'Ashamed' Fox News analyst quits after calling network 'a propaganda machine'

After spending a decade at Fox News as a strategic analyst, retired Lt. Col. Ralph Peters did not renew his contract, and he sent colleagues a farewell email detailing all of the issues he has with the network, which he calls a "propaganda machine for a destructive and ethically ruinous administration."

Peters, who often appeared on Fox as a vocal critic of former President Barack Obama's foreign policy, wrote in his email that he believes Fox News is "assaulting our constitutional order and the rule of law, while fostering corrosive and unjustified paranoia among viewers. Over my decade with Fox, I long was proud of the association. Now I am ashamed."

The network once provided "a legitimate and much-needed outlet for conservative voices," he said, but now, primetime hosts like Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson "dismiss facts and empirical reality to launch profoundly dishonest assaults on the FBI, the Justice Department, the courts, the intelligence community (in which I served) and, not least, a model public servant and genuine war hero such as Robert Mueller."

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In a statement, Fox News said Peters is "entitled to his opinion despite the fact that he's choosing to use it as a weapon in order to gain attention. We are extremely proud of our top-rated primetime hosts and all of our opinion programing." Read Peters' entire email at BuzzFeed News.