'Fox & Friends' Host Mocks NY Times' ISIS Coverage, Unaware It Beat Fox To The Story
“Fox & Friends” host Pete Hegseth trashed the “failing New York Times” on Friday for supposedly not reporting on the recent capture of five ISIS leaders, apparently unaware the paper beat Fox News to the story.
“I looked for the five ISIS leaders captured in the failing New York Times,” Hegseth said, flipping through the newspaper. “And in the print edition today, I have not seen it yet.”
Hegseth didn’t find the story in Friday’s New York Times because the paper covered it on Wednesday. Hegseth’s own station, Fox News, reported on the Times’ coverage a day later, on Thursday.
Here's Fox & Friends' Pete Hegseth mocking the New York Times for failing to cover the ISIS capture story the paper broke two days ago https://t.co/4BDxdXr23N pic.twitter.com/RXdfKj2y3U
— Aidan McLaughlin (@aidnmclaughlin) May 11, 2018
Hegseth and his co-hosts were discussing President Donald Trump’s tweet on Thursday announcing that ISIS five leaders were “just captured.”
Five Most Wanted leaders of ISIS just captured!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2018
So the Times reporting also beat Trump’s. The paper published the news on Wednesday, describing Iraqi news broadcasts referring to a sting operation that took place earlier in the spring.
Like the president, though, Fox hosts have made it a pastime to label the Times and other media outlets they perceive as left-leaning as “failing” and “fake news.”
Hegseth borrowed his mocking nickname for the Times directly from Trump.
The Failing New York Times foiled U.S. attempt to kill the single most wanted terrorist,Al-Baghdadi.Their sick agenda over National Security
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 22, 2017
The Failing New York Times purposely wrote a false story stating that I am unhappy with my legal team on the Russia case and am going to add another lawyer to help out. Wrong. I am VERY happy with my lawyers, John Dowd, Ty Cobb and Jay Sekulow. They are doing a great job and.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 11, 2018
In multiple instances, however, Fox News has itself confirmed reports about the president first covered by the Times.
In January, a Times report revealed that Trump attempted to fire special counsel Robert Mueller last June, alleging conflicts of interest in Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Fox News and other media outlets quickly confirmed the report.
“Fox & Friends” co-host Ainsley Earhardt dismissed that report at the time, saying: “It’s something we have to tell you about because it is a headline in The New York Times.”
“What do you think about that? Do ya even care?” she asked.
Earhardt and her co-hosts didn’t mention that their own network had also confirmed the report. Instead, they showed a video of Trump denying the story.
“Fake news, folks, fake news. Typical New York Times fake news story,” said the president, a well-known fan of “Fox & Friends.”
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.