On Fox News, Trump campaign spokesperson Hogan Gidley pushes far-right smear about Joe Biden

Whisper campaign alleging that Joe Biden is a pedophile jumps to Fox News; the Fox anchor changes the subject back but doesn't debunk it

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

From the July 9, 2020, edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom

HOGAN GIDLEY (TRUMP CAMPAIGN SPOKESPERSON): I love the fact that James Carville would point to the past debates of Joe Biden. Let's be clear, that's why he was last in all the polls during the debates. It was only South Carolina that saved him. When you're on a debate stage, you can't reach out like Joe Biden has done so many times and said, “Please, please bring me my documents, I need to read off of them, the fact sheet that my staff has given me." You are going to hear interesting comments from Joe Biden about how children love his leg hair and how he used to coax children up onto the porch with ice cream during quarantines.

SANDRA SMITH (ANCHOR): Whoa.

GIDLEY: And how he doesn't know the dates of 9/11, when it happened, what year. Those are things that --

SMITH: Hold on -- hold on, Hogan. We are talking about whether or not the president wants to debate Joe Biden, and whether or not inside the Joe Biden camp they are urging Joe Biden to debate Donald Trump. Who benefits the most from a debate?

The “ice cream” mention from Gidley is actually a reference to Biden talking about how he's seen his grandchildren during the coronavirus lockdowns: 

Presidential candidate Joe Biden shares how he's following the coronavirus protocol with his grandchildren.



“They sit out in the backyard and we sit on the porch and I bribe them with ice cream... but I'm not able to go down and hug them and kiss them which I usually do.” pic.twitter.com/LhIUMFUZH3

— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) March 24, 2020