It’s hard to say whether all this represents a portentous turn in the Trump-F&F alliance or just a momentary spat among the best of friends. But it is unusual. The Guardian newspaper once said the show “manages to serve as a court sycophant, whispering in the ear of the king, criticizing his perceived enemies and fluffing his feathers.”
F&F’s executive producer, Gavin Hadden, declined to address the program’s relationship with Trump. In a statement, he said F&F “covers stories that are most important to our viewers. That’s what we did this week and will always do.”
A network spokeswoman suggests criticism of the president is nothing new for the program. She offered a list of 28 instances during Trump’s presidency in which the show went rogue. Example: Kilmeade’s grilling of deputy White House press secretary Raj Shah earlier this year over the White House’s vetting of Rob Porter, the staff secretary who resigned after his former wives accused him of physical abuse. “You relied upon [background checks] and you got burned because you had a two-time accused domestic abuser there at a very sensitive position,” Kilmeade told Shah at the time.
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