- The Washington Times - Saturday, December 5, 2020

Fox News faced hostility from supporters of President Trump while on the scene of a rally where he is set to speak Saturday in support of Georgia Republicans competing in next month’s Senate races.

People waiting to attend the rally in the southern Georgia city of Valdosta were caught on camera heckling a Fox News crew reporting ahead of the president speaking at the event several hours later.

A producer for Australia’s Sky News shared a video that captured some of the people complaining loudly about Fox News having called the presidential race for Democratic challenger Joseph R. Biden.

That video showed an unidentified man angrily telling the TV crew: “Fox News does not call the election! No media does!”

In another clip shared by a reporter for Al Jazeera, a man in a baseball cap bearing Mr. Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again,” could be seen berating Fox correspondent Griff Jenkins.

“Traitor! Griff, why are you turning on us, man?” asked the man in the MAGA hat.

Another video aired live on YouTube showed Trump supporters attempting to interrupt a Fox News filming with chants of “Fox is Fake News!” followed by “We Love Trump!”

“Fox News journalists are getting the most abuse from the crowd lining up for Trump’s rally in Valdosta,” Sky News producer Sarah Gough posted on Twitter. “Cries of ’we trusted you’ and ’traitors’.”

Astead W. Herndon, a White House reporter for The New York Times, added on Twitter that the first three people he spoke to at the rally said they ditched Fox News for rival network Newsmax.

Mr. Trump has avidly promoted and appeared on Fox News while in office and regularly lauded conservative commentators who host opinion shows on the network, such as Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson.

The president has increasingly criticized the network, however, which has most recently found itself clashing with Mr. Trump over the outcome of the White House race. 

Multiple news outlets, including Fox News, have called the election for Mr. Biden. Mr. Trump has refused to concede and is trying to reverse his loss in court, however.

The president is set to speak in Valdosta in support of Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, Georgia Republicans defending their seats in special runoff elections scheduled for Jan. 5, 2021.

• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.

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