Fox & Friends Helps White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham Downplay Bombshell Lev Parnas Interview

Lev Parnas‘ bombshell statements about Donald Trump and the Ukraine scandal might have opened a new dimension in the president’s possible impeachment, and yet, Fox & Friends’ coverage of the matter was superficial at best.

Parnas made huge news on Wednesday night by accusing the president of lying, outlining a clear quid pro quo with Ukraine, and saying Trump was entirely motivated by going after the Bidens when he pressured the Ukrainian government. Implicating the president on the scandal at the root of his impeachment is a considerable news item, but instead of acknowledging the meat of Parnas’ comments, Fox & Friends settled for having Jillian Mele do a less-than-a-minute long segment on Thursday about Parnas calling Robert Hyde a “drunk” and saying he didn’t take Hyde seriously when the Trump donor and Republican congressional candidate claimed he was following Marie Yovanovitch.

Fox & Friends broached the subject against later on during an interview with Tom Cotton, but they declined to invoke the substance of Parnas’ remarks as they asked the senator if they “change anything.” Cotton, likewise, dismissed Parnas without saying anything about what he claimed about the Ukraine scandal.

Finally, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham was on the Fox morning show but got let off easy when the curvy couch asked only one question about Parnas and failed to press any further.

Brian Kilmeade: “Lev Parnas, he’s come out and said while the president knew what was going on every step of the way, he was there when Rudy Giuliani made the call. What is the White House’s view on Lev Parnas and did the president talk to him often?”

Grisham: The president has said he did not know him and I’ve got to say, just to say Rudy told me these things doesn’t mean that it has anything to do with the president and it certainly doesn’t mean that the president was directing him to do anything. We stand by exactly what we’ve been saying, the president did nothing wrong. The phone calls, the transcripts say everything there is to it. This is a man who’s under indictment and who’s actually out on bail. This is a man who owns a company called “Fraud, inc.” So I think that’s something that people should be thinking about. You know, we’re not too concerned about it. Once again, we know that everything in the Senate is going to be fair. It’s unfortunate that he’s now making a media tour out with a lot of the outlets that are against the president. I think that shows exactly what he’s doing.”

Steve Doocy: He was on TV over on MSNBC last night, but nonetheless, the Democrats are saying he and others should be witnesses called before the Senate, but that’s not really the way the stuff is supposed to work. The witnesses are supposed to come generally in the House, ahead of time so if they really wanted, you know, they wanted, for instance Mick Mulvaney or John Bolton or they wanted Mike Pompeo, they should have called them back when they were doing it in the House rather than now.

This gave Grisham the off-ramp she needed to pivot to the Trump administration’s claim that the impeachment process has been unfair.

Watch above, via Fox News