Veteran news anchor Tom Brokaw said Fox News is "is on a jihad right now on the whole question” of whether the FBI’s investigation into alleged collusion between President Donald Trump’s campaign team and Russian officials is fair.
He told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that “we're at war here and it's gonna be sorted out in the final analysis.”
Fox News is preferred viewing for the President as evidenced by tweets congratulating them repeatedly on the network’s generally positive coverage of his administration.
Mr Brokaw took issue with many of the network’s primetime right-leaning opinion show hosts like Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Laura Ingraham.
However, he named one in particular as a problem for his flip-flopping views.
“Newt Gingrich looking in the camera and saying the FBI is a corrupt organization, right? Three months earlier, he had said [special prosecutor Robert Mueller] is one of the great, distinguished public servants we have," Mr Brokaw said.
One of the network’s hosts, Jesse Watters, said the FBI investigation was “crooked from the jump,” adding that "we have a coup on our hands in America."
Mr Brokaw and his generation of news anchors were largely known for unbiased coverage but since Mr Trump has repeatedly criticised the “fake news,” the journalist has publicly taken him to task.
In August Mr Brokaw tweeted about the President’s comments during a rally in Phoenix, Arizona, posting: “i've been a journalist 50 years. Never met one who didn't love USA. Many risk their lives reporting on US values. Cheap shot."
The network has not responded to Mr Brokaw’s comments, but contributor Katie Pavlich tweeted that his view is “definitely false.”
“Fox News isn’t suicide bombing the NYC subway, running innocents over with trucks or flying planes into buildings etc., but the real jihadists are,” Ms Pavlich wrote in response to Mr Brokaw’s use of the term “jihad.”
The FBI and Congressional investigations into the alleged collusion continues.
Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and campaign aide George Papadopoulos have both pleaded guilty on charges of lying to the FBI about their contacts with Russians ahead of Mr Trump’s inauguration.
Mr Mueller also charged former campaign manager Paul Manafort and Rick Gates on several counts of financial crimes, unrelated to the Russia investigation but a plea deal could result in information related to the alleged collusion case.
