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Trump

Ceci Freed / Media Matters | Gage Skidmore via Creative Commons

Fox News uses Soleimani strike to attack the Trump impeachment

Written by Eric Kleefeld

Published 01/03/20 4:31 PM EST

Following the U.S. military strike that killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Fox News personalities have tied this event back to the ongoing impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump. This commentary has ranged from trying to use the impeachment to justify Trump’s lack of communication with Congress about the strike, to invoking the attack to discredit impeachment.

On Fox & Friends, co-cost Ainsley Earhardt and guest Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) discussed the “conspiracy theory” spread by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) accusing Trump of using the strike as a distraction from impeachment, while Graham also said Trump should not have briefed Democratic or Republican members of Congress.

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From the January 3, 2020, edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends

But later that very morning, Fox Business host Stuart Varney pitched the idea that the Soleimani strike itself ought to take impeachment off the table, during a lead-in appearance on Mornings with Maria: “Are we now going to try to impeach and remove from office the commander-in-chief who's just taken out one of the world's leading terrorists? That's quite a question, I suggest.”

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From the January 3, 2020, edition of Fox Business’ Mornings with Maria

Christian Whiton, a frequent Fox guest and former adviser to the Trump and George W. Bush administrations, published an opinion piece on FoxNews.com that covered a lot of bases, such as accusing Democrats of “singing from Tehran’s song sheet.” And while Whiton at one point lambasted Democrats for “implying Trump acted only to distract the public from the impeachment sham — which most Americans have already tuned out,” many paragraphs later he also declared that the Soleimani strike would send the world a message about impeachment.

Furthermore, don’t think the importance of Trump’s action will be lost in the capitals of other U.S. adversaries. China’s Xi Jinping, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin all undoubtedly hoped that the Democrats’ impeachment sham would have weakened Trump – even if it didn’t remove him from office. Now they know it didn’t.

Fox News contributor Ed Rollins spoke effusively (and quite repetitively) about the “great strength” that Trump had shown, adding that “Democrats are foolish if they are going to continue on this impeachment process, and sort of the peacenik role that they've tried to advocate for the last several years. This is an unsafe world, and this shows great strength.”

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From the January 3, 2020, edition of Fox News’ America’s Newsroom

Rollins also declared: “Congress has given up its opportunity to be briefed in advance, by the leaks that have occurred over the last year in the impeachment process.”

Stuart Varney also raised the point during his regular program Varney & Co.: “Back to Congressman Schiff, who chairs the intelligence committee and has been widely accused of leaking all kinds of stuff which is denigratory to the administration over the past few years — why on earth would the administration tell Adam Schiff in advance that they were about to take out a rotten terrorist overseas? I mean, why on earth would they do that?”

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From the January 3, 2020, edition of Fox Business’ Varney & Co.

In one notable case of a dog that didn’t bark, however, host Neil Cavuto had on a national security guest, retired Col. Peter Mansoor. After Cavuto quite casually raised the idea that briefing congressional Democrats before the raid might not have been a good idea — because of the impeachment probe leaks — Mansoor explained that Democrats wouldn’t have leaked something of this sensitive nature.

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From the January 3, 2020, edition of Fox Business’ Cavuto: Coast to Coast

NEIL CAVUTO (HOST): So, Peter, obviously these kind of things, being a Monday morning quarterback is legion in politics. And then to say that all right, he was planning an attack, Democrats are saying the administration should have consulted with Congress — knowing just the leaks we saw from the impeachment hearings, I don't know whether that might have been the best route to go. Your thoughts?

RETIRED COL. PETER MANSOOR: I don't think the Democrats would have leaked a national security secret. That would be going a step too far.

So that’s something, right?

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In This Article

  • Trump impeachment

    Trump Impeachment Inquiry
  • Ed Rollins

    Ed Rollins
  • Ainsley Earhardt

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  • Neil Cavuto

    Neil-Cavuto-MMFA-Tag.png
  • Stuart Varney

    Stuart-Varney-MMFA-Tag.png

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