theintercept--2020-11-06--Even Fox News Wants to See Proof of Trump's Vote Fraud Claims

, Donald Trump , called reporters into the White House briefing room on Thursday to listen as he whined and spread lies about the counting of votes in the election he is on track to lose to former Vice President Joe Biden .
Trump claimed that his likely defeat in the electoral college was part of a plot by elected officials in Detroit and Philadelphia — choosing to mention two cities with large Black populations — who were , he said , conspiring to defeat him by counting what he called “ illegal votes ” for his rival .
Then @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Trump concluded with the words , “ there ’ s been a lot of shenanigans and we can ’ t stand for that in our country , ” thanked the assembled press for their attention and left the room without taking a single question .
Before the president had even completed his dishonest presentation , the three broadcast networks not owned by Rupert Murdoch had all cut away to explain to viewers that there was absolutely no evidence for Trump ’ s racist conspiracy theory or his claims of mass election fraud @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Baier , stuck to summarizing the president ’ s unhinged accusations as if they were routine , although he did later retweet the instant debunking of the president carried out by ABC News .
The White House event was at least the third time in two days that the Trump campaign had staged a news conference to present unsubstantiated claims of fraud at which reporters were not permitted to ask questions .
At the end of a Trump campaign “ press conference ” in Philadelphia on Wednesday , one reporter tried to question @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Giuliani , who had lied that Republican observers were being kept out of counting rooms by “ the crooks that run the Democrat Party.
” However Trump ’ s former campaign manager , Corey Lewandowski , stepped in and immediately cut him off , saying , “ No questions , right now , thank you guys.
” On Thursday evening , a Fox News correspondent in Philadelphia , Eric Shawn , debunked Giuliani ’ s claim — which was also the basis for a lawsuit filed by the Trump campaign — by reporting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the counting room and had even provided him with photographic evidence .
Shawn ’ s intervention on the side of reality was one of several times this week that the ultraconservative network ’ s reporters and election analysts have undercut wild claims by the president and his campaign with actual facts .
Every night , however , the shouting heads who anchor Fox ’ s primetime opinion shows take over the airwaves and amplify many of the same false claims .
On Thursday night , hours after the president endorsed Giuliani ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Philadelphia was “ totally illegitimate , ” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that police might have foiled a plot to attack the city ’ s main election site .
Philadelphia ’ s police chief , Danielle Outlaw , told reporters Friday that the FBI had received a tip that people armed men had traveled to the city in a Hummer with Virginia license plates and planned to attack the vote center , the paper reported .
The police then discovered a truck matching that description , with an AR-15 rifle and 160 rounds of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy movement on the window , parked near the Pennsylvania Convention Center , where ballot counting was underway .
Officers arrested two men with handguns .
A law enforcement source told the Inquirer that police had been warned to be “ on the lookout for a mother , son and another man from Virginia Beach traveling to the Philadelphia region to ‘ straighten things out ’ as vote counting continued.
” Philadelphia ’ s district attorney , Larry Krasner , said in a statement on Friday that the two men @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Convention Center were Joshua Macias , 42 , and Antonio Lamotta , 61 , both of Chesapeake , Virginia .
Officers recovered “ two loaded semi-automatic Beretta pistols , one semi-automatic AR-15 style rifle , and ammunition.
” At another Trump campaign press event in Las Vegas on Thursday , Ric Grenell , a veteran Republican operative who served as Trump ’ s acting director of national intelligence earlier this year and U.S. ambassador to Germany before that , railed against supposed fraud and then made way for Matt Schlapp , the chairman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reporters asked Schlapp to say his name , Grenell scolded them .
“ Listen , you ’ re here to take in information , okay ?
” he said .
“ Do your job , it ’ s pretty easy.
” A short time later , however , after Grenell berated journalists who asked him to provide evidence of fraud , telling them to go find it for themselves , things began to go badly wrong .
A reporter asked the Clark County registrar of voters , Joe Gloria , about the woman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ conference .
“ I personally dealt with Ms. Stokke , ” Gloria said .
“ She brought her claim to me .
We reviewed her ballot , and in our opinion , it is her signature , ” he added .
“ We also gave her an opportunity to provide a statement , if she wanted to object to that , and provide a challenge to that .
She refused to do so.
” Stokke , officials believe , had cast her absentee ballot and then tried to vote a second time but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also said that an investigator from the office of Nevada ’ s Republican secretary of state , Barbara Cegavske , had already interviewed Stokke , “ and they had no issue with the assistance we tried to give her.
” Grenell ’ s unwillingness to provide any evidence for the claims of fraud in Nevada , a state where Biden has a small but growing lead , infuriated a Fox News reporter on the scene , Jonathan Hunt .
“ If somebody is making claims that will affect the democratic process of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going to ask those people to provide evidence for those claims rather than just throwing theories out there , ” Hunt said in a live report from Las Vegas on Thursday .
“ The Trump campaign declined , specifically , to give us any of that evidence today.
” In what seemed like a sign that Fox is preparing its viewers for a Biden presidency , Neil Cavuto , the anchor Hunt reported back to in New York , agreed .
“ You have to prove what you ’ re saying , you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re saying , ” Cavuto said .
On Thursday afternoon , Grenell admitted to Lou Dobbs that the Trump campaign had delayed filing a lawsuit that cited Stokke ’ s story — as well as the claim that over 3,000 people who had moved out of state had voted illegally in Nevada — because he thought it was more important for him to go on Fox and describe the fraud claim to the network ’ s viewers .
The lawsuit was filed late Thursday , but Grenell choosing to go on Fox @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some observers that he might not have compelling evidence to back his claims .
“ Usually if you ’ ve got good claims , you go straight into court , ” Joyce Vance , a former U.S. Attorney told MSNBC .
