Here’s a day by day breakdown of the impeachment inquiry coverage as channel’s hosts squabble on air

'Repugnant': how Fox News went to war with itself over Trump and impeachment

The strength of Fox News, and much of its appeal to its viewers, is in its monolithic presentation of the news, particularly when it is favorable to Donald Trump.

But as the president faces the looming shadow of an impeachment inquiry, the channel’s unified front appears to be crumbling.

Some of the news anchors are reporting that there does appear to be something to the Ukraine scandal, while Fox News’ more colorful personalities have been squabbling back and forth on air. Meanwhile, reports have emerged that management may be considering the possibilities of a post-Trump future.

Here’s a look at how things have progressed over the last week.

Tuesday: impeachment inquiry splits Fox News

Almost immediately upon news of the impeachment inquiry, tension among the ranks at Fox News began to emerge, pitting Shepard Smith, one of the more reliable journalists at the station – relatively speaking – against conspiracy-theory-loving Tucker Carlson.

Tuesday afternoon, Smith invited the contributor and Trump critic Judge Andrew Napolitano on to his program. Napolitano called the president’s actions a clear crime, likening it to the same behavior he had been under investigation for in the Mueller investigation.

Later that night Carlson, being a reliable Trump attack dog, had his own judicial analyst Joseph diGenova on, who called Napolitano a “fool” and denied any of it was a crime whatsoever.

Wednesday: Tucker Carlson’s colleague calls him ‘repugnant’

The next day Smith denounced diGenova, and Carlson by extension, calling him a “partisan”.

“Attacking our colleague, who is here to offer legal assessments, on our air in our work home is repugnant,” he said.

Carlson fired back on his program, mocking Smith’s use of the word “repugnant” and saying “unlike maybe some dayside hosts, I’m not very partisan”.

Salvador Hernandez (@SalHernandez) Tucker Carlson couldn't let Shepard Smith's comment calling the attack on Napolitano "repugnant."

The infighting inside Fox is getting amazingly public pic.twitter.com/uKPUGplT7d

Meanwhile, another round of friendly fire was being exchanged on The Five when the co-host Juan Williams accused his counterparts of reading directly from talking points released by the White House.

Greg Gutfeld was among his co-hosts to take particular umbrage, accusing Williams in turn of getting his own ideas from Media Matters, a leftwing group that monitors conservative media. They had just laid out a point-by-point case highlighting the similarities between the messaging of the Trump administration and pundits on the network.

Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) Fox show completely implodes when Juan Williams notes that conservative media is regurgitating talking points from the White House pic.twitter.com/EZ13ChimO6

Later that night Sean Hannity called the whistleblower a “a partisan hack whose claims are politically motivated”, despite the identity of the whistleblower still being unknown.

Thursday: threatening to take people off the air

After two days of internecine conflict, the Fox News CEO, Suzanne Scott, and the president, Jay Wallace reportedly stepped in, appearing to favor Carlson, and saying that if Smith went after him again he would be taken off the air.

When the whistleblower complaint was released, the hosts of Fox & Friends had to be corrected by their own correspondent over whether the whistleblower was biased or politically motivated.

Republicans flail as they seek coherent strategy against impeachment Read more

“What is the bias there?” Ainsley Earhardt asked Catherine Herridge, who had read the complaint.

“We’ve heard the attorneys he hired were possibly interns for Schumer and Hillary Clinton. Is there more political bias?”

“I’m just not seeing that in this document,” replied Herridge.

Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) Brian Kilmeade and Ainsley Earhardt say we have to remember that the whistleblower is politically biased against Trump, but Catherine Herridge can't find any evidence of that in the complaint. She does however note that it cites several media outlets. pic.twitter.com/Su2kMuDzdl

Appearing on Hannity’s program that night, diGenova re-emerged to accuse the whistleblower of being connected to George Soros. Not only is there is no evidence for this, but it also echoes many antisemitic conspiracy theories from the far right that center on Soros, painting him a leftwing puppetmaster.

