Screenshot/Fox News
Fox host Dana Perino
- As news broke that two of President Donald Trump's former top aides were convicted of multiple federal crimes, Fox News focused its coverage on the killing of a 20-year-old college student.
- Critics lambasted the right-leaning network for minimizing coverage of the convictions of former top Trump aides Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen.
As news broke that two of President Donald Trump's top former aides were convicted of multiple federal crimes, the president's preferred news outlet, Fox News, reported more prominently on the killing of a 20-year-old college student.
Rather than focusing on what is perhaps the most significant news of the Trump presidency so far, the right-leaning network hosts discussed the news that police believe an undocumented immigrant killed Mollie Tibbetts, the young Iowa woman who was found dead on Tuesday.
On her 5 p.m. show, host Dana Perino, a former staffer in President George W. Bush's White House, suggested that Americans are more concerned with the dangers posed by undocumented immigrants than with crimes committed by members of the president's inner circle.
Fox's online homepage continued to feature the Tibbetts story ahead of the the Trump aide convictions throughout the evening.
On Tuesday, Trump's former longtime lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, struck a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to eight federal crimes. Additionally, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was found guilty of eight counts related to tax and bank fraud following a high-stakes criminal trial that gripped the nation for weeks.
Screenshot/Fox News
The Fox News homepage at 6 pm on Tuesday.
Critics, including journalists, jumped on Fox for minimizing the major news concerning the president in favor of a crime story that plays into the president's war on undocumented immigrants.
"Tonight you're going to see one of those media moments where several networks cover the news, and Fox dedicates 80% of their airtime to a local crime story," Republican political consultant Rick Wilson tweeted.
So Manafort found guilty, Cohen pleads guilty, Trump implicated in ordering Cohen to make illegal campaign contributions and @FoxNews is discussing an illegal immigrant being charged in a murder.
- mark seibel (@markseibel) August 21, 2018CNN: Cohen implicates Trump
MNBC: Cohen implicates Trump
Fox News: Is a giraffe a type of tall horse?
- Kumail Nanjiani (@kumailn) August 21, 2018CNN & MSNBC covering a huge story right now: The President's longtime personal attorney pleading guilty to campaign finance violations, tax & bank fraud.
Fox News? A plane carrying @PostMalone making an emergency landing.
- Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) August 21, 2018Fox News is not covering Manafort/Cohen implicating Trump right now. They're covering the Mollie Tibbets news conference
- Emily C. Singer (@CahnEmily) August 21, 2018LMAO @FoxNews, you are State TV.
What a disgusting propaganda outlet. pic.twitter.com/GLH4fNfb9t
- Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) August 21, 2018Dana Perino just suggested on Fox News that the Mueller and Cohen thing is complicated, but most Americans are concerned about illegal immigrants and murder(?).
- David Jolly (@DavidJollyFL) August 21, 2018