The set of “Fox & Friends” added their voice to the chorus of criticism which rained down on President Donald Trump after his joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on Monday, telling Trump that he “fell short” of what was required of him and urged him to rectify the situation.
“Thanks to Robert Mueller’s probe we know the names of the 12 people at least on the Russian side, who were part of the hacking into the election,” said co-host Brian Kilmeade. “When President Trump was asked about that, he fell short.”
Kilmeade, who has increasingly emerged as Trump’s toughest critic on the show, then berated the president directly, who is known to be a regular and close watcher of the show.
“I have news for you, Sen. Schumer and Hillary Clinton will never get over the fact that you won the election, neither will 16 Republicans get over the fact that you won the primary. Did the Russians help you with that?” asked Kilmeade.
“From the day you came down the escalator, you shocked the world. From November, when everyone had you losing, you shocked the world. It wasn’t because of Russia, but Russia’s goal with was to upend the electoral process. They hate democracy.”
Elsewhere on the program, Kilmeade compared the meeting to President Kennedy’s disastrous one-on-one with Soviet dictator Nikita Khrushchev in 1961.
“Kennedy would love to have undone his first meeting with Khrushchev,” said Kilmeade. “This is something that needs to be corrected.”
Also on set was Abby Huntsman, a “Fox & Friends” weekend host, and the daughter of the U.S. ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman — who had this to say yesterday:
No negotiation is worth throwing your own people and country under the bus.
— Abby Huntsman (@HuntsmanAbby) July 16, 2018
The view of “Fox & Friends” was similar to the rest of the media’s as fallout continued from the Trump-Putin summit. Even at Fox, hosts said that it was a disaster, with only the president’s staunchest supporters like Sean Hannity and Lou Dobbs, supporting him.