Baier falsely claimed Obama White House “offered something” to Romanoff

Fox News host Bret Baier falsely claimed that the Obama White House “offered something” to Colorado Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff “to get him to step out” of the race. In fact, both Romanoff and the White House have denied that any such offer was made.

Baier: “There were a lot of stories” that “something” was “offered” to Romanoff

On the July 1 edition of Fox News' Special Report, discussing former President Clinton's endorsement of Romanoff, Baier said that “the White House, of course, offered something to Andrew Romanoff to get him to step out of the Senate -- the primary in Colorado. There were a lot of stories about that.”

Romanoff, White House deny that a job was offered

Romanoff stated, “At no time was I promised a job.” Romanoff said in a statement that White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina contacted him and “suggested three positions that might be available to me were I not pursuing the Senate race” but that Messina “could not guarantee my appointment to any of these positions.” Romanoff added: “At no time was I promised a job, nor did I request Mr. Messina's assistance in obtaining one.”

White House stated that “there was no offer of a job,” and Messina was, in part, following up on a job application Romanoff had submitted. The Associated Press reported June 2 that White House official Bill Burton said: “Mr. Romanoff was recommended to the White House from Democrats in Colorado for a position in the administration. ... There were some initial conversations with him, but no job was ever offered.” On June 3, the White House released a statement noting that Romanoff “applied for a position at USAID during the Presidential transition” and later “followed up by phone with White House personnel.” The statement added that “Messina called and emailed Romanoff last September to see if he was still interested in a position at USAID, or if, as had been reported, he was running for the US Senate.” The White House further noted, “As Mr. Romanoff has stated, there was no offer of a job.”

Fox leads right-wing media in repeatedly promoting false claim of job offer. Media Matters has documented numerous conservative media figures, including Fox News hosts Gretchen Carlson and Sean Hannity, falsely claiming that the White House offered Romanoff a job.