“ You don ’ t , ” she added , “ roam around announcing claims that can ’ t be backed up.
” When John Roberts of Fox News got a copy of the Trump campaign lawsuit filed in federal court , the election desk anchor Martha MacCallum initially referred to it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any evidence that we know that the Trump lawyers have put forward.
” She then looked at the document in front of her and noted that while “ they say 3,062 voters who moved from Nevada before the election still cast ballots in the election , they do not attach those lists here.
” In other words , the Trump campaign lawyers did not , in fact , make public any evidence at all .
On Friday afternoon , The Nevada Independent reported , a federal judge denied the Trump campaign ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ based on Stokke ’ s claim , ruling that “ the plaintiffs have not come to the court at this point with sufficient legal showing and sufficient evidentiary basis.
” Nonetheless , the Trump campaign got the headline they wanted on Fox by also claiming in a letter sent to Attorney General Bill Barr Thursday night that 3,062 Nevada voters who had filed change-of-address forms before election day , suggesting that they had moved out of state , should be prosecuted .
The Nevada Independent , a non-profit news site founded by veteran @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a huge hole in this fraud claim , reporting that , “ At least 132 of the addresses were Army Post Office addresses , which are used by active service personnel ” who retain the right to vote in Nevada while deployed out of state .
Amy Rose , a former legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada who is currently living in Davis , California , because her husband was deployed there by the Air Force , told The Independent that the couple both cast ballots in Nevada , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Military Spouses Residency Relief Act .
“ It indicates such a fundamental misunderstanding of Nevada law , of federal law , of how voting works , ” Rose told the site .
“ It ’ s just pretty outrageous to make these claims without understanding what this actually indicates.
” That the Trump campaign prioritized Grenell ’ s appearance on Fox over immediately filing the lawsuit ( as Grenell admitted to Dobbs they had ) suggests that they are seeking ways to air the allegations , and sow doubt about the results of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of whatever evidence they actually have .
Rep. Adam Kinzinger , an Illinois Republican , lambasted the president and his campaign for this on Thursday .
“ We want every vote counted , yes every legal vote ( of course ) , ” Kinzinger wrote on Twitter in response to Trump ’ s White House statement .
“ But , if you have legit concerns about fraud present EVIDENCE and take it to court .
STOP Spreading debunked misinformation… This is getting insane.
” Updated : Friday , Nov. 6 , 5:37 p.m. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new headline and more information on a federal court rulling in Nevada , and the arrest of two armed men in Philadelphia near the election center where votes are being counted .

The acting president , Donald Trump, called reporters into the White House briefing room on Thursday to listen as he whined and spread lies about the counting of votes in the election he is on track to lose to former Vice President Joe Biden.
Trump claimed that his likely defeat in the electoral college was part of a plot by elected officials in Detroit and Philadelphia — choosing to mention two cities with large Black populations — who were, he said, conspiring to defeat him by counting what he called “illegal votes” for his rival.
Then, having lied non-stop for 17 minutes, Trump concluded with the words, “there’s been a lot of shenanigans and we can’t stand for that in our country,” thanked the assembled press for their attention and left the room without taking a single question.
Before the president had even completed his dishonest presentation, the three broadcast networks not owned by Rupert Murdoch had all cut away to explain to viewers that there was absolutely no evidence for Trump’s racist conspiracy theory or his claims of mass election fraud.
Major US TV networks interrupted Donald Trump's speech last night to fact-check his statements as he falsely claimed voter fraud. pic.twitter.com/99Mib3U3UZ — DW News (@dwnews) November 6, 2020
Even Fox News, which carried the president’s complete remarks without interruption, had anchor Martha MacCallum point out immediately after he finished that Trump had not yet produced any actual evidence of fraud.
The reason Fox News's response to the President declaring the American election fraud is to shrug and parrot Trump's claims is that they have been helping him prime all of these narratives for the last four years. pic.twitter.com/E0i9ygCNZ4 — nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) November 6, 2020
MacCallum’s co-host, Bret Baier, stuck to summarizing the president’s unhinged accusations as if they were routine, although he did later retweet the instant debunking of the president carried out by ABC News.
.@jonkarl: "There is simply no evidence that has been presented in any of these states that there are illegal votes." https://t.co/GwwRl4EUb3 #Election2020 pic.twitter.com/8hqM6zcSj9 — ABC News (@ABC) November 5, 2020
The White House event was at least the third time in two days that the Trump campaign had staged a news conference to present unsubstantiated claims of fraud at which reporters were not permitted to ask questions.
At the end of a Trump campaign “press conference” in Philadelphia on Wednesday, one reporter tried to question the president’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who had lied that Republican observers were being kept out of counting rooms by “the crooks that run the Democrat Party.” However Trump’s former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, stepped in and immediately cut him off, saying, “No questions, right now, thank you guys.”
On Thursday evening, a Fox News correspondent in Philadelphia, Eric Shawn, debunked Giuliani’s claim — which was also the basis for a lawsuit filed by the Trump campaign — by reporting that Republican poll watchers were indeed inside the counting room and had even provided him with photographic evidence.
Shawn’s intervention on the side of reality was one of several times this week that the ultraconservative network’s reporters and election analysts have undercut wild claims by the president and his campaign with actual facts. Every night, however, the shouting heads who anchor Fox’s primetime opinion shows take over the airwaves and amplify many of the same false claims.
On Friday, the same reporter was even more blunt, telling Fox viewers that the Trump campaign’s claims in a lawsuit that its poll watchers were kept out of the counting room in Philadelphia was “just not true.”
https://twitter.com/FirenzeMike/status/1324924408331460611
On Thursday night, hours after the president endorsed Giuliani’s irresponsible complaint that the vote count in Philadelphia was “totally illegitimate,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that police might have foiled a plot to attack the city’s main election site.
