Before television personality Abby Huntsman became a co-host on The View, she used to work for Fox News. On Monday, she called out her former employer for reportedly killing a controversial story on President Donald Trump's alleged extramarital affair with Stephanie Clifford, better known as adult performer Stormy Daniels.
A March New Yorker report by Jane Mayer claimed Fox News was aware of Trump, 72, allegedly paying off Daniels, 39, before the 2016 presidential election over their apparent affair. Fox News reporter Diana Falzone reportedly "obtained proof" of Trump cheating on his wife Melania Trump. However, ex-Fox News executive Ken LaCorte slashed the story. He told Falzone: "Good reporting, kiddo. But Rupert wants Donald Trump to win. So just let it go."
Huntsman, 32, worked at Fox News from 2015 to 2018. She discussed the New Yorker report with her fellow co-hosts on The View Monday. While she briefly detailed her experience working at the news organization, she also addressed the problem with Fox News's decision to apparently conceal the report.
"I do think the biggest part of the piece is this Stormy Daniels story," she began, "Meghan [McCain] and I both worked at Fox. I can only speak for myself at the table. I worked under the news division, I worked in the bureau with all the reporters when I first got there, and I worked on an opinion show. You have to separate the two. If you're going to turn on Sean Hannity at night you have to know that you're going to get probably stuff supporting Trump—that's his take."
FOX NEWS SILENCED STORMY STORY? A recently released 'New Yorker' exposé suggests Fox News allegedly killed a story uncovering the Stormy Daniels scandal in order to protect Pres. Trump — the co-hosts discuss. https://t.co/f8u2wc159S pic.twitter.com/gdpVE2RqH2
— The View (@TheView) March 4, 2019
"There are wonderful people working there. Diana Falzone I knew, she was a great reporter. If this story is true, and there are many reasons to believe it is, based on the report, that is a real, real problem for Fox, and it's a problem for the journalists that work there that want to break these stories. That's why they're there, to do their job. If that's the biggest story to come out, they've got a problem on their hands," she concluded.
Huntsman's fellow co-host Sunny Hostin piggybacked on her comment. She suggested that Fox News reportedly shutting down the Trump-Daniels story shows "the opinion part has taken over the news function." Guest co-host Bari Weiss, an opinion editor for The New York Times, interjected to suggest that the opinion content and actual news content "blends together."
McCain, 34, worked at Fox News from 2015 to 2017. During her time at the network, she appeared as a co-host on Outnumbered. She shared her thoughts on Falzone and the Trump-Daniels report allegedly being killed by explaining how she has trouble separating commentators from real journalists on CNN.
"There's a lot of times that I don't know the difference between an opinion host and a journalist on CNN as well," she said. "So I think this is just a systemic problem with journalism in general."
The View airs weekdays at 11:00 a.m. ET on ABC.
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