As Donald Trump was indicted for a third time on Tuesday, Fox News hosts once again stood behind the former president, launching into negative coverage of the latest unprecedented criminal case.
Just moments before the indictment was handed down federally charging Trump with four counts in connection to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential-election results, the Fox News star Jesse Watters bizarrely suggested to viewers that feds had been "rummaging" through the former first lady Melania Trump's "underwear drawer."
The Fox News host who replaced the ousted Fox star Tucker Carlson in prime time suggested on the conservative network's "The Five" program that Donald Trump would target President Joe Biden and his family if the former president managed to get back into the White House.
"You think he's not going to go after the Bidens? He might go after Dr. Jill at this point, after you've been rummaging through Melania's underwear drawer, turning his life upside down. Payback is going to be a you know what. And you guys started it," Watters said.
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"This is overkill. This is political germ warfare. These are political war crimes. It's an atrocity," Watters added shortly before the indictment against Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, was released.
Watters said: "This is the establishment terrified of Donald Trump's reelection because of all the money that's going to dry up and all the influence. And you know what? They're terrified of the payback. And that's what this is about."
Additionally, Watters called the latest indictment against Trump "legal mumbo jumbo" and said the 45-page document read like an "MSNBC script."
In an attempt to defend Trump as he read a copy of the indictment on live TV, Watters said that it's part of the Republican Party's platform to prevent the government from running.
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"First point, they said the defendant impaired the federal government from functioning," Watters said. "Isn't that literally the Republican Party platform, to reduce the ability of the federal government from functioning?"
Meanwhile, the Fox News host Greg Gutfeld ripped the indictment on the air.
"Donald Trump is probably one of the most consequential leaders of our lifetime. He was outside the box. He didn't play well with others — others being insiders," Gutfeld said. "This is the payback."
He said that the indictment was "criminalizing thought" and "criminalizing speech."
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"You have every right to think an election might be rigged," Gutfeld said.
Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump was charged Tuesday with conspiracy to defraud the US, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights as part of federal prosecutors' criminal probe into 2020 election interference and the January 6, 2021, Capital riot.
The Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith said Tuesday during a press conference that the deadly insurrection was "fueled by lies" from Trump.
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