Top oversight Democrat sends letter to Fox News demanding answers on edits to Trump’s 2024 Epstein comments
CNN
Top Democrats on the oversight committee say Fox presented Trump’s comments about the so-called Epstein files in a way that both misled the public and distorted his position.
A top oversight Democrat sent a letter on Thursday to Fox Corp chairman Lachlan Murdoch and Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott demanding answers about Fox’s editing of a Donald Trump interview from June 2024 concerning Jeffrey Epstein — an edit they say both misled the public and distorted his position. The letter from the ranking Democratic member on the House Oversight Committee, obtained first by CNN, accuses Fox of omitting key qualifiers in Trump’s response to a question about whether he would release Epstein-related documents. The letter requests Fox’s internal records about the interview and any communications with then-candidate Trump’s campaign about it — a request that Fox will surely refuse. In the televised version of a “Fox & Friends Weekend” interview, Trump appeared to unequivocally support releasing the files. But in the unedited version — aired the next day on Fox’s radio platform and “Fox and Friends” — he hedged, expressing concern about “phony stuff” and the potential to “affect people’s lives.” The edit attracted some attention at the time, but has gained more scrutiny in recent days, as Trump parries criticism from his own supporters over the administration’s attempts to shut down further disclosures about Epstein’s crimes. The letter, from Ranking Oversight Member Robert Garcia, calls on Murdoch and Scott to explain the decision-making behind the edit and whether political considerations influenced how the interview was presented. “Considering President Trump’s well-documented past social ties with Jeffrey Epstein, Fox News’s selective omission raises serious concerns that the network may have deliberately sought to shield then-candidate Trump from any further association with Epstein,” the letter states, adding, “it is legitimate to ask whether President Trump himself or those close to him may have actively encouraged” the edit.
