Elizabeth Warren turns down Fox News town hall, blasts network as a 'hate-for-profit machine'

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) isn't into this whole Fox News town hall thing.

The Democratic candidate for president in 2020 on Tuesday revealed that she has turned down an offer from Fox News to participate in a town hall, blasting the network as a "hate-for-profit racket that gives a megaphone to racists and conspiracists" and that is "designed to turn us against each other, risking life and death consequences."

The Democratic National Committee in March announced it would not be partnering with Fox News for any 2020 debates, citing the network's "inappropriate relationship" with President Trump. But since then, a number of prominent 2020 contenders have participated in town hall events with Fox News, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), whose April event was a ratings hit. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) also recently held a Fox News town hall, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg have both agreed to do so.

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Since being rejected for 2020 debates by the DNC, Fox News personalities like Bill Hemmer have urged the committee to reconsider, arguing that their news division is different than the opinion programming. House Democrats have also recently been encouraging members to make appearances on Fox News to reach voters to the right who might be sympathetic to some of their ideas.

Warren said on Tuesday that Fox has "enough legit journalism to make the claim to advertisers that it's a reputable news outlet," but she says that a town hall event gives the sales team "a way to tell potential sponsors it's safe to buy ads on Fox" and "adds money to the hate-for-profit machine." For that reason, she concludes, "hard pass."