Donald Trump’s campaign launches furious attack on Fox News decision desk boss who called Arizona for Joe Biden for being an Obama donor and Clinton supporter
- President Donald Trump’s campaign launched a furious attack on the head of Fox New Channel’s Decision Desk, Arnon Mishkin
- The campaign put out a press release and tweets calling out Mishkin as a Hillary Clinton voter and a donor of President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign
- ‘Why would Mishkin put his finger on the scale for Joe Biden before so many votes are counted?’ an email to reporters Thursday asked
- Mishkin’s 11:20 p.m. call Tuesday that Arizona had been won by Democratic nominee Joe Biden was Trump’s first symbolic loss of the night
- Not every network has called Arizona in favor of Biden since, and with Arizona going for the Democrat, Trump’s Electoral College math is increasingly tricky
- Mishkin has been with Fox News Channel since 1998 and led the Decision Desk when calls were made in favor of Trump during Election Day 2016
- The Trump war room tweet that linked to his political donations showed that Mishkin has actually donated to members of both political parties
President Donald Trump’s campaign launched a furious attack on the head of Fox News Channel’s Decision Desk, Arnon Mishkin, demanding that he ‘rescind’ his call that Joe Biden won Arizona because he donated to Democrats.
‘Why would Mishkin put his finger on the scale for Joe Biden before so many votes are counted?’ asked an email Trump’s campaign sent to reporters mid-day Thursday. ‘Mishkin is a registered Democrat who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, worked as a Democrat political consultant, and has a long record of donating to Democrats, including the 2008 Obama-Biden campaign.’
It was Mishkin’s 11:20 p.m. call on Election Day, putting Arizona in Biden’s corner, that was the first symbolic defeat for Trump.
President Donald Trump’s campaign has gone after Fox New Channel’s Decision Desk head Arnon Mishkin (right) over his call of Arizona for Democrat Joe Biden, pointing to past political donations he made to President Barack Obama and his support of Hillary Clinton
Mishkin’s 11:20 p.m. call that Biden had won Arizona on Election Day was the first symbolic loss for Trump and pouring salt on the wound, it came from the most conservative-friendly cable network
The Trump war room Twitter account shared Mishkin’s donation record, which included money to President Barack Obama and Biden in 2008, but donations to Republican candidates too
Pouring salt on the wound, it came from the most conservative-friendly cable network.
The Trump campaign has tried to get Fox News Channel to change it back since, but Mishkin has gone on the network several times to explain why he’s confident Biden will win the state once all the votes are tallied.
‘I’m sorry, the president is not going to be able to take over and win enough votes to eliminate that seven-point lead that the former vice president has,’ Mishkin said around 1 a.m. Wednesday morning. ‘I’m sorry, but we’re not wrong in this particular case.’
He appeared on Fox again Wednesday night and doubled down on the decision.
‘If a frog had wings …,’ Mishkin said. ‘We’re confident that the data will basically look like the data we’ve noticed throughout the count in Arizona.’
Outstanding votes in Arizona were predominanly from Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located and where Biden has been outperforming Trump – making it difficult for the president to leapfrog over the Democrat and win the state.
With Arizona in Biden’s column, the math for Trump to win the Electoral College is increasingly complicated, as he would need to run the table and win Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina.
If Trump was able to nab Arizona, he could afford to lose Nevada.
Trump is ahead in North Carolina, and Biden’s team has said it will likely go red, while Biden is ahead in Nevada and chomping at Trump’s lead in Georgia and Pennsylvania.
Mishkin has been at the network since 1998 and headed the Decision Desk in 2016 when Trump flipped Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan – the so-called Democratic ‘blue wall’ – to win the White House over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
A tweet from the Trump war room account linked to Mishkin’s history of political donations, which showed donations to Republicans too, including to John McMullen, an unsuccessful GOP candidate for the U.S. senate in Vermont, who ran in 1998.