Fox News’ Brit Hume neglected to ask Trump adviser Newt Gingrich about former Fox president and CEO Roger Ailes aiding the Trump campaign in debate preparations.
Hume hosted Gingrich to discuss Trump’s foreign policy and his preparations for the upcoming presidential debates. During the interview, Hume asked Gingrich “does [Trump] practice at all” for debates? And followed up by asking whether the debate would be a “brawl” or we would see a more measured Trump in “a subdued atmosphere of a presidential debate?”
But Hume failed to address reports that Ailes, who was fired as CEO of Fox News following accusations from more than two dozen women of sexual harassment, is advising Trump ahead of the upcoming debates. And CNN reports that “even when he was running Fox News, Roger Ailes was advising Donald Trump” and helping him prepare for the presidential debates:
The former Fox News chief started advising Trump at a private lunch just days before the launch of his campaign, and regularly offered him advice over the course of the primaries, sources familiar with the discussions said.
Trump and Ailes met in person several times between June 2015 and June 2016 -- almost always at Fox News headquarters -- and spoke frequently on the phone, the sources said. Even when Ailes and Trump appeared to be at war over Trump's treatment of Megyn Kelly, the two men kept the conversation going.
But since late July, when Ailes left Fox News amid a torrent of sexual harassment allegations, he has taken on a much more active role in Trump's campaign -- specifically in terms of debate preparation.
Trump’s campaign has been secretive about Trump’s role in the campaign amid allegations of sexual harassment and the subsequent settlement with a former Fox News anchor over allegations of sexual harassment by Ailes.