Schiff Says Fox News Would Have Protected Nixon in Watergate: 'Devoid of Facts'
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff lashed out at Fox News on Thursday, saying that former President Richard Nixon may have never been forced to resign had the network been there to support him.
The California Democrat, one of the leading figures in the House’s impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, made the remarks on CNN’s “Prime Time” with host Chris Cuomo.
Schiff contrasted the current House inquiry against Trump with the House’s proceedings against Nixon in 1973.
“I will say this,” Schiff said, “the present circumstances are also different than Watergate, and I think for a very fundamental reason.”
That “fundamental reason,” according to Schiff, is the presence of Trump-friendly hosts on Fox.
“The president now has Fox prime time, and that allows his supporters to live in this alternate-fact world,” the congressman said.
Watch Schiff’s comments below.
“And frankly I think if Richard Nixon had had Fox prime time, he would have never been forced to leave office.”
A trio of Fox personalities anchor the network from 8-11 p.m. on weeknights.
Tucker Carlson begins the network’s prime time coverage with “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Sean Hannity hosts “Hannity” at 9 p.m., and Laura Ingraham’s “The Ingraham Angle” closes out prime time at 10 p.m.
Schiff implied that the hosts provide the president and his supporters with factually inaccurate information on their shows.
“That is what we’re up against: an information environment in which you can live in a world devoid of facts,” Schiff told Cuomo.
“And that’s a world, frankly, that is very suitable for a president like this.”
Schiff has compared what he perceives as Trump’s offenses to the Watergate scandal before.
In May 2018, he called the now-concluded Russia investigation “a size and scope probably beyond Watergate,” according to Fox.
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