Nevertheless, Fox News is working to downplay and defend Trump’s actions, insisting that Trump merely moved things “from one computer to another computer” and claiming that “there is a total logic behind it.”

On Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade said that “you could thoroughly understand the administration wanting to guard against interactions that are important for national security,” referencing previous leaks from the White House of phone conversations between Trump and foreign leaders. Co-host Ainsley Earhardt agreed that the president was likely concerned about leaks, and co-host Steve Doocy said the administration “started to tighten the security” around such records.

Minutes later, Kilmeade again referenced previous leaks, arguing that “if you are the president of the United States, after a while, if you’re trying to watch his back, you say, ‘Let’s password-protect it.’” Kilmeade concluded that “to me, there is a total logic behind it.”

In a softball interview with White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley, Kilmeade asked, “How often did you secure transcripts of phone calls with world leaders in the past, that you know of?” Dodging the question, Gidley responded by asking “how in the world can it be a cover-up” if “we literally released the document.” Later in the interview, Gidley defended using the server because of “the leaks that have already come out,” adding that “people in this government are entrusted with secure, sensitive information that deal with the national security of this country, and they are putting it out in the public sphere?”

On “straight news” show Your World with Neil Cavuto, Fox correspondent John Roberts reported on “an allegation contained within the whistleblower complaint that the White House moved the transcript of the Zelensky phone call off of the typical computer system to a codeword security system,” but he added that “we’re getting a little bit of pushback as to whether that ever happened.” Roberts added that if it did happen, “it may be because … transcripts of telephone calls between the president” and other world leaders had been leaked in the past.

On her own “news”-side show, Fox News anchor Dana Perino reduced the alleged cover-up to simply “moving this transcript from one computer to another computer.”

On Tucker Carlson Tonight, guest Peter van Buren referenced the alleged cover-up by saying that the whistleblower “has chosen a set of ambiguous circumstances and made all sorts of accusations about computer systems and servers,” adding that “if that’s an extortion, they should never watch The Sopranos.” Fox host Tucker Carlson agreed that “it’s nonsense.”

On America’s Newsroom, Fox News chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge questioned the whistleblower’s understanding of national security procedures, saying that “on the allegation of a cover-up,” Fox sources claimed the whistleblower appeared to have “minimal understanding of these systems and the handling of presidential communications, which are among the most restricted.”

Later in the show, guest co-host Jon Scott repeated the same spin, asserting that “Herridge is saying that there is a misunderstanding of the way presidential phone calls are stored, and that is part of what people are accusing the White House of.” Guest Charles Hurt added that “he’s had a history of people leaking these phone calls, so it stands to reason that he would do that.”