Fox News investigates claims insider leaked Trump questions for town hall
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Trump’s aides received text messages containing questions and follow-ups before broadcast, according to book. Fox News has launched an investigation into claims that an insider leaked questions to Donald Trump’s team minutes before a pivotal Iowa town hall last January.
According to a new book by the Politico reporter Alex Isenstadt, Trump’s aides received text messages containing the exact wording of questions and planned follow-ups minutes before the broadcast began. The town hall was moderated by the network anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.
The leak, if confirmed, covered sensitive topics including Trump’s business entanglements, his multiple indictments and potential plans for political payback. In a statement, the network said it had “no evidence” of the leak but would investigate any potential breach.
“We take these matters very seriously and plan to investigate should there prove to be a breach within the network,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. A separate source familiar with Fox’s inner workings said if there had been a leak “it was not from Bret [Baier] or Martha [MacCallum] or the top editorial levels of the network”.
Isenstadt’s book, Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump’s Return to Power, draws from more than 300 interviews and internal documents. It also reveals Trump seriously weighed picking the Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo as his running mate before choosing JD Vance. Bartiromo had previously tipped off Trump’s team about interview questions after the 2020 election, according to texts unearthed during Congress’s January 6 investigation.
