According to an upcoming book by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser called “The Divider“, Fox News anchor Bret Baier asked the network’s president to retract the call that now-President Joe Biden had won the state of Arizona after getting pushback from former President Donald Trump’s campaign.
Baier reportedly emailed Fox News President Jay Wallace during the election night coverage, saying “This situation is getting uncomfortable. Really uncomfortable. I keep having to defend this on air,” before saying the Trump campaign was “really pissed”.
“It’s hurting us,” Baier continued. “The sooner we pull it — even if it gives us major egg — and we put it back in his column the better we are in my opinion.”
In a statement given to Barrett News Media by a Fox News spokesperson, Baier denies the claims.
“The full context of the e-mail is not reported in this book. I never said the Trump campaign ‘was really pissed’ – that was from an external email that I referenced within my note. This was an email sent AFTER election night. In the immediate days following the election, the vote margins in Arizona narrowed significantly and I communicated these changes to our team along with what people on the ground were saying and predicting district by district. I wanted to analyze at what point (what vote margin) would we have to consider pulling the call for Biden. I also noted that I fully supported our decision desk’s call and would defend it on air.”
The book from Baker and Glasser also reports two Fox News employees were fired after the decision to call Arizona for the now-President, with one of the firings labeled as a retirement while the other, Chris Stirewalt, was labeled a “restructuring” of the Decision Desk staff. Stirewalt made the claim he was fired by Fox News, which the network has continually denied.
A Fox News spokesperson also told Barrett News Media “FOX News made an election night call of historic magnitude and was first to do so. We stood by the call in the days that followed, it was proven correct, and other news organizations eventually joined us.”
