Fox News pays contributor Kevin Jackson to push blatant lies and conspiracy theories

In addition to speculating about an FBI plot to kill the president, Jackson has falsely claimed that Colin Kaepernick supports terrorism and Trump released his tax returns

Written by Bobby Lewis

Published

Fox News contributor and radio talk show host Kevin Jackson has pushed several outright lies and conspiracy theories in just a few weeks:

December 19: Cited “social media” to float the possibility that the FBI plotted to assassinate President Donald Trump. 

FACT: There is absolutely nothing to confirm that the FBI -- or any domestic law enforcement agency -- plotted to assassinate the president of the United States, other than Infowars. 

December 5: Falsely claimed Trump released his tax returns.

FACT: He has not. 

December 1: Falsely accused former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick of material support for terrorism, claiming he “gives money to terrorists.”

FACT: Claiming Colin Kaepernick “gives money to terrorists” is a lie, unless you have a particularly suspicious view of his donations to groups like “Meals on Wheels; DREAM, a Harlem charter school; the Coalition for the Homeless, an organization offering assistance to homeless people in New York City; and Justice League NYC, an organization opposing child incarceration.” 

November 4: Parroted Trump’s false claim that the Bowe Bergdahl prisoner swap resulted in the five released detainees becoming “re-engaged” in terrorism.

FACT: PolitiFact wrote in 2015 that the five Taliban prisoners exchanged for Bergdahl by then-President Barack Obama “are known to be in Qatar, where they have been since their release over a year ago. Qatar is considered neutral ground -- not a battlefield -- and they are not allowed to leave the country.” A 2016 follow-up piece reported that the five men were still in Qatar and a 2017 report pointed out that exaggerated and incorrect claims about released Guantanamo prisoners “became a Republican talking point." 

November 3: Falsely claimed Obama funded the Steele dossier.

FACT: Organizing for Action, a non-profit that is not Barack Obama but supports his policies, made payments to a law firm which also paid Fusion GPS for the dossier that former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele compiled on Trump’s potential ties to Russia.