After Fox News colleagues Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson urged Donald Trump’s restraint following a New York Times bombshell about Rod Rosenstein, Laura Ingraham softened her demand for Rosenstein’s immediate dismissal.
As you’ve probably heard by now, The New York Times dropped a report yesterday that Deputy Attorney General (and regular Fox News scapegoat) Rod Rosenstein had suggested secretly recording Donald Trump and evoking the 25th Amendment.
As I’ve previously written, Sean Hannity called the Times report “a trap” and urged Trump not to fall into it by firing Rosenstein – just yet. Hannity is not only Trump’s Bedtime BFF but has also been dubbed the “unofficial chief of staff” by some White House aides. Given that there’s “almost no daylight” between Fox News and White House agendas, Hannity may well be the unofficial head of Trump PR strategy at Fox News, too. Or maybe it's official.
We can’t know whether Carlson came to the same conspiracy theory as Hannity all on his own but we do know that the two sounded very much like they were singing from the same choirbook. Although Hannity did not name a trap-laying culprit, Carlson floated the theory that former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe (fired one day before he was set to retire) leaked the story to the Times in order to bait Trump into firing Rosenstein and give Democrats grounds to start impeachment proceedings. Carlson’s show immediately precedes Hannity’s.
Ingraham, on the other hand, had reacted to the Times report by tweeting that Rosenstein should be fired "today." However, by the time her show aired, the Fox host who immediately follows Hannity seemed to have a new set of instructions for Trump.
“If The New York Times reporting is accurate, the president tonight should seriously consider whether Rod Rosenstein should remain on the job,” Ingraham now said. “The White House should be devoting every resource it can to determining the veracity of this report.”
Mediaite noted that Ingraham has deleted her tweets demanding Rosenstein’s firing.
Watch Ingraham get on board with Hannity’s messaging above, from the September 21, 2018 The Ingraham Angle.
Crossposted at News Hounds.
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