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The irate Trump campaign called Rupert Murdoch to complain that Fox News called the state of Arizona for Joe Biden last night, according to reports.
The Fox News decision table was the first outlet to call Arizona for the Democratic candidate with 73% of the votes counted.
It was the first ‘turn’ of the election – the first state to take the opposite path from four years ago when Trump defeated Hillary Clinton. Since then, Wisconsin and Michigan have opted for Biden after voting for Trump in 2016.
The count is still ongoing in Arizona, which has 11 electoral votes.
When Fox News called the state, the Trump campaign reacted with fury, according to Vanity Fair and the New York Times.
(Image: Getty Images)
A source told Vanity Fair that Trump himself called Fox owner Rupert Murdoch to yell at the call and demand a retraction. Murdoch declined and the call went through.
As Donald Trump’s chances of reelection became increasingly unlikely, he frequently criticized editorial calls made by Fox News, seen largely as a Republican spokesman.
Trump frequently cites the absence of Roger Ailes, who was CEO of Fox News until 2016 when he was accused of sexual harassment by 23 women and forced to resign.
(Image: REUTERS)
Jason Miller, Trump’s political adviser, questioned the veracity of the call on Twitter and frantically called Fox News, asking in vain for the network to retract.
Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and a senior White House adviser, was “in contact” with Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox News, according to the New York Times.
Former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, speaking to Fox from outside the White House, said she thought it might have been a “premature call.”
(Image: Reuters)
Republican agent Karl Rove, noting that Arizona is “on the road to victory every season,” also suggested the call may be “a little premature.”
Later, Arnon Mishkin, director of the Fox News decision table, was called on the air to defend the decision. He did so unequivocally, noting that Arizona had been in the “knowable but not invocable” category for about an hour.
Trump’s poor performance in Arizona has been attributed in part to his continued attacks on his favorite son and war hero, Senator John McCain, a Republican whom the president has continued to criticize even after the senator’s death two years ago.
The Trump campaign continues to baselessly attack the voting process in several states leaning toward Joe Biden.
The president himself tweeted a suggestion that “a lot of secretly cast votes” had cost Michigan, a message that Twitter quickly labeled misleading.
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