Fox’s Lawrence Jones Does Not Challenge Trump’s Claim He’ll Get Evan Gershkovich Out of Russia ‘Within 24 Hours’
Former President Donald Trump repeated his social media claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin will release prisoned WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich if, and only if, he is elected president. The comment came during an interview with Fox & Friends co-host Lawrence Jones, who failed to press Trump on exactly how he will do that or even ask why Trump is not helping free Gershkovich now.
Carley Shimkus set up the brief portion of Jones’s interview with Trump, saying, “President Donald Trump says he will have detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich out of Russian prison within 24 hours. Here’s what he told Lawrence at yesterday’s big rally in the Bronx.”
“Because I have a relationship and because they know we don’t play games. I will get him out very fast. Hopefully, he’ll be home before that. But if he’s not, I’ll have him out within 24 hours,” Trump could be heard saying while viewers were shown images of Gerschkovich, suggesting the comments may have been edited together for time.
Jones supplicated himself by replying, “Because you’re not a negotiator?”
“No, I’m not going to pay anything for it. I’m not going to,” Trump replied. “You can’t pay. Anybody can pay, but you can’t pay. Once you pay, you’re going to have to pay for everybody. You’ll have a rash of kidnappings and things like that. No, he’ll come out. President Putin respects me, and he’s going to come out. He’s going to come out within 24 hours.”
Jones is an opinion host, so he may not understand the role of a journalist, but a proper reporter would have pressed the former and quite possibly future president exactly how and why Trump believes his relationship with Putin would lead to Gershkovich’s release in 24 hours, other than sucking up to his subject by saying “Because you’re not a negotiator?”
As a result, this interview felt far more like campaign propaganda than news, alas.
Watch above via Fox News.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
