A lengthy Fox News research document warns its employees to be wary of “disinformation” spread by several Pro-Trump guests, including the president’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani and network contributor John Solomon, according to a Thursday report from The Daily Beast.
The document, dubbed “Ukraine, Disinformation, & the Trump Administration,” is 162 pages long. It’s “especially critical of Solomon,” The Daily Beast reports, after he made several unsubstantiated claims the Ukrainian government interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Solomon is a former opinion columnist at “The Hill,” where his work “fueled” Giuliani to “dig up dirt in Ukraine,” according to the report.
“John Solomon played an indispensable role in the collection and domestic publication of elements of this disinformation campaign,” the briefing notes.
Solomon’s “questionable reporting,” as the report put it, has also been referenced multiple times by President Trump on Twitter. He and Giuliani did not respond to TDB’s request for comment.
“The research division of Fox News produces a briefing book for all major stories, which serves as a standing collection of extensive data on major topics for internal use by all those in editorial functions,” said Mitch Kweit senior vice president of the the Fox News Brainroom research department.
He went on, “The Ukraine briefing book is nothing more than a comprehensive chronological account of what every person involved in the Ukraine controversy was doing at any identifiable point in time, including tracking media appearances of major players who appeared on Fox News and in many other outlets. The 200 page document has thousands of data points and the vast majority have no relation to Fox News – instead it’s now being taken out of context and politicized to damage the network.”
The research document, put together by Fox News’ senior political affairs specialist Bryan S. Murphy, also claims Giuliani is especially gullible when it comes to Ukrainian fake news; this stems from his desire to find out more about Hunter Biden’s ties to Ukraine, according to the report.
Giuliani shows a “high susceptibility to disinformation” shared by Ukrainians Ukrainian prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko and his associates, according to Murphy’s writing.
Murphy’s report also calls out Fox News guests Victoria Toensing and Joe DiGenova for “spreading disinformation.” The married couple worked alongside Giuliani to find out more about Hunter and Joe Biden, according to The Daily Beast, and were employed by indicted Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash. Both Toensing and DiGenova did not respond to TDB’s request for comment.
You can read the full report here.