On July 10, Fox News published an article titled “10 reasons the DOJ and FBI face backlash over Epstein files flop.”

Reasons one and two on that list were past examples of current FBI Director Kash Patel imploring the release of files related to deceased creep Jeffrey Epstein. In the first, Fox quotes Patel in 2023 saying that House Republicans need to do everything in their power to release “Epstein’s list.”

The second item on the list was titled “Kash Patel told Glenn Beck that the FBI director has ‘direct control’ of Epstein’s address book.” The article quotes Patel from a 2023 interview saying, “That’s under direct control of the director of the FBI,” and that Trump should run on the issue and release it on “day one.”

Three further points in Fox’s list focus on promises and statements made by Attorney General Pam Bondi, including telling Fox earlier this year that she had Epstein’s list “sitting on my desk right now.”

Just a few weeks later, Fox News can’t even be bothered to ask basic questions about these statements when Bondi and Patel show up on air.

On August 14, Bondi appeared on Fox News for her first interview since the Epstein backlash erupted in July. (Trump’s AG was a frequent presence on Fox News before suddenly vanishing.) In the interview, Sean Hannity did not ask her a single question about the Epstein case. Hannity interviewed Kash Patel immediately following Bondi and likewise did not ask a single question about Epstein. Patel showed up on former Trump adviser Larry Kudlow’s Fox show on August 20 and, again, was not asked a single question about Epstein. And this is not because news of the day preempted it: In each case, there were plenty of questions about events from the past, such as the 2016 election, but none about a major scandal entangling the current administration.

On his radio show hours before his two interviews, Hannity even bragged about planning to ignore Epstein, saying that his head would “explode” if he heard the name one more time.

While not surprising, it is contemptible: Fox News itself admitted that Bondi and Patel made clear promises about the Epstein files, and that those promises were being broken — and Hannity and Kudlow have no interest in even getting an explanation to the American people.

In July, podcaster Tim Dillon disclosed that he had recently had lunch with Vice President JD Vance. More interesting is that since then, unlike many in right-wing media, Dillon hasn’t held back in criticizing the Trump administration’s actions. He did an entire show on the “Epstein cover-up,” said the Trump administration was basically running an “auction” asking people to bid on America, called out the U.S. for “funding a famine” in Gaza, and said that FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino appears desperate to get back to podcasting.

Dillon’s brief monologue about Trump’s militarization of the United States is worth watching in full. It’s not that long, and he points out that this is exactly the sort of thing that, a few years ago, Alex Jones and MAGA media would be up in arms about.

Here’s some of the transcript:

TIM DILLON (HOST): They've already got the National Guard on the street. They already have all your information in D.C., and now they just get to decide what is and isn't over the line. That should scare everybody. You're fucking nuts, dude. If this doesn't scare you, you're nuts.

All of these things that Alex Jones, you know — and I've had Alex on, I like Alex — but all these things that Alex Jones was like worried about when I listened to him in the late '90s, early 2000s are coming to fruition. And he, you know — I don't know where he is on all of that stuff, but like — I know he's a big fan of Trump, but like this is everything Alex Jones always talked about. Military in the street, the FEMA camp, the tech company that monitors everything, the surveillance. This is all of that.

...

This is literally the wet dream of every conspiracy theorist that has ever lived, and it's happening now.

As you can guess from his lunch with Vance, Dillon isn't left-wing. But that he's saying this means there are people out there seeing things for what they are — and that's worth acknowledging.

In April 2023, Fox News and Dominion announced their record settlement over the network’s claims in the aftermath of the 2020 election.

Meanwhile, the parallel case against Fox from another voting technology company, Smartmatic, is still working its way through state courts in New York. New documents released from the case shed a light into exactly how Fox executives make decisions — and how much they operate out of fear of losing their audience.

Matt Gertz pulled a number of key takeaways from the filings. While there are some very eye-opening remarks unearthed from Fox host Jesse Watters and anchor Maria Bartiromo, the key one for me is how then-Fox host (and current U.S. attorney for D.C.) Jeanine Pirro was handled. Here’s a short version:

• Weeks before the 2020 election, Pirro texted the then-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee and wrote, “I work so hard for the party across the country… I’m the # 1 watched show on all news cable all weekend. I work so hard for the President and the party.”
• Following the election, the network pulled Pirro’s November 7 show because executives did not trust her to be “responsible.”
• Pirro later texted Fox star Sean Hannity, “I’M TIRED OF THE CENSORSHIP AND I’M EMBARRASSED BY HOW THEY CALLED THIS ELECTION.”
• Following a public backlash and internal support from Hannity, Pirro had her show reinstated a week later on November 14, along with promises that she would not be “censored.”
• Pirro’s comments about Dominion were made on that November 14 show.
• Pirro was eventually promoted to The Five before being chosen by President Trump to be the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

While Pirro was protected internally, then-Fox anchor Neil Cavuto was treated differently. As Gertz notes, “The Smartmatic filings show top Fox executives expressing dismay after anchor Neil Cavuto cut away from a November 9, 2020, White House press conference featuring press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and told viewers, ‘She’s charging the other side is welcoming fraud and welcoming illegal voting. Unless she has more details to back that up, I can't in good countenance continue showing you this.'"

Cavuto has since left Fox News — and McEnany has joined as a network host.

We’re just over a year out from the midterms, and there is fear from elements of the MAGA media about what would happen if Republicans lose control of either the House or the Senate. Steve Bannon has laid out the draconian plan to keep only Republicans in power.

The short version:

• Seeking to ban mail-in voting.
• Calling for a mid-decade census that would exclude people in the United States without authorization, which some experts have argued would be unconstitutional.
• Pushing for unprecedented mid-decade congressional redistricting efforts. 
• Attempting to purge voter rolls and suppress turnout by requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.
• Sending federal police, the National Guard, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to occupy liberal cities like an invading army. 

It’s worth reading John Knefel’s deep dive into this authoritarian plan.