- The Washington Times - Friday, September 27, 2019

Fox News anchor Chris Wallace on Friday slammed the “deeply misleading” spin that defenders of President Trump are producing in the wake of the scandal with Ukraine.

During an interview on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom,” Sandra Smith asked whether the whistleblower information and Mr. Trump’s transcript of his call with the Ukrainian president that was released this week changed anything.

“I think it’s changed quite a lot, Sandra,” Mr. Wallace said. “The spinning that has been done by the president’s defenders in the last 24 hours since this very damaging whistleblower complaint came out — the spinning is not surprising, but I think it is astonishing and deeply misleading.”

A FOX News spokesperson told The Washington Times that Mr. Wallace was “absolutely not talking about his colleagues.”

A currently unnamed whistleblower alleged last week that Mr. Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine to get the country to dig up dirt on his rival, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden, a Democratic presidential front-runner, and his son Hunter Biden. Mr. Trump denied the accusation and released the call transcript in response.

Mr. Wallace said the White House’s transcript of the call lined up with the whistleblower’s complaints and blasted the president for calling him a “spy.”

When Mrs. Smith responded by pointing to “major inconsistencies” between the complaint and the transcript and knocked the fact that military spending wasn’t discussed on the call, Mr. Wallace asked, “You don’t think dirt on the vice president and his son’s activities would be of value to a president seeking reelection?” 

“What is clear from reading the complaint is that it is a serious allegation,” Mr. Wallace continued.

“A lot of it has proven to be borne out already. The whistleblower lays out a blueprint for talking to various officials in the White House, various officials in the State Department. And to dismiss this as a political hack seems to me to be an effort by the president’s defenders to make nothing out of something. And there is something here,” he said.

While Mr. Wallace didn’t name who “the president’s defenders” are, many of Fox News’ prime-time hosts have dismissed allegations that the president committed any wrongdoing and defended him against the whistleblower’s complaint.

Mr. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

• Bailey Vogt can be reached at bvogt@washingtontimes.com.

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