Amid Trump's Rolling Saturday Night Massacre, Fox Gets A Case Of Investigation Fatigue

By Heather — May 19, 2020

If anyone was wondering how State-Run TV, a.k.a. Fox "news" would handle the firing of yet another Inspector General, after State Department IG Steve Linick was axed this week, presumably for having the temerity to do his job, we got our answer on this Monday's Outnumbered, where co-hosts Jason Chaffetz, Harris Faulkner, Emily Compagno, Lisa Montgomery Kennedy and Melissa Francis all did their best to turn any investigation into the firing into just another partisan food fight, and to lie and accuse Democrats of not legislating during the pandemic, despite the fact that the House just passed another relief package this week.

You'll recall this was also one of Trump and Fox's favorite line of attacks during impeachment as well, despite the fact that the House has passed hundreds of bills, only to have them die a slow death on Mitch McConnell's desk.

After attacking Democrats for supposedly being hypocrites when it comes to investigating their own party, Jason "Benghazi" Chaffetz told the panel that Trump has the right to fire whoever he wants, and that he didn't "know the nuances" of this current scandal, but then accused Nancy Pelosi of playing politics for saying that the firing would be "unlawful if it's retaliation."

Harris Faulkner asked Emily Compagno to weight in on the legality of the firing, and after downplaying whether the firing would actually shield Pompeo from accountability, Compagno switched gears and proceeded to attack Democrats for not being concerned about Americans during the pandemic:

COMPAGNO: That being said, as Jason pointed out, this is another investment of our taxpayer dollars and times that I think, given their 36 million Americans unemployed right now, I'd probably speak for most of us when I say we'd rather our lawmakers focus on expunging policy that stagnates jobs and rights policy that improves and sustains jobs.

Tell that to Mitch McConnell, Emily. Faulkner then attempted to "both sides" an IG investigation and conflate it with Trump and her network's latest faux "scandal" on the Flynn unmasking:

FAULKNER: It's interesting you put it that way. That's what everybody kind of was saying in the beginning, even from both sides of the political aisle. They want the president focused on former administration Barack Obama at this point, or they want them focus on the thing that Emily just listed right there. Now you've got -- but wait a minute, there's more from this side of the political aisle. What of the American people supposed to think about the letter "I" wear it, investigation, at this point?

Yes, that terrible "I" word. Investigations are only to be taken seriously when Republicans use them as a political weapon. Kennedy responded by feigning concern over Pompeo's actions, while muddying the waters at the same time:

KENNEDY: Unfortunately it's a political weapon, and that's a problem. If you have somebody who is really abusing their power and their office, there needs to be accountability. We don't want it to turn into a swamp more than it is for Republicans or Democrats.

It's not excusable if someone in a Republican administration does it. With Mike Pompey having diplomatic service members walk his dog, that might not be great. I don't think it's worth an IG investigation, but if you're talking about him misusing taxpayer funds in order to fly to his adopted home state of Kansas in order to potentially lay out a senate run, using taxpayer money, that is problematic. I think we need to look at these things. I have a big issue with arms sales to Saudi Arabia, on a personal and moral level.

Nancy Pelosi is saying, "well, it could be retaliation." It could be a lot of things. Mike Pompeo may be an automaton. But until you find the off switch on him, you can't prove that. Throwing things like, "what if?" Around, it only muddies an already dirty process. Back to Jason's point, this is so political that people have a hard time trusting anything they hear out of anyone's mouth. That means we've gotten so far from the truth.

That's what an investigation is for Kennedy, but they'll be howling as soon as they open one up, because none of them actually want any accountability for this administration, or they'd be reporting on rather than covering up blatant corruption of this administration that began before Trump even took office.

Melissa Francis continued the line of attack that Democrats aren't capable of investigating and legislating at the same time and poo pooed the whole thing as one giant waste of time.

FRANCIS: I don't actually think they are good at doing more than one thing at a time. I don't think they're good at doing one thing at a time, so i don't have a lot of faith in this. I would say that, yes, the investigation is still ongoing, but when he fired the IG, it certainly puts a chill on the whole thing. There's that.

At the same time, when have any of these investigations ever been satisfying for either side? They always stormed down this path, it's as if you are tattling on each other on both sides of the aisle. Both Democrats and Republicans. A lot of times they have very valid issues, but there is never a satisfying outcome where somebody who didn't sink something before is convinced of it afterwards, and the right people get punished.

That doesn't happen. For whatever reason, I think it's a waste of time. And they should focus on reopening America safely.

Jason Chaffetz wrapped things up pretending he and his fellow Republicans didn't spend 8 years investigating every faux, drummed up "scandal" during Barack Obama's time in office, and aided and abetted the others in trying to paint on investigation into Pompeo as just a partisan witch hunt:

CHAFFETZ: I would just say there's a double standard, because when Barack Obama did it, nobody said a peep. Presidents do this, it has happened in each administration. Presidents are allowed to do this. I don't mind looking at it, but don't take it to this hyper-partisan level that they didn't do. It's Barack Obama, that's the hypocrisy that drives me nuts.

Somehow, Chaffetz managed to avoid a lightening strike after making those comments. Fox loves partisan investigations used as a political cudgel as long as they're being done by Republicans. Democrats, not so much.