Last night the New York Times reported Mick Mulvaney, who simultaneously holds two top positions in the Trump administration, admitted to a group of bankers that, as a Congressman, he sold access to lobbyists.

“We had a hierarchy in my office in Congress. If you’re a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn’t talk to you. If you’re a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you,” Mulvaney said.

Mulvaney added he would talk to his constituents whether or not they donated money.

It was a startling admission of pay-to-play from a top official in an administration that famously pledged to “drain the swamp.” Mulvaney serves both as Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the interim head of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.


In his role at the CFPB, Mulvaney has significant regulatory power over the bankers in the room. His message was that for industry to gain an audience with him, they would need to pony up.

You would not have learned any of this on Fox News.

While Mulvaney’s comments has been covered extensively on MSNBC and CNN, as of 10 a.m. eastern, there was no mention on Fox News. The story also was not mentioned on Fox News’ website.

Fox & Friends, the network’s three-hour morning news program, was able to find time for segments on Melania Trump’s fashion, anti-cop celebrities, a teacher with a “political agenda,” and Fox News’ interns.

Mulvaney merited a couple of brief mentions on Fox News’ sister channel, Fox Business. Those focused on Mulvaney’s spin that he was simply encouraging bankers to “participate” in the process.

In his statement, Mulvaney did not dispute that he would only take meetings with lobbyists who donated money to his campaigns.