White House Spokesman Blasts Fox News Amid Mark Levin’s Kerfuffle with CNN

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates released a statement condemning Fox News for employing right-wing firebrand Mark Levin after he attacked Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper.

During a rant on his radio show on Wednesday, Levin falsely claimed that Blitzer’s parents “weren’t victims in one way or another of the Holocaust.” He then claimed Tapper was a “self-hating Jew.” Both CNN employees have been covering the Israel-Hamas war since it started last month.

CNN responded to the tirade on Thursday by calling Levin’s remarks “uninformed, inappropriate, and shameful.” Levin has an evening show on Fox News called Life, Liberty, and Levin that runs Saturday and Sunday.

Fox News pointed to Levin’s comments a day after the rant where he said his comments about Blitzer’s family connection to the Holocaust were misunderstood. Moreover, Levin refused to apologize and even doubled down on his attacks against the network.

“I barely remember saying it,” Levin said. “They think they’re going to intimidate me. They think they’re going to silence me.” He then claimed CNN “is filled with Hamas-supporting frauds, some of them doing it wittingly, some of them unwittingly.”

On Friday, Bates condemned the comments against Blitzer and Tapper, adding that Fox News fans “the flames of hate.”

“President Biden believes in an America where we come together against hate, and don’t fan its flames,” he said. “But not only is Fox News aligning with those who fan the flames of hate – Fox is paying their salaries,” Bates said. “Lying to insult the pain that families suffered in the Holocaust has absolutely no place in America.”

Levin’s targeting of Blitzer and Tapper was originally reported on by the progressive watchdog Media Matters.

CORRECTION: This article originally said Fox News issued a statement on the matter. It has been corrected.