Bret Baier Reportedly Pushed Fox News Brass to Retract Arizona Call Amid Pressure from Trump Campaign (UPDATE)

Fox News anchor Bret Baier reportedly pushed the network’s president to rescind the election night call of Arizona for President Joe Biden amid pressure from former President Donald Trump’s campaign.

According to the forthcoming book “The Divider” by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser (in an excerpt reported on by Insider), Baier — who was on the anchor desk for Fox’s 2020 election night coverage — fired off an email during the broadcast to Fox News president and executive editor Jay Wallace noting the blowback from the Trump campaign.

“This situation is getting uncomfortable,” Baier reportedly wrote. “Really uncomfortable. I keep having to defend this on air.”

The email also noted, “The Trump campaign was really pissed.”

The Fox News anchor believed the network was “holding on for pride” after its Decision Desk called Arizona for Biden. Fox News was the first network to project that the Democrat had won the state, and it proved a pivotal call. Baier, according to the new book, was pushing to reverse it.

“It’s hurting us,” Baier added. “‘The sooner we pull it — even if it gives us major egg — and we put it back in his column the better we are in my opinion.'”

Wallace held firm and the network did not retract its call.

In a statement to Mediaite, a network spokesperson said, “Fox News made an election night call of historic magnitude and was first to do so. We stood by the call in the days that followed, it was proven correct, and other news organizations eventually joined us.”

Baker and Glasser report that two members of the Decision Desk were fired afterwards, with one of the dismissals being labeled a retirement, and the other — then-Fox News political editor Chris Stirewalt — being chalked up to restructuring. Citing employee confidentiality, Fox News has not commented on the specific departures, but did make this statement in January 2021:

“As we conclude the 2020 election cycle, Fox News Digital has realigned its business and reporting structure to meet the demands of this new era. We are confident these changes will ensure the platform continues to deliver breakthrough reporting and insightful analysis surrounding major issues, both stateside and abroad.”

UPDATE: 1:17 p.m. ET — Through a Fox News spokesperson, Baier has responded to the report:

“The full context of the e-mail is not reported in this book. I never said the Trump campaign ‘was really pissed’ – that was from an external email that I referenced within my note. This was an email sent AFTER election night. In the immediate days following the election, the vote margins in Arizona narrowed significantly and I communicated these changes to our team along with what people on the ground were saying and predicting district by district. I wanted to analyze at what point (what vote margin) would we have to consider pulling the call for Biden. I also noted that I fully supported our decision desk’s call and would defend it on air.”