Remember when Harris Faulkner claimed to be so concerned about “horrible crime statistics and victims by the hour” in “Dem-led cities?” That was so before-the-GOP-won-the-House!
You may recall that on November 9, the day after the election, when it was pretty clear the red wave was not coming, Faulkner groused:
FAULKNER: What is happening right now? Are Democrats so entrenched that they’re okay with horrible crime statistics and victims by the hour here and many other Dem-led cities?
Well, just like the rest of Fox News, Faulkner no longer seems to think crime is such a big deal. In her nearly 10-minute interview with Sean Hannity about Republican priorities yesterday, crime was never mentioned, and she seemed fine with that.
Oh, and the woman who boasts about being a “6-time Emmy award winning journalist" openly cheerled for Republicans, though her bias has long been obvious. Referring to the Republicans’ “squeaky majority” in the House, but with races still to be called, she said yesterday, “If Republicans pick up more, great.”
Then she asked Hannity to “lay it out for me” and tell her “What should the priorities be for Republicans now?”
Not surprisingly, Hannity suggested that the big priority is investigating Hunter Biden:
HANNITY: You cannot underestimate the power of that gavel and I think Republicans laid down a marker this morning. There are gonna be some significant, serious investigations. If you go back, I think it is Joe Biden made definitive statements that he never had a conversation with his son, Hunter, about his foreign business dealings. We know that’s not true.
Yeah, so? This is from the guy who has no problem with his Bedtime BFF, Donald Trump, stealing national security secrets, stashing them in his country club closet, boasting about sexual assault, blackmailing Ukraine, undermining our last presidential election and provoking an insurrection to support a coup.
But Hannity is supposedly an opinion host whereas Faulkner is a journalist. She never questioned this obvious double standard.
Even worse, Faulkner allowed Hannity to spread disinformation. He falsely claimed that, as vice president, Joe Biden used taxpayer money to get a prosecutor in Ukraine fired, with the equally false suggestion that it was to protect Hunter’s cushy job on a Ukrainian board.
FACT CHECK: This right-wing conspiracy theory was debunked by none other than a report by Republican Sen. Ron Johnson. As I wrote for Crooks and Liars in 2020:
[T]he right-wing conspiracy theory is that Biden held up aid to Ukraine on condition of the firing of a prosecutor in order to protect Hunter Biden, who sat on the board of Ukraine’s Burisma. In fact, it was the Ukrainian prosecutor who was corrupt and Burisma was not under investigation at the time.
Johnson’s own star witness, George Kent, was a high-level State Department official during the Trump administration, including a stint in Ukraine, from 2015-2018. Yet as The Washington Post noted:
- Kent debunked the idea that the U.S. effort to oust the Ukrainian prosecutor was about stopping an investigation into Burisma, flatly stating that it was not.
- Kent confirmed that the quest for that ouster was about purging Ukraine of corruption, noting that “Ukrainian society” wanted the prosecutor gone because he was “protecting corrupt friends.”
Any Emmy-award “journalist,” especially one at Fox News, where this lie has been repeatedly told, should know that. But Faulkner remained silent, thus giving credibility to Hannity’s falsehood.
Hannity went on and on about the dirt he gleefully anticipates coming out on what I call Hunter Biden-ghazi until Faulkner let on that her big concern is whether or not this will really harm President Biden: “Sean, what people care about most with regard to this is, does it touch the president?” she "asked."
Yes, Hannity thinks so. Faulkner seemed fascinated. She said she wrote down some of what he said and claimed there are receipts. Then she moved on to “one top priority for the new majority” in the House is “to battle President Biden’s radical green agenda with the goal of creating American energy independence and, in the near term, lowering energy costs for struggling families.” She seemed to be reading those words but she clearly endorsed them, especially when she played a clip of Larry Kudlow essentially making the same accusation.
Faulkner's follow-up to the clip looked a lot more like an excuse to attack the left and the Biden administration than any real concern for families struggling with prices.
FAULKNER: The government’s energy agency says home heating oil in the United States is expected to jump by 45% this winter and diesel prices, already sky high, are going to explode well over $5 a gallon through the end of the year. And today, it’s $5.34 a gallon. So we could hear probably six, is what experts are saying.
But progressive Democrats are pushing for the administration to go even further on climate. In a letter to the climate czar, John Kerry, who loves to take private jets and has a huge carbon footprint - he should be ashamed of himself. But anyway - we have both a moral and strategic responsibility, he says, to provide comprehensive support for countries facing climate disaster, including debt forgiveness and reparations. We could spend a whole hour on John Kerry and his hypocrisy.
Nary a word was said about crime.
You can see why the word “propagandist,” not “journalist” is the real description of Faulkner below, from the November 17, 2022 The Faulkner Focus. Underneath, you can see her performative concern for crime.
Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner, reacting to Election Day: "What is happening right now? Are Democrats so entrenched that they are okay with horrible crime statistics and victims by the hour here and many other Dem-led cities? Are the high prices not bothering Democrat voters?" pic.twitter.com/hvvc5JgxlH
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) November 9, 2022