Fox News anchors have been contradicting themselves on whether presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden believes police should be defunded. Despite Biden clearly and unequivocally stating on June 8, “No, I don't support defunding the police,” President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign issued an ad falsely suggesting Biden supported efforts to defund the police. The Republican effort to mark Biden with that label has caused problems for Fox’s “news”-side figures.

On July 16, America’s Newsroom anchor Sandra Smith pushed back on Trump campaign spokesperson Hogan Gidley’s claim that Biden wants to defund the police. Smith correctly stated Biden is “not calling to defund the police.”

Later that same day, Outnumbered Overtime anchor Harris Faulkner repeatedly claimed Biden did, in fact, call for the police to be defunded.

This disagreement over a single campaign position is yet another example of figures on Fox’s “news” side contradicting each other over recent reporting. Former Fox anchor Ed Henry falsely claimed police did not use pepper spray against peaceful protests outside the White House, only to have that contradicted by Fox’s national security correspondent. Fox anchor Neil Cavuto contradicted the network’s relentless coverage on the use of the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 when he said it could be potentially dangerous.