Philadelphia’s police chief, Danielle Outlaw, told reporters Friday that the FBI had received a tip that people armed men had traveled to the city in a Hummer with Virginia license plates and planned to attack the vote center, the paper reported. The police then discovered a truck matching that description, with an AR-15 rifle and 160 rounds of ammunition inside, and decals associated with the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy movement on the window, parked near the Pennsylvania Convention Center, where ballot counting was underway. Officers arrested two men with handguns.
QAnon decals on back window of Hummer parked near Pa. Convention Center and under investigation after police got a tip that occupants were armed and targeting the Convention Center where vote-counting in presidential election is underway. pic.twitter.com/SKAUhcmBvQ — Robert Moran (@RobertMoran215) November 6, 2020
A law enforcement source told the Inquirer that police had been warned to be “on the lookout for a mother, son and another man from Virginia Beach traveling to the Philadelphia region to ‘straighten things out’ as vote counting continued.”
Philadelphia’s district attorney, Larry Krasner, said in a statement on Friday that the two men arrested on weapons charges outside of the Convention Center were Joshua Macias, 42, and Antonio Lamotta, 61, both of Chesapeake, Virginia. Officers recovered “two loaded semi-automatic Beretta pistols, one semi-automatic AR-15 style rifle, and ammunition.”
At another Trump campaign press event in Las Vegas on Thursday, Ric Grenell, a veteran Republican operative who served as Trump’s acting director of national intelligence earlier this year and U.S. ambassador to Germany before that, railed against supposed fraud and then made way for Matt Schlapp, the chairman of the American Conservative Union. When reporters asked Schlapp to say his name, Grenell scolded them. “Listen, you’re here to take in information, okay?” he said. “Do your job, it’s pretty easy.”
During a Trump campaign press conference on challenging the Nevada vote (with no evidence), Former Acting DNI Ric Grenell turns it over to Matt Schlapp, who refuses to identify himself to local media.#election2020 pic.twitter.com/TCbQHKawpS — The Recount (@therecount) November 5, 2020
When Grenell then asked Jill Stokke, a woman who claimed that someone had stolen her absentee ballot, signed it and voted in her place, to step forward, he reiterated, “we won’t take any questions.” At first, the public relations strategy of getting Stokke’s claims broadcast on television without any scrutiny seemed to pay off, as her allegation was carried live by Fox News and shared online by the Trump campaign.
WATCH: #Nevada voter Jill Stokke on how her ballot was stolen pic.twitter.com/oSIMy88dFb — Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) November 5, 2020
A short time later, however, after Grenell berated journalists who asked him to provide evidence of fraud, telling them to go find it for themselves, things began to go badly wrong.
A reporter asked the Clark County registrar of voters, Joe Gloria, about the woman’s claim at an actual news conference. “I personally dealt with Ms. Stokke,” Gloria said. “She brought her claim to me. We reviewed her ballot, and in our opinion, it is her signature,” he added. “We also gave her an opportunity to provide a statement, if she wanted to object to that, and provide a challenge to that. She refused to do so.” Stokke, officials believe, had cast her absentee ballot and then tried to vote a second time but was stopped from doing so.
Gloria also said that an investigator from the office of Nevada’s Republican secretary of state, Barbara Cegavske, had already interviewed Stokke, “and they had no issue with the assistance we tried to give her.”
Grenell’s unwillingness to provide any evidence for the claims of fraud in Nevada, a state where Biden has a small but growing lead, infuriated a Fox News reporter on the scene, Jonathan Hunt. “If somebody is making claims that will affect the democratic process of the presidential election, then we also are going to ask those people to provide evidence for those claims rather than just throwing theories out there,” Hunt said in a live report from Las Vegas on Thursday. “The Trump campaign declined, specifically, to give us any of that evidence today.”
Jonathan Hunt lays into Rick Grenell: "If somebody is making claims that will affect the democratic process of the presidential election, then we also are going to ask those people to provide evidence for those claims rather than just throwing theories out there." pic.twitter.com/rX2qVDlUdH — nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) November 5, 2020
In what seemed like a sign that Fox is preparing its viewers for a Biden presidency, Neil Cavuto, the anchor Hunt reported back to in New York, agreed. “You have to prove what you’re saying, you have to have evidence of what you’re saying,” Cavuto said.
On Thursday afternoon, Grenell admitted to Lou Dobbs that the Trump campaign had delayed filing a lawsuit that cited Stokke’s story — as well as the claim that over 3,000 people who had moved out of state had voted illegally in Nevada — because he thought it was more important for him to go on Fox and describe the fraud claim to the network’s viewers.
Lou Dobbs berates Ric Grenell for not filing enough legal motions pic.twitter.com/A4nVCsxrcY — Jason S. Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) November 5, 2020
The lawsuit was filed late Thursday, but Grenell choosing to go on Fox before appealing to a judge suggested to some observers that he might not have compelling evidence to back his claims. “Usually if you’ve got good claims, you go straight into court,” Joyce Vance, a former U.S. Attorney told MSNBC. “You don’t,” she added, “roam around announcing claims that can’t be backed up.”
When John Roberts of Fox News got a copy of the Trump campaign lawsuit filed in federal court, the election desk anchor Martha MacCallum initially referred to it as “really the first piece of any evidence that we know that the Trump lawyers have put forward.” She then looked at the document in front of her and noted that while “they say 3,062 voters who moved from Nevada before the election still cast ballots in the election, they do not attach those lists here.” In other words, the Trump campaign lawyers did not, in fact, make public any evidence at all.
