Fox News contributors will campaign in Iowa for Trump despite network’s purported prohibition against “campaign events”

An image of Trump and Iowa

Citation Ceci Freed / Media Matters

Fox News has claimed that it “does not condone any talent participating in campaign events,” and The Washington Post recently reported that a “spokeswoman said the network has addressed the issue with its contributors and hosts.” Still, Fox News contributors David Bossie and Thomas Homan will campaign for the president on the day of the Iowa caucuses. 

The Trump campaign announced today that “a group of over 80 surrogates” will “campaign on behalf of President Trump at caucus locations across the state of Iowa” on February 3. That group includes Bossie and Homan, two Republicans who both work for Fox News. Bossie worked as Trump’s 2016 deputy campaign manager while Homan was Trump’s acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

Media Matters has documented how Fox’s supposed policy regarding campaign events has been wildly inconsistent. While numerous Fox News personalities have cancelled events, others have continued to campaign for Republicans. Fox News host Mark Levin has indicated he plans to defy any supposed Fox policy in the future because “nobody on this planet is going to stop me. No corporation, no left-wing group, … nobody.” Bossie and Homan both participated in Republican fundraisers last year. 

Other Trump surrogates with media connections in Iowa will include former Fox News co-President Bill Shine; CNN political commentator and lobbying firm President David Urban; anti-Muslim and anti-LGBTQ commentator and Trump senior legal adviser Jenna Ellis; and televangelist Paula White, who recently called for “all satanic pregnancies to miscarry right now.”