Ron DeSantis credits Fox News and other conservative media outlets with protecting Donald Trump even now, when he faces multiple trials regarding finances, fraud and his 2020 presidential campaign, while competing in the 2024 campaign.
DeSantis, who has been campaigning in Iowa in the shadow of Trump, spoke to reporters about how cable news covers the former president in a segment shared on X (formerly known as Twitter) by journalist Aaron Rupar.
“He’s got basically a Praetorian guard of the conservative media: Fox News, the websites, all this stuff,” DeSantis said. “They don’t hold him accountable because they’re worried about losing viewers, and they don’t want to have the ratings go down.”
“That’s just the reality. That’s just the truth,” he continued. “And I’m not complaining about it. I’d rather that not be the case, but that’s just, I think, an objective reality.”
While DeSantis complained about Fox News’ coverage of his rival, the Florida governor also appeared on the conservative cable news network for his own town hall Tuesday, a Fox News spokesperson noted, before Trump spoke during a Fox News town hall on Wednesday.
The comments are the latest from DeSantis criticizing Fox News, which he also did last week, stating that the outlet never criticizes the former president.
Trump was ordered by a New York State judge this week to pay the New York Times $392,638.69 for legal fees connected to a frivolous lawsuit he brought against the paper, in addition to three Times staffers.
Susanne Craig, a New York Times reporter, tweeted the news Friday with a screenshot of the order.
Craig’s story in the Times, which exposed Trump for claiming he earned millions of dollars through his businesses when they actually were passed down from his father, won the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting in 2019.
He is due to appear in court in New York City on Tuesday for his second rape defamation trial. E. Jean Carroll, who was awarded $5 million in May after a jury ruled that Trump sexually abused her in 1996 and defamed her in 2022, could receive an additional $10 million settlement for this second trial.