When Fox News’ coverage was passed to anchors Bill Hemmer and Sandra Smith, Hemmer immediately brought up someone he had spoken to who noted that the whistleblower “did not see the transcript or hear the conversation.” Baier added that “the challenge here as you read this is that, you know, you will be reading it as if it's the Bible, not knowing that -- what the motivations are, not knowing the credibility of these people.” Later, Fox contributor Jason Chaffetz also made sure to point out that the report was secondhand, stating: “Let’s remember, this whistleblower report is purely hearsay. Purely hearsay. There is no firsthand account here.”

White House talking point: Trump was just “getting to the bottom of the origins of the Russian collusion hoax.”

While discussing parts of Trump’s July 25 phone call with Zelensky, Hemmer pushed the White House talking point that Trump was simply trying to get “to the bottom of the origins of the Russian collusion hoax.” Hemmer stated that the “favor” Trump mentioned during that phone call “goes back to Russian conspiracy stuff,” adding that it was “connected directly toward the investigation, perhaps, of what Bill Barr has been trying to do in terms of getting to the bottom of it.”

