On the January 24 edition of Fox News’ Special Report, anchor Bret Baier hosted discredited fabulist and Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer to promote his latest book, Profiles in Corruption: Abuse of Power by America’s Progressive Elite. Baier said Schweizer's work is “not, like, made-up stuff or supposition, but some of your critics have said that your investigations really are kind of opposition research. So how do you respond to that?"

Baier's bad question erases the substance of critiques against Schweizer's work. His previous bombastic claims have been proved misleading at best or false at worst -- but only after they have done considerable damage to their targets by fueling incessant right-wing media smears.

Schweizer's total lack of credibility is best summed up by the sprawling saga of Uranium One, a conspiracy theory from his 2015 book, Clinton Cash, alleging that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton illegally authorized the sale of the company Uranium One and “20% of U.S. uranium deposits” to Russia. 

The fundamentally false Uranium One allegation was launched into mainstream press coverage via exclusive deals between Schweizer's publisher and Fox News, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. And even though critics quickly pointed out how shoddy (at best) Schweizer's allegations were, the claims took on a life of their own and helped to define the 2016 presidential election, which happened to be won by the man who most benefited from Schweizer's smears: Donald Trump.

As president, and under pressure from Fox News, Trump authorized a federal investigation into the sale of Uranium One in 2017. The investigation concluded in early January 2020, with U.S. attorney John Huber filing no charges.