Rebukes for slamming network

Fox News' Neil Cavuto rebukes Trump for slamming network

Allyson Chiu

Fox News host Neil Cavuto delivered a scorching rebuke on Thursday to President Donald Trump's recent criticism that the cable network "isn't working for us anymore," and called out his tenuous relationship with the media.

"Mr. President, we don't work for you. I don't work for you," Cavuto said in the closing monologue of "Your World with Neil Cavuto." "My job is to cover you, not fawn over you or rip you. Just report on you."

The host later added: "It is called being fair and balanced, Mr. President. Yet it is fair to say you're not a fan when that balance includes stuff you don't like to hear or facts you don't like to have questioned."

Cavuto's pointed comments come on the heels of Trump's latest broadside against Fox News. Despite the network's reputation for favorable coverage of the president and his administration, with critics going so far as to describe it as "state TV," Fox News has increasingly become a target of Trump's rage. The president slammed the network in tweets this week for "heavily promoting the Democrats," adding, "We have to start looking for a new News Outlet. Fox isn't working for us anymore!" The tirade appeared to be sparked by Fox News anchor Sandra Smith interviewing Xochitl Hinojosa, the communications director for the Democratic National Committee, and soon prompted criticism from a handful of people associated with the network.

On Thursday, Cavuto joined in, addressing Trump directly in a roughly four-minute segment that has since been viewed more than 170,000 times across Twitter and YouTube.

Cavuto, who has slammed Trump on his show before, kicked off his monologue by playing a clip of the president calling into a Fox News Radio program earlier in the day and expressing that he was "not happy" with the network. In recent months, Trump has gone after several Fox News personalities including host Shepard Smith, left-leaning pundit Juan Williams and contributor Donna Brazile, former chair of the Democratic National Committee.

On Thursday, Cavuto joined in, addressing Trump directly in a roughly four-minute segment that has since been viewed more than 170,000 times across Twitter and YouTube.

Cavuto, who has slammed Trump on his show before, kicked off his monologue by playing a clip of the president calling into a Fox News Radio program earlier in the day and expressing that he was "not happy" with the network. In recent months, Trump has gone after several Fox News personalities including host Shepard Smith, left-leaning pundit Juan Williams and contributor Donna Brazile, former chair of the Democratic National Committee.

On Thursday, Cavuto also pointed out the president's habit of contradicting himself. The host cited Trump's praise of former secretary of state Rex Tillerson, whom he later fired and then called "dumb as a rock," and his apparent 180 on potential support for gun background check legislation.

These moments that have been reported on aren't fake, Cavuto said, addressing Trump, "They're real items and you really said them."

"Fake is when it's wrong, Mr. President, not when it's unpleasant," he added.

But, Cavuto conceded that Trump was right to complain that the media, which can be "more inclined to report the bad than anything good," hasn't been fair to him.

"It is no surprise you're frustrated that more aren't in line with you and that everyone at Fox might not be in lockstep with you," said Cavuto, before clarifying that even if there are Fox News hosts who defend Trump, it doesn't mean that they work for him.

"Hard as it is to fathom, Mr. President, just because you're the leader of the free world doesn't entitle you to a free pass," Cavuto concluded. "Unfortunately, just a free press."