Fox News' take on Sondland's testimony: nothing to see here

An ostrich, according to common parlance, sticks its head in the sand when threatened. When Gordon Sondland gave his damning testimony on Wednesday, Fox News arguably adopted a similar strategy.

As the US ambassador to the European Union told the House that he and others “followed the president’s orders” in pressuring Ukraine, CNN and elsewhere quickly changed their chyrons to reflect his revelations.

Over on Fox News, Sondland’s admission prompted the conservative channel – which is not normally associated with banality – to put forth the limpest text possible.

“House intelligence committee members question Ambassador Sondland in public hearing,” was the text banner, or chyron, on Fox News, as Sondland confirmed that Giuliani stipulated a quid pro quo between US aid to Ukraine and an investigation into Burisma and the 2016 elections.

Fox News largely stuck diligently to that language for almost two hours, as Sondland went on to add that Giuliani “was expressing the desires of the president of the United States”.

When the channel did change its text, it presented a rather different take from other media. At 11am, as CNN was chyroning: “Sondland: Giuliani pushed for ‘quid pro quo’ with Ukraine, as ‘desired by Trump’.” Other channels had similar wording.

Not Fox News, however. It opted for the rather more mundane, and very much more exonerating, “Sondland: Trump never told me directly that the aid was conditioned on the meetings.”

The Fox News website followed a similar playbook, as CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy pointed out.

At about 11am, the hearing broke for a short recess.

It was finally an opportunity for Fox News hosts and reporters to put forward a defense of Trump, one that the channel clearly was struggling to mount through onscreen text. They couldn’t.

“This, listen, on its face, is very damaging to some of the arguments the GOP has been making,” said Bret Baier, host of Special Report with Bret Baier.

Baier noted that the testimony was particularly damaging given Trump had, not long ago, called Sondland “a really good man and a great American”. As Baier spoke there was a heavy sigh in the background.

Chris Wallace, a relative centrist host on Fox News, noted that Sondland “certainly makes it clear that in the direct conversations he had with the president he saw a conditionality” between an Ukraine investigation and the release of aid.

Next, Fox News wheeled out Ken Starr, best known as the lawyer whose investigation led to the impeachment of Bill Clinton. Starr has consistently been a critic of the impeachment hearings, but he could not muster a defense.

“We’ve gotten closer to the president,” Starr said. “It doesn’t look good for the president, substantively.”

Starr did add, that the president “may have covered himself by saying no quid pro quo” – Sondland testified Trump told him that, but that was the one bright light in Starr’s take.

“I think the articles of impeachment are being drawn up if they haven’t already been drawn up,” Starr continued.