2/ Fox anchor @marthamaccallum reports "the first piece of any evidence that we know that the Trump lawyers have put forward" regarding NV election fraud before revealing that her letter contains no *actual* evidence, and @johnrobertsFox has not seen a list of dead voters ? pic.twitter.com/i3wwq7H18H — Bad Fox Graphics (@BadFoxGraphics) November 6, 2020
On Friday afternoon, The Nevada Independent reported, a federal judge denied the Trump campaign’s request to intervene in the Nevada count based on Stokke’s claim, ruling that “the plaintiffs have not come to the court at this point with sufficient legal showing and sufficient evidentiary basis.”
Nonetheless, the Trump campaign got the headline they wanted on Fox by also claiming in a letter sent to Attorney General Bill Barr Thursday night that 3,062 Nevada voters who had filed change-of-address forms before election day, suggesting that they had moved out of state, should be prosecuted.
The Nevada Independent, a non-profit news site founded by veteran political journalist Jon Ralston, also punched a huge hole in this fraud claim, reporting that, “At least 132 of the addresses were Army Post Office addresses, which are used by active service personnel” who retain the right to vote in Nevada while deployed out of state.
Amy Rose, a former legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada who is currently living in Davis, California, because her husband was deployed there by the Air Force, told The Independent that the couple both cast ballots in Nevada, as is their right under the federal Military Spouses Residency Relief Act. “It indicates such a fundamental misunderstanding of Nevada law, of federal law, of how voting works,” Rose told the site. “It’s just pretty outrageous to make these claims without understanding what this actually indicates.”
That the Trump campaign prioritized Grenell’s appearance on Fox over immediately filing the lawsuit (as Grenell admitted to Dobbs they had) suggests that they are seeking ways to air the allegations, and sow doubt about the results of the election, without facing real scrutiny of whatever evidence they actually have.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican, lambasted the president and his campaign for this on Thursday. “We want every vote counted, yes every legal vote (of course),” Kinzinger wrote on Twitter in response to Trump’s White House statement. “But, if you have legit concerns about fraud present EVIDENCE and take it to court. STOP Spreading debunked misinformation… This is getting insane.”
Updated: Friday, Nov. 6, 5:37 p.m. PDT
This article was updated with a new headline and more information on a federal court rulling in Nevada, and the arrest of two armed men in Philadelphia near the election center where votes are being counted.


theintercept--2020-11-07--U.S. Military Responsible for Widespread PFAS Pollution in Japan

the U.S. have been struggling with massive pollution from the military ’ s use of firefighting foam that contains PFAS , Japan has awoken to its own environmental crisis from the industrial chemicals in the foam .
The growing awareness of the issue in Japan is largely due to one reporter : Jon Mitchell , a British investigative journalist based in Tokyo , who has spent years chronicling environmental contamination in the Asia-Pacific region .
His most recent book , “ Poisoning the Pacific : The U.S. Military ’ s Dumping of Plutonium , Chemical Weapons , and Agent Orange @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pages of documents he obtained from the U.S. military through the Freedom of Information Act ; they detail the widespread contamination of bases and the areas surrounding them with PFAS and other hazardous substances , including chemical weapons , Agent Orange , jet fuel , and PCBs .
In the U.S. , the fight over PFAS contamination from military installations , which The Intercept was first to report in 2015 , now usually centers on the degree to which the Department of Defense is obligated to clean it up .
But in Japan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ military facilities , bilateral agreements release the U.S. government from any obligation to test for contamination caused by its operations or remove it if it ’ s detected .
You have described massive contamination in so many parts of Japan .
How many releases of AFFF ( aqueous film-forming foams , or firefighting foam ) did you find through the documents you received ?
They were literally countless .
Some were from crashes , some were from leaks , some accidents .
What has the U.S. military told the Japanese people about the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The U.S. military has never released to the public any information about contamination within the installations .
Marine Corps accident guidelines go so far as to order commanders not to tell Japanese officials about politically sensitive incidents .
A lot of the contamination you report is from the Kadena Air Base in Okinawa , which is the biggest American Air Force installation in Asia .
How have people living there been affected ?
The main source of drinking water in Okinawa , which serves 450,000 people , is from wells and rivers that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been severely contaminated with PFAS .
The river running off the base , Dakujaku River , has been checked by the Japanese government , and it ’ s the highest level ever recorded in a river in Japan .
… Not surprisingly , some of the people drinking this water have been found to have extremely elevated blood levels of PFOS .
The Okinawan people are furious and scared .
The Department of Defense will not fund cleanup in a foreign country unless it ’ s very serious and has an immediate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contamination had been detected within the U.S. , there are a whole range of programs in place to remediate it .
But not in Japan .
Here , the military only needs to remediate contamination within its own bases if the contamination is deemed urgent .
According to an agreement between the U.S. and Japan , the U.S. has total jurisdiction over who can enter its bases , so Japanese officials can ’ t even sample the water on the bases .
As of 2015 , Japanese authorities have had the right to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but so far we know of only one instance in which the Department of Defense has granted that permission .
The only way they can find out whether there is contamination on the base is to capture the outflow of the stormwater coming off it and test the rivers .
Okinawa is now filtering drinking water to reduce the levels of the chemicals .
In late October , the levels of combined PFOS and PFOA averaged 14 ppt .
So the local government is paying to remove the chemicals that were put @ @ @ @ @ @ @ first , the Okinawa Prefecture paid for the filters , but they complained to the Japanese government about the cost .
So now the Japanese government is paying for the filters .
The U.S. is not paying anything .
You write that the pollution is ongoing .
Can you tell me about how a barbecue recently turned into an environmental incident ?
That was in April when a bunch of Marines were in quarantine because of the coronavirus in a hangar on Futenma Marine base in Okinawa .
