President-elect Donald Trump‘s Cabinet picks have come under scrutiny after Matt Gaetz, Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got the nod this week.
Trump has faced criticism for nominated Kennedy, a known vaccine skeptic, for secretary of Health and Human Services; Gaetz, who has been investigated for sex trafficking, for attorney general; and Gabbard, who has been accused of being a “Russian asset” for comments her detractors said lent credibility to Kremlin propaganda that U.S.-funded laboratories are working on bioweapons in Ukraine, for director of national intelligence.
Gabbard had asserted, accurately, that the U.S. funds bio labs in Ukraine, not bioweapons labs.
In one viral clip shared this week, it appeared that Fox News host Laura Ingraham had joined in attacks toward the Cabinet picks, seemingly lambasting Trump’s decision to nominate Gabbard as a gift to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Claim
A post on X, formerly Twitter, by user Republicans against Trump, posted on November 14, 2024, viewed 1.9 million times, quoted Ingraham saying: “Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence? You’d think Trump had given it to Putin himself.”
The post included a video of Ingraham hosting Fox News in which she said: “And those who get rich from the status quo in D.C. are always going to be threatened by anyone demanding accountability, and this explains a lot of the frenzy over Trump’s recent Cabinet pick.
“Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence? You’d think Trump had given it to Putin himself.”
The Facts
Based on comments under this post, it seemed some believed Ingraham was departing from conservative colleagues over Trump’s Cabinet choices. One user wrote, “Oh damn…even FOX is not liking these choices HA!!!” while another said, “That’s going to be a real mess… he didn’t think that one through.”
While the clip isn’t artificially created, it has been isolated from the rest of the Fox News piece in which Ingraham was attacking the media criticism of Trump’s nominees, including Gabbard.
In the full clip, it was clear that Ingraham was criticizing media commentary alleging that Gabbard spouted pro-Russia talking points publicly.
Elsewhere, Ingraham said the media had gone to “DEFCON 1” over the nomination of former Fox News colleague Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense and that Gaetz’s nomination for attorney general was “already in serious trouble.”
Criticizing media commentators, Ingraham said: “I mean these people have been wrong about pretty much everything, propping up Biden’s terrible Cabinet picks just because they were ‘first,’ ‘first this’ or ‘first that,’ of course with the help of their friends in the press.”
Ingraham went on to criticize Biden appointees including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Attorney General Merrick Garland.
She added: “Strategic thinking, strong nominees, well-placed allies will make all the difference.”
Newsweek has contacted a Fox News media representative via email for comment and a representative for Gabbard via her website.
All of Trump’s Cabinet nominations will require confirmation by the Senate. But even with a GOP majority in the upper chamber of Congress in the new term, he could face obstacles in getting his choices confirmed.
Some Republican lawmakers, like Senator Susan Collins of Maine, have already expressed dismay over Trump picking Gaetz, while some others have refused to say how they will vote on confirming Kennedy.
The Ruling
Misleading Material.
While the clip is real, Ingraham was criticizing the media commentary about Trump’s Cabinet picks, ridiculing the insinuation that Gabbard shared Kremlin talking points. In the full broadcast, Ingraham said: “Strategic thinking, strong nominees, well-placed allies will make all the difference.”
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek’s Fact Check team
The post Fact Check: Did Laura Ingraham Attack Trump’s Cabinet Picks on Fox News? appeared first on Newsweek.
