Fox News appeared to mute and cut off a White House briefing on Wednesday when Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre condemned the network for calling President Joe Biden a “wannabe dictator”.
Donald Trump was arrested and arraigned for a second time on Tuesday in Miami – this time on 37 federal charges related to his handling of classified government documents after leaving the White House.
Following his arraignment, Mr Trump gave a speech at his Bedminster golf club on Tuesday night, which coincided with an address by Mr Biden at the White House.
Fox News’ covered the speeches with a split screen of the two men, including a news chyron reading: “WANNABE DICTATOR SPEAKS AT THE WHITE HOUSE AFTER HAVING HIS POLITICAL RIVAL ARRESTED.”
The graphic appeared near the end of the 8pm hour during a broadcast of “Fox News Tonight”, a show that replaced Tucker Carlson's show after he was fired.
During a White House press briefing on Wednesday afternoon, a reporter asked Ms Jean-Pierre about the Fox News chyron.
“There are probably about 787,000,000 things that I can say about this. That was wrong,” she said – a reference to the $787m payout Fox News agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems to settle a defamation case.
As Ms Jean-Pierre began her answer, Fox News – which was broadcasting the briefing live – dropped her audio, with an off-screen anchor announcing they would “continue to listen for any of the top stories” from the briefing.
A loud sigh was heard as the camera then cut to anchor John Roberts who instead began a report on a 10-foot crocodile that found its way into a pool in Florida.
Fox News was pressed by reporters to explain the chyron immediately after it was spotted, with the network giving a one-line statement on the matter.
“The chyron was taken down immediately and was addressed,” a spokesperson for the network told CNN.
Fox News' Brian Kilmeade also referred to Mr Trump as the “president of the United States” during its airing of the post-arraignment speeches.
