Fox News prematurely called Joe Biden a winner in Arizona angering President Trump and setting off a firestorm of controversy that rattled some of the network’s anchors and guests.
The decision to call the state came from Arnon Mishkin who runs Fox’s decision desk. Mishkin has worked for Fox for decades. “We strongly believe that our call will stand, and that’s why we’re not pulling back the call. We are confident that the data will basically look like the data we’ve noticed throughout the count in Arizona.”
Arizona was officially called by the Associated Press who has been providing election results to various media outlets around the country.
Mishkin’s decision not only angered President Trump but it upset his supporters who showed up at a Phoenix, Arizona vote counting center and began chanting “Fox News sucks!”
According to the New York Times, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner contacted Fox’s owner Rupert Murdoch to express the campaign’s displeasure about the premature call. Vanity Fair reported that the president himself made the call.
The New York Times, CNN, and other organizations had not declared a winner in Arizona by Wednesday afternoon because of absentee ballots that remained to be counted.