They decided to have a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ triggered the AFFF system .
And then the Marines kind of panicked .
The doors of the hangar had not been shut for 10 years , and they were impossible to close .
So most of the foam escaped into the local community .
When the fire team finally arrived , they didn ’ t have a key to the room to turn off the fire system .
And so the sprinklers were firing for 25 minutes nonstop , and there was so much foam it went into the playground and the nearby @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the only time Marines had an accidental release of firefighting foam , right ?
There was also a December 2019 incident in which 38,000 liters of PFAS-containing foam were unintentionally sprayed out of the system .
Yes , and there was also a 2015 incident in which a drunk Marine launched the sprinkler as an act of vandalism .
That released tens of thousands of liters of firefighting foam .
He received a pay cut and 3 months in the brig .
But the Japanese government didn ’ t do anything to him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it .
On-duty service members are exempt from prosecution for damage to Japanese property .
Time and time again , it ’ s been the Marines who have damaged the environment at Okinawa .
The incineration of PFAS has recently become a big issue here in the U.S .
I noticed that AFFF from the Marine base in Okinawa was incinerated , and the waste from the incineration was buried at an Okinawan landfill that was later found to have extremely high levels of PFAS in its groundwater .
Yes .
The Marine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the material it was burning contained PFAS .
What happened when you asked the Marine Corps about that ?
They defended their procedures as “ appropriate.
” Some of the emails you obtained through FOIA were about you .
One described you as “ adversarial ” and called the tone of your reporting “ hostile.
” Another said , “ He has an agenda and is fairly open about it.
” When I was invited to give a talk at an American university in Tokyo in 2016 , the U.S. embassy in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ asked that a State Department official be present at the talk and be allowed to rebut the talk .
None of this has surprised me .
Since Hiroshima and Nagasaki , the U.S. military has been covering up contamination and pressuring journalists who reveal that contamination .
Do you think your reporting is hostile ?
No .
I hear from U.S. service members that it helps them and their families so much .
It ’ s not anti-military , it ’ s anti-pollution .

While communities across the U.S. have been struggling with massive pollution from the military’s use of firefighting foam that contains PFAS, Japan has awoken to its own environmental crisis from the industrial chemicals in the foam. The growing awareness of the issue in Japan is largely due to one reporter: Jon Mitchell, a British investigative journalist based in Tokyo, who has spent years chronicling environmental contamination in the Asia-Pacific region.
His most recent book, “Poisoning the Pacific: The U.S. Military’s Dumping of Plutonium, Chemical Weapons, and Agent Orange,” is based on thousands of pages of documents he obtained from the U.S. military through the Freedom of Information Act; they detail the widespread contamination of bases and the areas surrounding them with PFAS and other hazardous substances, including chemical weapons, Agent Orange, jet fuel, and PCBs.
Read our complete coverage Bad Chemistry
In the U.S., the fight over PFAS contamination from military installations, which The Intercept was first to report in 2015, now usually centers on the degree to which the Department of Defense is obligated to clean it up. But in Japan, which is home to 78 U.S. military facilities, bilateral agreements release the U.S. government from any obligation to test for contamination caused by its operations or remove it if it’s detected.
Photo: Hiroko Tanaka
The Intercept spoke with Mitchell about his reporting on the environmental consequences of U.S. military operations in Japan and how it’s been received in both countries; the interview has been edited for length and clarity.
You have described massive contamination in so many parts of Japan. How many releases of AFFF (aqueous film-forming foams, or firefighting foam) did you find through the documents you received?
They were literally countless. Some were from crashes, some were from leaks, some accidents.
What has the U.S. military told the Japanese people about the PFAS released from its bases there?
The U.S. military has never released to the public any information about contamination within the installations. Marine Corps accident guidelines go so far as to order commanders not to tell Japanese officials about politically sensitive incidents.
A lot of the contamination you report is from the Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, which is the biggest American Air Force installation in Asia. How have people living there been affected?
The main source of drinking water in Okinawa, which serves 450,000 people, is from wells and rivers that run alongside the base. The wells have been severely contaminated with PFAS. The river running off the base, Dakujaku River, has been checked by the Japanese government, and it’s the highest level ever recorded in a river in Japan. … Not surprisingly, some of the people drinking this water have been found to have extremely elevated blood levels of PFOS. The Okinawan people are furious and scared.
On Kadena Air Base, Okinawa prefecture, an accident blamed on a malfunctioning sprinkler system discharged tens of thousands of liters of firefighting foam in December 2013. Photo: USAF/US Freedom of Information Act
Has anyone tried to get the U.S. military to cover the costs of cleaning this up?
“The U.S. has total jurisdiction over who can enter its bases, so Japanese officials can’t even sample the water on the bases.”
The Department of Defense will not fund cleanup in a foreign country unless it’s very serious and has an immediate impact on human health. If this contamination had been detected within the U.S., there are a whole range of programs in place to remediate it. But not in Japan. Here, the military only needs to remediate contamination within its own bases if the contamination is deemed urgent. According to an agreement between the U.S. and Japan, the U.S. has total jurisdiction over who can enter its bases, so Japanese officials can’t even sample the water on the bases. As of 2015, Japanese authorities have had the right to request on-base checks after a hazardous spill, but so far we know of only one instance in which the Department of Defense has granted that permission. The only way they can find out whether there is contamination on the base is to capture the outflow of the stormwater coming off it and test the rivers.
Okinawa is now filtering drinking water to reduce the levels of the chemicals. In late October, the levels of combined PFOS and PFOA averaged 14 ppt. So the local government is paying to remove the chemicals that were put there by the U.S. military?
At first, the Okinawa Prefecture paid for the filters, but they complained to the Japanese government about the cost. So now the Japanese government is paying for the filters. The U.S. is not paying anything.
