After President Donald Trump's longtime confidant Roger Stone was recently sentenced to 40 months in prison for lying to federal investigators and threatening a witness, and the Justice Department decided not to charge former acting FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, Trump’s allies at Fox News have been decrying a supposed “two-tiered system” of justice. In their view, the criminal justice system differentiates between who is punished for crimes and who is not; but in their twisted view, the real victims aren’t Black or poor people who suffer police brutality and disproportionate sentencing, but white-collar financial criminals associated with Donald Trump.

In its attempt to defend claims that the “deep state” is after Trump’s allies, Fox News is using real issues within the criminal system to push the narrative that Trump associates are the victims of an abusive justice system. Fox’s decision to support Trump’s convicted allies by seemingly taking up the mantle of criminal justice reform is grotesquely hypocritical when compared to its coverage of police brutality against unarmed citizens, many of whom are Black, and network figures have largely supported leniency for cops accused of police brutality while placing the blame on the victims. Fox has also vilified former NFL player Colin Kaepernick for years, attacking him for kneeling during the national anthem as a protest against the abuses of the U.S. criminal justice system.

There are very real and valid issues with the U.S. criminal justice system, which include overpolicing of low income and minority neighborhoods, harsh or inconsistent mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent criminals, racial discrimination through “stop-and-frisk” policies, and overaggressive arrest tactics that have led to the death of countless unarmed Black citizens. Fox usually discusses these issues to defend the police -- and the one time it has taken up the cause of the victims, it is in defense of Trump’s white-collar criminal friends.

Fox’s complaints often include demands that Trump’s opponents be arrested and charged in the same way that Trump’s allies are. The laundry list of Trump associates who have been convicted or sentenced in addition to Stone include former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, and former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Fox's double standard when discussing Trump's allies exposes a self-serving agenda; here is a non-comprehensive look at Fox's coverage of Trump's allies facing accountability compared to victims of police brutality.