The Dossier: Fox News gives platform to Iran regime propagandist

Fox News gives platform to Iranian regime propagandist

Fox News held a controversial “interview” with Tehran regime foreign minister Javad Zarif, which aired over the weekend with host Chris Wallace.

The network’s decision to give a platform to the chief propagandist for the world’s foremost terrorist-supporting regime was reckless. It seemed that Fox News was offering Zarif a platform to appeal directly to President Trump and bypass his surrogates and cabinet officials.

In the interview, Zarif blamed national security adviser John Bolton, along with the governments of Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, for current U.S. tensions with Iran.

Unfortunately, it appeared that at times, Fox News was offering an assist to the propaganda being spewed by the Iranian regime leader. One chyron falsely depicted a divide in the Islamic Republic as an ongoing tension between “hardliners” and “moderates.” That distinction is very deceptive. It all amounts to optics. Any individual running for seat in government in Iran is vetted by trusted elements of the regime. All “elected” officials in Iran are committed to the regime’s expansionist ideology. Only their tactical approach to pursuing that endgame is different.

The Zarif interview came on the heels of Fox News contributor Geraldo Rivera snapping a selfie with the Iranian propagandist, then defended the regime in a since-deleted tweet.

The Chabad synagogue shooting and the dangers of media conspiracies

In April 2017, Politico ran a ridiculous piece on the supposed Chabad Jewish nexus connecting President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

At a time when so many false Trump-Russia collusion conspiracies were floating around the internet, the Politico piece, titled “The Happy-Go-Lucky Jewish Group That Connects Trump and Putin,” stood out for its seemingly overt anti-Semitic conspiracy-mongering. The piece circulated the internet widely, and it was promoted by the likes of top “journalists” at the New York Times and Washington Post. Rife with shoddy reporting, the Politico article claimed that a Chabad network connected Trump and Putin, who had never even met in person prior to the piece’s publication. The story claimed that Chabad provided “some of the shortest routes between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.”

The man who shot up a Chabad synagogue over the weekend had concocted similar conspiracy theories in an anti-Semitic manifesto citing supposed Jewish control over world affairs. Unfortunately, it appears that no one in the legacy media will hold themselves accountable for trafficking in dangerous conspiracies. So that leaves us to do the job for them.

Mnuchin: US-China mega trade deal ‘close to done’

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said Monday that the U.S. and China are getting closer and closer to securing a major trade pact between the major world powers.

“We still have more work to do,” Mnuchin told Fox Business Monday. “I think there is a strong desire from both sides to see if we can wrap this up or move on.”

“We hope within the next two rounds, in China and in DC, to get to the point where we can either recommend to the president that we have a deal or recommend that we don’t,” he added, claiming that enforcement mechanisms for the deal are “close to done.”

Bolton clarifies alleged $2 million payment to North Korea

Appearing on Fox News Sunday, national security adviser John Bolton answered reports alleging that the U.S. government under President Trump was sent a $2 million bill for the medical care of American hostage Otto Warmbier, who became gravely ill while in North Korean captivity and died shortly after being released to U.S. custody.

Bolton said that the U.S. agreed to pay the $2 million dollar bill — which appears to amount to a ransom, but the check was never sent.

"Did the U.S. pay any money to North Korea, however it was disguised, after Warmbier was released?" host Chris Wallace asked.

"Absolutely not, and that's the key point," Bolton replied.

Under President Obama, the U.S. government did make a massive ransom payment to the terrorist regime that rules Iran. The Tehran regime received a $1.7 billion ransom — approximately 850 times more than what Pyongyang required of the Trump administration — in exchange for the release of American hostages.

Author’s note: This post originally appeared in Blaze Media’s The Dossier newsletter. For foreign policy news and views delivered to your inbox twice a week, subscribe here!

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