You write that the pollution is ongoing. Can you tell me about how a barbecue recently turned into an environmental incident?
“Time and time again, it’s been the Marines who have damaged the environment at Okinawa.”
That was in April when a bunch of Marines were in quarantine because of the coronavirus in a hangar on Futenma Marine base in Okinawa. They decided to have a barbecue. The heat from the barbecue triggered the AFFF system. And then the Marines kind of panicked. The doors of the hangar had not been shut for 10 years, and they were impossible to close. So most of the foam escaped into the local community. When the fire team finally arrived, they didn’t have a key to the room to turn off the fire system. And so the sprinklers were firing for 25 minutes nonstop, and there was so much foam it went into the playground and the nearby river.
On Kadena Air Base, Okinawa prefecture, an accident blamed on a malfunctioning sprinkler system discharged tens of thousands of liters of firefighting foam in December 2013. Photo: USAF/US Freedom of Information Act
And that wasn’t the only time Marines had an accidental release of firefighting foam, right? There was also a December 2019 incident in which 38,000 liters of PFAS-containing foam were unintentionally sprayed out of the system.
Yes, and there was also a 2015 incident in which a drunk Marine launched the sprinkler as an act of vandalism. That released tens of thousands of liters of firefighting foam.
What happened to him?
He received a pay cut and 3 months in the brig. But the Japanese government didn’t do anything to him because they didn’t know about it. On-duty service members are exempt from prosecution for damage to Japanese property. Time and time again, it’s been the Marines who have damaged the environment at Okinawa.
The incineration of PFAS has recently become a big issue here in the U.S. I noticed that AFFF from the Marine base in Okinawa was incinerated, and the waste from the incineration was buried at an Okinawan landfill that was later found to have extremely high levels of PFAS in its groundwater.
Yes. The Marine Corps didn’t notify the contractor that the material it was burning contained PFAS.
What happened when you asked the Marine Corps about that?
They defended their procedures as “appropriate.”
Some of the emails you obtained through FOIA were about you. One described you as “adversarial” and called the tone of your reporting “hostile.” Another said, “He has an agenda and is fairly open about it.”
When I was invited to give a talk at an American university in Tokyo in 2016, the U.S. embassy in Tokyo reached out to the university and asked that a State Department official be present at the talk and be allowed to rebut the talk. None of this has surprised me. Since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the U.S. military has been covering up contamination and pressuring journalists who reveal that contamination.
Do you think your reporting is hostile?
No. I hear from U.S. service members that it helps them and their families so much. It’s not anti-military, it’s anti-pollution.


theintercept--2020-11-07--During the Trump Era, Everyone and Everything in America Failed

We now know that Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States — unless something truly strange happens .
It seems important to include that caveat , given how the past few years have gone .
So let ’ s remember that Biden could die from an addiction to carrot juice .
He could take a walk in the Arizona desert , shoot at a 60-foot-tall saguaro cactus with his gun , and then have the damaged cactus topple over onto him .
He could be crushed by a chunk of “ blue ice ” plummeting out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ oath of office on the Capitol steps .
But no matter what , the Trump era is now over , or at worst , on hiatus .
As we take a look back at the past four years , there ’ s one thing we can say for certain : All of America faced a great historical test , and almost all of America failed completely .
Donald Trump made people ask this question for the first time in history : Is there such a thing as a lazy fascist ?
Before Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ filled with vigor , always available for a mass torch-lit rally at midnight .
Trump clearly has the instincts of a fascist : a lust for power , cruelty toward out-groups , and romanticization of a past that never existed .
But he also can ’ t execute any plan that requires more than five seconds of effort .
Are you a fascist if you vaguely want to be Supreme Leader , but that seems like a ton of work , and your top priority is getting through all the hours of “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
In fact , Trump ’ s basic life incompetence is so extreme that it ’ s amazing he ’ s only gone bankrupt six times .
As president , he couldn ’ t do the most simple things in his immediate self-interest .
For instance , the U.S. government did have detailed plans and a great deal of expertise to deal with the eruption of something like the novel coronavirus .
All Trump had to do was appoint a Colin Powell-like figure to supervise everything , and then get out of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ led to his reelection .
But he could not manage this , because he is just a tiny bit of protoplasm attached to an ego the size of the universe .
It was more important for him to be on camera every day , musing about how impressed America ’ s top scientists were by his intuitive grasp of microbiology .
Trump also couldn ’ t get it together to push through another economic rescue package .
It was desperately needed , Democrats wanted one , Republicans could have been browbeaten into voting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ things more popular in an election year than giving people money .
Instead , Trump spent his dwindling time in office tweeting about Bill Maher , Beautiful Maine Lobsters , and Patio Pizza in St. James , Long Island .
It ’ s true the Trump administration has managed to implement policies that blighted the lives of many , many people .
But this has been on issues where Trump himself just had to sign papers put in front of him by the small number of his underlings who are minimally competent .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ area where Trump did not fail .
Everyone has a mental map of the world inside their head .
Mentally healthy people adjust their interior map when they see it doesn ’ t match reality .
Mentally unhealthy people try to force reality to change to match what ’ s inside them .
Trump , who is pullulating with hate and fear , has successfully devoted himself to multiplying the amount of hate and fear in the world outside of his head .
The most terrifying part of the Trump presidency has not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ support other GOP politicians have given his every action .
We now know for sure that there ’ s nothing a Republican president can do that ’ s so grotesque that the rest of the party won ’ t fall in line behind it .
The most striking example of this has largely been forgotten : During the beginning of his term , Trump could have easily , by accident or design , started a nuclear war with North Korea .
