But Giuliani and Powell haven’t appeared on any Fox Cable news for more than a month, according to a Washington Post review. Giuliani’s last appearance was on December 12, and Powell’s was December 10 on “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” a show that was once a regular vehicle for her and Giuliani. Ellis has only appeared on social media once since early December.
In November and December, all three were frequent guests on Fox News and Fox Business Network shows, sometimes doing double duty, as Powell did by appearing on shows hosted by Lou Dobbs and Sean Hannity the same. evening – even if it had already been started. of the Trump campaign’s efforts. Ellis appeared on three Fox News Media shows on November 20.
The network would not comment on the trio’s absence. But the timing of their demise coincides with the first legal denial of a pair of voting technology companies that say they have been falsely sullied by baseless conspiratorial allegations of election fraud by Trump allies.
On December 10, the day of Powell ‘Lou Dobbs’ last appearance, an attorney for Smartmatic sent a letter to Fox News Media’s general counsel requesting that Fox reconsider and apologize for “[publishing] and [republishing] dozens of false and misleading statements about Smartmatic ”in the weeks following the November 3 presidential election.
The legal demand letter prominently cited “patently false information and defamatory statements about Smartmatic” that were made by guests Giuliani and Powell on shows hosted by Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo. Ellis was not mentioned by name in the letter.
The three lawyers had all appeared regularly on shows hosted by Bartiromo, the longtime financial journalist who has become a reliable supporter of the president and suggested to viewers on post-election broadcasts that Trump may still be successful in claiming a second term. .
Dobbs, meanwhile, had promoted Powell’s latest appearance by calling it flowery allegations of a global conspiracy involving election technology companies a “cyber Pearl Harbor,” writing that it “reveals groundbreaking new evidence that our presidential election was the subject of a massive cyber attack orchestrated with the ‘help from Dominion, Smartmatic and foreign adversaries. “
In response, Fox aired a segment attempting to correct erroneous information on Smartmatic about the shows mentioned in the letter. On December 20, a law firm representing Dominion Voting Systems, another voting technology company that had been criticized on Fox, sent legal preservation letters to Bartiromo, Dobbs and Hannity. The network did not broadcast any segments responding to Dominion’s legal threat.
While Giuliani remains a member of the President’s legal team, his name has almost vanished from the airwaves of Fox. At the height of his influence, as a key member of Trump’s 2020 effort to overturn the election, Giuliani was mentioned 324 times on Fox News or Fox Business Network during the week of November 17. About a month later, during the week of December 15, Giuliani’s name was only mentioned 13 times.
On the morning of January 6, as the pro-Trump public still listened to speeches denouncing the veracity of the election, Fox News chief White House correspondent John Roberts informed viewers that he had spoken to Giuliani about 45 minutes earlier, relaying that Giuliani was convinced Vice President Pence could refuse to certify the election. But the network did not broadcast Giuliani’s comments to Roberts.
Smartmatic and Dominion have also demanded retractions from Fox’s lesser-known competitors in conservative media, including Newsmax, One America News and The Epoch Times. In response to requests from Smartmatic, Newsmax released a sweeping clarification on the air on December 21. “No evidence was offered that Dominion or Smartmatic used any software or reprogrammed software that manipulated the votes in the 2020 election,” a Newsmax host said. On the other hand, OAN did not issue any retraction or clarification.
Powell has also been absent from Newsmax’s lineup and does not appear to be scheduled for future network appearances.
Giuliani appeared on OAN last week to talk about his participation in the pro-Trump rally that turned into a mob. “They seemed quite orderly and calm enough,” Giuliani said of Trump supporters. “You’re going to see that 99% of it was all peaceful,” OAN host John Ball replied. He also spoke earlier with the OAN’s chief White House correspondent Chanel Rion on electoral issues and legal challenges in Pennsylvania and Michigan. “They stole an election from us,” he said.
NAO President Charles Herring told the Washington Post in an email this week: “If there is anything of interest to discuss, we are happy to welcome Mr. Giuliani and Ms. Powell. at the OAN. “
After last week’s riot on Capitol Hill, Cumulus Media, one of conservative talk radio’s biggest players, issued a memorandum ordering programmers to end on-air rhetoric questioning the election results. It is not known if legal liability concerns were a factor in the decision. Two of their most prominent and outspoken hosts, Mark Levin and Dan Bongino, both said this week that they had not received the memo.