Trump reveals ‘people from Fox’ helped him write Al Smith dinner speech
CNN
By Hadas Gold, CNN
New York (CNN) — Former President Donald Trump said Friday that Fox News staffers helped him write his speech for the Al Smith charity dinner, in which he cracked jokes and insulted his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump made the comment during an interview on “Fox and Friends,” in which he was asked about his monologue. Host Steve Doocy said Democrats historically “turn to the guys from ‘Saturday Night Live’ or the ‘Tonight Show;’ they write all their material,” before asking Trump who helped write his speech.
“I had a lot of people, a couple people from Fox actually, I shouldn’t say that. But they wrote some jokes. For the most part I didn’t like any of them,” Trump said to laughter from the co-hosts.
During his speech Thursday night to the friendly Catholic charity crowd, Trump disparaged Harris’ intelligence, insulted her family, and complained about how badly he was treated during his presidency, drawing occasional cheers and some laughs.
While many Fox News personalities are openly pro-Trump, using their television platforms to promote the former president and his narratives, it’s rare to see one of them participate in a formal way with his campaign. But it wouldn’t be the first time. In 2018, host Sean Hannity campaigned with Trump ahead of the midterm elections.
Trump also told the show’s hosts that following the interview he planned to meet with the right-wing network’s founder, conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch, demanding the outlet block advertisements and figures on its air critical of Trump’s candidacy.
“I’m going to see Rupert Murdoch,” Trump said. “I don’t know if he’s thrilled that I say it. And I’m going to tell him, I’m going to tell him something very simple, because I can’t talk to anybody else about it; don’t put on negative commercials for 21 days, don’t put them — and don’t put on the air their horrible people, they come and lie.”
“I’m going to say, ‘Rupert, please do it this way,” Trump said, adding that “we’re going to have a victory because I think everyone wants that.”
A Fox News spokesperson did not immediately respond to a CNN request for comment.
The former president’s comments come after years of strained relations between the network and its founder, with Trump having previously called Murdoch a “MAGA Hating Globalist RINO” while accusing him of “aiding & abetting the DESTRUCTION OF AMERICA.”
On Thursday, Trump also criticized the network’s chief executive, Suzanne Scott, for giving airtime to Democrats.
“Why does Suzanne Scott of Fox News keep putting on third rate ‘talking heads’ like Jessica Tarlov, Richard Fowler, Patrick Murphy, ‘something’ Wolf, Keisha Lance Bottoms, and other Radical Left Lunatics that lie, and make up statements, with Fox, rarely having any counter to their storytelling?” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
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