Friday: Chris Wallace calls his colleagues ‘deeply misleading’

As Trump continued his tweet storm proclaiming his innocence and calling this another witch-hunt by the crooked media, Fox News commentators rejoined the effort to assign a political bias to the whistleblower.

On The Five, Geraldo Rivera echoed Gutfeld in accusing (while also “not accusing”) Media Matters of complicity. “I bet it can be traced ultimately, and I’m not accusing them, but a group like Media Matters is in here, with their dirty hands,” he said.

But on the afternoon side of the programming, doubts about Trump’s innocence remained. Chris Wallace, another of the relatively neutral on-air personalities who also broke the rare bit of original reporting on Trump from the network, called the spinning from the president’s defenders “not surprising, but it is astonishing and deeply misleading”.

But by Friday evening, Giuliani was on Hannity roping Hillary Clinton into a conspiracy theory, saying she colluded with Ukraine to dig up dirt on Trump.

Saturday: ‘What’s the crime?’

To kick off the weekend Jesse Watters took a taunting tone towards Democrats. “Impeachment? Go for it, libs,” he said. “It’s just going to die in the Senate. Trump’s still gonna get re-elected. Then what are you going to do?”

“What’s the crime? Democrats can’t explain it,” he asked, before scoffing at the idea that the president shouldn’t be able to ask other countries to investigate his political rivals.

Jeanine Pirro said the presidency has been under siege, saying Trump has been subjected to “unprecedented maligning” by “the mainstream media, high level Obama administration officials, and disappointed, disgruntled and deranged Democrats”.

Meanwhile, Greg Gutfeld aired a piece on a sexy Mr Rogers costume.

Sunday: and now we’re talking about civil war

During Fox & Friends on Sunday morning, the host Ed Henry asked the conservative radio host Mark Levin if he was OK with the president asking Ukraine for dirt on Biden.

The mere question sent the president, likely watching at home, spiraling into a raging tweet storm, including retweeting a parody account that automatically inserts the word “shark” into Trump tweets.

Trump But About Sharks (@tbasharks) RT @BulldawgDerek: @foxandfriends A Sunday Morning; Amen Mark Levin, Preach Brother! You shut down Ed Henry and the Pro Shark Media with the fac…

For his part, Henry, a reliable Trump supporter, seemed to be confused by the sudden attack from the president.

Ed Henry (@edhenry) Lol two days ago. #fairandbalanced working hard thank you! https://t.co/h1KCEUdVYD

On Fox & Friends weekend, the contributor Robert Jeffress suggested if Trump were to be removed from office it would lead to a “Civil war-like fracture in this nation from which this country will never heal”.

The president himself promptly shared that sentiment on Twitter.

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) ....If the Democrats are successful in removing the President from office (which they will never be), it will cause a Civil War like fracture in this Nation from which our Country will never heal.” Pastor Robert Jeffress, @FoxNews

Monday: this is a coup

By Monday the civil war theme had spread far and wide among the Fox universe. Newt Gingrich said on Hannity’s radio program that this was not an impeachment attempt, it was a coup d’etat.

The former New York City police commissioner Bernie Kerik went on Fox & Friends echoing that idea. Others, including Carlson, Tom Fitton and Mark Levin have called the lawful impeachment inquiry a coup as well.

Tuesday: it’s all getting a bit too much

If all the back and forth sounds a bit hard to follow, that may be part of the point.

On Tuesday morning the Fox & Friends hosts introduced another series of bizarre conspiracies, including one featuring Australian ambassadors, Maltese professors and an Italian spy school. Ultimately, they concluded, there was no “there there”, and even if there were, who could even follow it all?

“I think it gets too much in the weeds. First they’re going after the president with impeachment,” Ainsley Earhardt said. “Then it’s Rudy Giuliani. Now it’s Bill Barr. America is saying, What? How are they all connected? Connect the dots for us. It’s just so much information.”