Biden attacks Fox News in closed-door fundraiser
President Joe Biden fired back on Fox News Monday night when he criticized the conservative news network at closed-door fundraisers with wealthy Democratic donors.
He also took another jab at Republican Congresswoman Majorie Taylor Greene and said Jimmy Carter, the ailing former president, asked him to deliver the eulogy at his funeral.
The president spoke with 40 Democratic donors at a $7 million, 9,000-square-foot home in the wealthy Ranchio Santa Fe neighborhood outside San Diego.
In his chat with his base, he unleashed some top Democratic advisers, starting with Fox News.
The president, referencing the 2020 election and internal communications that surfaced in Dominion’s lawsuit against the conservative news network, noted: “Finally, even Fox News admits I won.”
President Joe Biden arrives in Del Mar, outside San Diego, where he was on his way to a closed-door fundraiser for wealthy Democratic donors.
Dominion is suing Fox News, in a $1.6 billion case, alleging that the media company defamed the voting firm by questioning its technology and methods. Fox is fiercely contesting the allegations.
In court case documents, internal Fox communications revealed that many of the conservative hosts doubted Donald Trump’s claim that the election was stolen from him. Tucker Carlson even revealed that he “passionately hated Trump.”
Carlson allegedly wrote in another text message: ‘That’s the last four years. We’re all pretending we have a lot to show for it, because admitting what a mess it’s been is just too hard to swallow. But we go. There really isn’t an advantage for Trump.”
The former president is said to have been a big fan of Carlson’s show, and the Fox News host covered topics that helped guide White House policy.
Furthermore, Rupert Murdoch, who owns the network, privately worried that his stars, such as Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, had gone too far in their claims that the election was stolen.
In his email to CEO Suzanne Scott on January 21, 2021, the day after Biden’s inauguration, Murdoch said he was being criticized for the network’s insistence that the election was stolen, the lawsuit claims. .
‘They still throw mud at us!’ Murdoch wrote. ‘Maybe Sean and Laura went too far.’
He also asked Scott if it was “indisputable that high-profile voices at Fox fed the story that the election was stolen and that January 6 was a major opportunity to overturn the result.”
During his 40-minute remarks Monday, Biden also recounted the story of Greene calling him a “liar” during his State of the Union address, when he said Republicans wanted to cut Social Security and Medicare.
Biden lashed out at Fox News (host Tucker Carlson shown above), saying the network finally admitted it won the election.
Biden criticized Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greeene for calling him a liar during the State of the Union address
“The last time someone did it, it was censored,” he said, referring to former Republican Rep. Joe Wilson, who yelled “you lie” at President Barack Obama during his 2017 State of the Union address.
Republicans were furious when Biden, in his remarks, accused the GOP of wanting to “cancel” Medicare and Social Security.
The president was referring to a plan by Republican Sen. Rick Scott to automatically cancel the laws if they are not renewed, which Democrats say would include Medicare and Social Security.
Several Republicans have claimed that is not the case.
Biden noted that the Republicans who yelled at him also assured him that they did not want to cut those entitlement programs.
“I hope they keep the commitment and do not cut it,” he said in his statements.
Biden and House Republicans are preparing for a budget showdown. The president has released his $6.8 trillion budget containing tax increases on the wealthy and corporations to pay for their social programs and protect entitlement programs while reducing the national deficit.
The Republicans have yet to release their budget.
Biden said Jimmy Carter asked him to give his eulogy; above, Former President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter pose for a photo with President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden when the Bidens visited their home in Georgia in April 2021.
Biden also spoke about Jimmy Carter, the former Democratic president who entered hospice care.
“He asked me to do his eulogy,” the president said. And then he added: ‘Excuse me, I shouldn’t say that.’
In late February, Carter entered hospice care. Biden and his wife Jill met with Jimmy and Rosslyn Carter in Plains, Georgia, in April 2021.
Carter, 98, is the oldest living former president in US history. He has survived metastatic brain cancer and dealt with a host of health issues.
At his closed-door fundraisers, Biden is often more relaxed and nervous than in his usual speeches. Fundraisers are closed to cameras, but print reporters are allowed inside to record the president’s remarks.
Biden often uses the occasion to rally his base. The Monday night event raised $1 million for the Democratic Party. The president, who has said he intends to seek a second term, is expected to formally announce his decision in the coming months.