Fox News Basically Just Ignored Reports That Saudi and Emirati Princes Offered Trump Campaign Assistance

Fox News has almost entirely ignored a recent article published in The New York Times reporting that countries other than Russia may have offered to help the Trump campaign to victory in the 2016 election. According to the Times, a representative of the princes of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as an Israeli specialist in social media manipulation, offered Donald Trump Jr. assistance.

On May 19, The New York Timesreported on an August 2016 meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and Joel Zamel, an Israeli social media expert; Erik Prince, the founder of the private military company Blackwater who reportedly also worked with the UAE in an attempt to establish a communication back channel for Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin; and George Nader, who served as an emissary for the princes of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

According to the Times, Nader informed Trump Jr. at the meeting that the princes were “eager to help his father win election as president.” In the months after this initial gathering, Nader became “a close ally” to Trump campaign advisers, and met frequently with both Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, and Michael Flynn, who later served as Trump’s first national security adviser. Special counsel Robert Mueller is now investigating these interactions.

Despite the significance of the news, Fox has all but ignored the story. Between the publication of the article on May 19 and 11 a.m. on May 21, Fox News mentioned the story only twice, bothtimes in short Sunday afternoon reports.

Fox’s failure to adequately cover the story is not surprising given the network’s history of ignoringnews that could potentially be harmful to the president, especiallystoriesrelated to the Russia investigation.

Methodology

Media Matters searched SnapStream for mentions of “Saudi,” “Emirates,” “Gulf,” “Nader,” “Prince,” and “Donald Trump Jr.” on Fox News between May 19 and 11 a.m. on May 21. All mentions relevant to the story were included.