Fox News leaves former host dangling over 'Trump’s wrath'

Over the weekend, President Donald Trump’s case against Olympian David Hearn — who was accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool — collapsed in dramatic fashion when U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro admitted the damage was due to contractor error. As a result, a “schism” has erupted between Trump and Pirro to the point where even Fox News, where she worked for over a decade, has bailed on her.

This is according to CNN Chief Media Analyst Brian Selter, who explained on Tuesday, “It's incredible that you see the schism between Pirro and Trump, because even though Trump has stacked his government with loyal figures, Pirro is uniquely loyal. They go back decades. Pirro and Trump supported each other all throughout their various careers in New York City. Pirro was one of Trump's staunchest defenders on Fox News during Trump's first term in office. They were often in touch behind the scenes, sharing information and giving advice to one another. Trump was obsessed with Pirro's show when she was on Fox News. But now she's working for him, and it seems even Pirro is not immune from Trump's wrath when he feels that she is undermining him.”

According to Selter, Pirro has run into a problem that is common to those in Trump’s orbit: “the facts don't line up with the tall tales that he's been telling.”

While Trump has claimed that damage to the Reflecting Pool was caused by vandalism, Slate reports that records from the Interior Department repeatedly highlight “installation failures and extensive peeling of the pool liner weeks before the alleged vandalism was ever said to have occurred.” Suddenly, Pirro faced “the real possibility of judicial sanctions, an inspector general investigation and disbarment,” so her office was forced to drop the charges. Trump was outraged, saying that she “choked” and “folded like an umbrella.”

“We're in a situation now,” explained Selter, “where everyone is watching to see if Pirro is going to be back to her normal job and actually doing the job day by day. Maybe he is deciding for now to keep her in the position, but knowing that out there in the public, she's twisting in the proverbial wind now that he has publicly criticized her.”

What’s more, according to Selter, her former network Fox has been notably quiet about the matter. As he explained, “What stands out to me about this is the lack of attention from Pirro's former network and more broadly, from pro-Trump media outlets. Think about this Reflecting Pool ... Fox was very into the story back in June when there were these arrests and indictments. Fox was pushing hard, promoting the president's apparent lies about the Reflecting Pool.”

But now that these charges have been dropped, said Selter, “Fox has dropped the story very, very intently. It seems to me Fox only briefly mentioned Pirro's office dropping the charges. It has really not engaged in what has gone wrong here. Fox did show the president's criticism of Pirro yesterday, but now her former network is not defending her or not backing her up, not really presenting her side of the story in any detail. It seems to me another example of the pro-Trump media not wanting to challenge Trump's fanciful or un-credible claims.”