FOX News managing editor and chief Washington correspondent Brit Hume mocked the New York Times for predicting that Treasury Secretary John W. Snow would leave the Bush administration, even though FOX News reported the same thing.
Hume opened the December 8 edition of FOX News' Special Report with Brit Hume by announcing: “Next on Special Report: Secretary of the Treasury John Snow, declared a goner two days ago by The New York Times, will stay on in the new Bush administration.”
A December 6 Times article reported: “President Bush has decided to replace John W. Snow as Treasury secretary and has been looking closely at a number of possible replacements, including the White House chief of staff, Andrew H. Card Jr., Republicans with ties to the White House say.”
But FOX News senior White House correspondent Jim Angle also reported rumors of Snow's impending departure. On the November 29 edition of Special Report, Angle reported: “Steve Friedman, one of the president's key economic advisers, is leaving, and Secretary John Snow is expected to depart.”
Later on the same show, Washington Post staff writer Ceci Connolly echoed this rumor on the “All-Star Panel.” “It's been made quite known that Treasury Secretary Snow can stay for a little while, but not too long,” Connolly said, paraphrasing a Post article from the same day. In the article, staff writer Mike Allen reported: “One senior administration official said Treasury Secretary John W. Snow can stay as long as he wants, provided it is not very long.”
On the November 30 edition of Your World w/ Neil Cavuto, FOX News senior business correspondent Terry Keenan reported: “You know, in this White House, where there have not been that many leaks, this is what was leaked to The Washington Post in the last couple of days: John Snow is welcome to stay in the job as long as he wants, as long as it's not too long. So you know, I -- looks like his days are numbered here.”
And on December 3, FOXNews.com reported: “Expectations that U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow would survive President Bush's Cabinet make-over for at least six months are rapidly yielding to a belief he may make a hastier exit, people close to the Bush administration said on Thursday.”
The role of Angle and his colleagues in reporting the Snow story didn't stop Angle from taunting the Times and the Post. In his report on the White House's announcement that Snow would stay later on the December 8 Special Report, Angle noted:
ANGLE: Both The Washington Post and The New York Times, among others, had reported that Snow was definitely on the way out. On Monday, The New York Times went even further, quoting someone described as an adviser to the White House as saying that “a firm decision had been made to replace Mr. Snow as soon as Mr. Bush could settle on a successor.”