Experts at the time believed the odds of war with North Korea @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Trump himself later told Bob Woodward that war had been “ much closer than anyone would know.
” Previously the U.S. planned only to respond to aggression by North Korea against South Korea or Japan .
As reported in the book “ The Bomb ” by Fred Kaplan , Trump demanded that the Pentagon produce a first-strike war plan that could be used simply if the U.S. felt North Korea ’ s actions were threatening .
It did not begin with the use of nuclear weapons by the U.S. but could plausibly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s insanely threatening rhetoric about “ fire and fury like the world has never seen ” also heightened the possibility that North Korea would believe that it would have to strike first to preempt an attack from the U.S .
The situation would have been especially perilous if U.S. officials had followed Trump ’ s order in early 2018 to evacuate the families of American military personnel from South Korea .
Fortunately , then-Defense Secretary James Mattis was able to argue Trump out of it .
Yet none of this fazed the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Idaho casually mentioned at an event in Germany that Trump was willing to start “ one of the one of the worst catastrophic events in the history of our civilization .
… The end of it is going to see mass casualties the likes of which the planet has never seen.
” Did this make Republicans want to take this option out of Trump ’ s hands and return the power to make war to Congress , as the Constitution dictates ?
Nope .
So given that the GOP was happy to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we can understand why everything else Trump did was fine too .
The most appropriate slogan for Biden ’ s campaign in the spring and summer would have been “ Biden 2020 : He ’ s Around Here Somewhere.
” The 2020 campaign environment was similar to that of 12 years ago .
In the lead-up to the 2008 election , Wall Street imploded in a morass of confusing acronyms .
With George W. Bush checked out and John McCain obviously in over his head , Barack Obama was able to become president @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voted , simply by acting like an adult who understood what was going on .
Similarly , with Trump totally abdicating any leadership on the coronavirus , Biden could easily have stepped into the vacuum .
People wanted basic information , updates , and reassurance that there were authorities somewhere who knew what they were doing .
But instead of providing a calm , forceful contrast with Trump , Biden seemed to putter around , not doing much of anything .
This was one place where Biden could have done the right thing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ making high-dollar donors anxious .
But he didn ’ t even give it a shot .
Can you believe that Joe Biden lost Florida , even as voters overwhelmingly passed a ballot measure to raise the state minimum wage to $ 15 ?
You should , since John Kerry lost Florida in 2004 by a larger margin than Biden did , even as a similar increase to the minimum wage won 71 to 29 percent .
A decade of work by activists forced Biden to make a $ 15 federal minimum wage part @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , in Florida and elsewhere , did not know that .
Many others did know it but did not believe Democrats would genuinely fight for it .
The Democrats could not make this basic , incredibly popular policy part of their brand , even when faced with Trump , whose core conviction is that American billionaires aren ’ t rich enough .
The reason for this is straightforward : The Democrats do not , for the most part , represent the bottom 90 percent of Americans .
Instead , the Republican and Democratic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sections of U.S. elites .
Democrats therefore can ’ t clearly and powerfully advocate for policies that would harm their elites .
This incentivizes them to wander into bizarre cul-de-sacs like Russiagate , where the ratio of effort expended to significance approached infinity .
The corporate media does not exist to tell people the truth any more than chainsaws exist to brush your teeth .
You may be able to clean your teeth with a chainsaw , but only if you ’ re extremely careful .
If you just jam it in your @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going to be disappointed .
The same level of care is necessary to get much out of the corporate media .
Its goal is to make as much profit as possible , and telling the truth is generally not just not profitable , but actively anti-profit .
The regular corporate press experienced Trump ’ s election as a tremendous shock to its system .
It turned out many , many people loathed the media — for some legitimate reasons as well as many illegitimate ones .
The corporate press could have used the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about how it functions .
The late journalist William Greider once imagined a transformed media with “ editors with different kinds of skills ( perhaps more like a political organizer ’ s or a priest ’ s ) and reporters who were equipped to do a different kind of news — stories that began respectfully with what people needed to understand to focus as citizens , not with the governing agenda of the higher authorities.
” But the profit motive means this will never happen .
Instead , the corporate press saw Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do exactly what it did before — i.e.
, try to make as much profit as possible — just now with extra sanctimony .
Not everything about the past four years has been bleak .
The immediate resistance to Trump in the streets — seemingly spontaneous but actually built on long-term political organizing outside the two parties — helped block even more egregious actions by his administration .
The resurgence of # BlackLivesMatter made it , as Noam Chomsky has called it , “ the biggest social movement in American history with support @ @ @ @ @ @ @ registered in the past.
” Meanwhile , Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez , Ilhan Omar , Rashida Tlaib , and others have demonstrated that there are far more chinks in the armor of formal politics than the people inside want you to believe .
In fact , the Squad & Co. have accomplished so much with such meager resources that it suggests the system is incredibly decrepit and rotten — so much so that a good hard shove might cause much of it to collapse .
But while the possibilities in front of us are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about what we learned about this country during our nightmarish Time of Trump .
There are no benevolent adults in charge .
Anything at all can happen .
The time to start fighting to prevent a future , even more terrifying Trump is now .

Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images
We now know that Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States — unless something truly strange happens. It seems important to include that caveat, given how the past few years have gone. So let’s remember that Biden could die from an addiction to carrot juice. He could take a walk in the Arizona desert, shoot at a 60-foot-tall saguaro cactus with his gun, and then have the damaged cactus topple over onto him. He could be crushed by a chunk of “blue ice” plummeting out of the sky as he takes the oath of office on the Capitol steps.
But no matter what, the Trump era is now over, or at worst, on hiatus. As we take a look back at the past four years, there’s one thing we can say for certain: All of America faced a great historical test, and almost all of America failed completely.
