.

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Stirewalt boasted that Fox News Channel, where he worked on the Decision Desk, was the first major outlet to call Arizona for Biden, and they were able to do so with tools like “a better set of data” than its competitors and a partnership with The Associated Press.

“Our Decision Desk was the best in the business, and I was very proud to be a part of it,” Stirewalt said. “By the time everyone was losing their minds over this call, we were … moved on to other states.”