Former President Donald Trump has identified former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan as the "RINO" responsible for Fox News failing to fully endorse his 2020 presidential election fraud conspiracy theories.
Trump called for Ryan to be fired while lashing out at him and other Fox News "RINOS," or "Republicans in name only," in a Truth Social post on Wednesday. The former president said that Ryan's position as Fox Corporation board member had enabled him to convince News Corp founder Rupert Murdoch to "go against" Fox News anchors who allegedly believed his false claims of a "rigged" election.
"I think that Fox Board Member. RINO Paul Ryan, put his boss, Rupert Murdoch, in great legal and monetary jeopardy by convincing him to to go against his news anchors and their belief that the 2020 Presidential Election was Rigged and Stollen [sic]," Trump wrote.
"In so doing Murdoch is saying that Fox behaved badly when, in fact, evidence has proven that the Election was rife with Election Fraud and Irregularities," he added. "Ryan is bad luck for Fox. He should either resign or be fired. Too many incompetent RINOS at FoxNews!"
Trump's post is the latest in a series of escalating attacks on Murdoch. Earlier on Wednesday, Trump lashed out at him over his recently unsealed deposition in the $1.6 billion Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit against Fox News.
In the deposition, Murdoch indicated that he knew President Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 election but admitted that Fox News personalities including Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro and Sean Hannity had "endorsed" Trump's false claims of a "stolen" election.
"If Rupert Murdoch honestly believes that the Presidential Election of 2020, despite MASSIVE amounts of proof to the contrary, was not Rigged & Stollen [sic], then he & his group of MAGA Hating Globalist RINOS should get out of the News Business as soon as possible, because they are aiding & abetting the DESTRUCTION OF AMERICA with FAKE NEWS," Trump wrote.
"Certain BRAVE & PATRIOTIC FoxNews Hosts, who he scorns and ridicules, got it right," he continued. "He got it wrong. THEY SHOULD BE ADMIRED & PRAISED, NOT REBUKED & FORSAKEN!!!"
A separate court filing in the Dominion lawsuit, which accuses Fox of defamation for spreading claims it "rigged" the election, suggests that personalities including star host Tucker Carlson promoted the conspiracy theories despite being convinced that they were false.
In addition to the Dominion suit, Fox News is being sued by voting company Smartmatic for $2.7 billion over "false, inaccurate, and disparaging attacks" related to the 2020 election.
Trump has also recently launched repeated attacks on Ryan, who has at times been an outspoken critic of the former president since leaving Congress in 2019.
Earlier this week, the former president denounced the former lawmaker as a "loser" after Ryan said that he would not attend the 2024 Republican National Convention if Trump is the GOP nominee.
Newsweek has reached out to Fox News for comment.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter based in New York. Her focus is on reporting national politics, where she ... Read more
