Trump reportedly screamed at Rupert Murdoch over Fox News' early Arizona call
As of Wednesday night, Fox News had one of the most pessimistic maps for the Trump campaign, with the network being one of two outlets to call Arizona for Joe Biden. (The Associated Press is the other.) And you'll never guess who was rumored to be furious that it was his preferred news channel that happened to be the bearer of bad news.
"According to a source, [President] Trump phoned Fox owner Rupert Murdoch to scream about the call and demand a retraction" after Fox's ruling was made just before 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday night, Gabriel Sherman reports for Vanity Fair. "Murdoch refused, and the call stood."
Biden is still ahead of Trump in Arizona, which has 11 electoral votes, meaning that if he wins the state, he'll be a mere six Electoral College votes away from the winning 270. But as more votes came in from Maricopa County on Wednesday night, Trump appeared to be slowly chipping away at his lead.
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Still, "Murdoch has been telling associates for months that Trump would lose the election," Vanity Fair reports. And the network's coverage isn't going over well with the Trump team, which is used to Fox being on their side. "Fox News committed news malpractice and voter suppression last night," former Trump adviser Sam Nunberg vented to Sherman. "There's got to be a change there or there will be major consequences. Chris Wallace wouldn't shut up the whole night! I switched to CNN anytime he came on."
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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