Trump Failed
Donald Trump made people ask this question for the first time in history: Is there such a thing as a lazy fascist?
Before Trump, it seemed obvious that fascists were filled with vigor, always available for a mass torch-lit rally at midnight. Trump clearly has the instincts of a fascist: a lust for power, cruelty toward out-groups, and romanticization of a past that never existed. But he also can’t execute any plan that requires more than five seconds of effort. Are you a fascist if you vaguely want to be Supreme Leader, but that seems like a ton of work, and your top priority is getting through all the hours of “Fox & Friends” on your DVR?
In fact, Trump’s basic life incompetence is so extreme that it’s amazing he’s only gone bankrupt six times. As president, he couldn’t do the most simple things in his immediate self-interest.
For instance, the U.S. government did have detailed plans and a great deal of expertise to deal with the eruption of something like the novel coronavirus. All Trump had to do was appoint a Colin Powell-like figure to supervise everything, and then get out of the way. This would almost certainly have led to his reelection. But he could not manage this, because he is just a tiny bit of protoplasm attached to an ego the size of the universe. It was more important for him to be on camera every day, musing about how impressed America’s top scientists were by his intuitive grasp of microbiology.
Trump also couldn’t get it together to push through another economic rescue package. It was desperately needed, Democrats wanted one, Republicans could have been browbeaten into voting for it, and there are few things more popular in an election year than giving people money. Instead, Trump spent his dwindling time in office tweeting about Bill Maher, Beautiful Maine Lobsters, and Patio Pizza in St. James, Long Island.
It’s true the Trump administration has managed to implement policies that blighted the lives of many, many people. But this has been on issues where Trump himself just had to sign papers put in front of him by the small number of his underlings who are minimally competent.
All that said, there is one area where Trump did not fail. Everyone has a mental map of the world inside their head. Mentally healthy people adjust their interior map when they see it doesn’t match reality. Mentally unhealthy people try to force reality to change to match what’s inside them. Trump, who is pullulating with hate and fear, has successfully devoted himself to multiplying the amount of hate and fear in the world outside of his head.
Republicans Failed
The most terrifying part of the Trump presidency has not been Trump himself, but the slavish support other GOP politicians have given his every action. We now know for sure that there’s nothing a Republican president can do that’s so grotesque that the rest of the party won’t fall in line behind it.
The most striking example of this has largely been forgotten: During the beginning of his term, Trump could have easily, by accident or design, started a nuclear war with North Korea. Experts at the time believed the odds of war with North Korea were between 20 and 50 percent, and Trump himself later told Bob Woodward that war had been “much closer than anyone would know.”
Donald Trump made people ask this question for the first time in history: Is there such a thing as a lazy fascist?
Previously the U.S. planned only to respond to aggression by North Korea against South Korea or Japan. As reported in the book “The Bomb” by Fred Kaplan, Trump demanded that the Pentagon produce a first-strike war plan that could be used simply if the U.S. felt North Korea’s actions were threatening. It did not begin with the use of nuclear weapons by the U.S. but could plausibly have escalated to that point.
Trump’s insanely threatening rhetoric about “fire and fury like the world has never seen” also heightened the possibility that North Korea would believe that it would have to strike first to preempt an attack from the U.S. The situation would have been especially perilous if U.S. officials had followed Trump’s order in early 2018 to evacuate the families of American military personnel from South Korea. Fortunately, then-Defense Secretary James Mattis was able to argue Trump out of it.
Yet none of this fazed the Republican Party. GOP Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho casually mentioned at an event in Germany that Trump was willing to start “one of the one of the worst catastrophic events in the history of our civilization. … The end of it is going to see mass casualties the likes of which the planet has never seen.” Did this make Republicans want to take this option out of Trump’s hands and return the power to make war to Congress, as the Constitution dictates? Nope.
So given that the GOP was happy to let Donald Trump end human civilization, we can understand why everything else Trump did was fine too.
A porcelain sculpture by artist/activist Connor Czora is shattered at Black Lives Matter Plaza during the 2020 presidential election in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 3, 2020. Photo: Eric Lee/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Biden Failed
The most appropriate slogan for Biden’s campaign in the spring and summer would have been “Biden 2020: He’s Around Here Somewhere.”
The 2020 campaign environment was similar to that of 12 years ago. In the lead-up to the 2008 election, Wall Street imploded in a morass of confusing acronyms. With George W. Bush checked out and John McCain obviously in over his head, Barack Obama was able to become president in the mind of Americans before anyone voted, simply by acting like an adult who understood what was going on.
Similarly, with Trump totally abdicating any leadership on the coronavirus, Biden could easily have stepped into the vacuum. People wanted basic information, updates, and reassurance that there were authorities somewhere who knew what they were doing. But instead of providing a calm, forceful contrast with Trump, Biden seemed to putter around, not doing much of anything.
This was one place where Biden could have done the right thing, without violating his centrist instincts or making high-dollar donors anxious. But he didn’t even give it a shot.
Democrats Failed
Can you believe that Joe Biden lost Florida, even as voters overwhelmingly passed a ballot measure to raise the state minimum wage to $15? You should, since John Kerry lost Florida in 2004 by a larger margin than Biden did, even as a similar increase to the minimum wage won 71 to 29 percent.
Democrats could not make this basic, incredibly popular policy part of their brand, even when faced with Trump.
A decade of work by activists forced Biden to make a $15 federal minimum wage part of his platform. But many voters, in Florida and elsewhere, did not know that. Many others did know it but did not believe Democrats would genuinely fight for it. The Democrats could not make this basic, incredibly popular policy part of their brand, even when faced with Trump, whose core conviction is that American billionaires aren’t rich enough.
The reason for this is straightforward: The Democrats do not, for the most part, represent the bottom 90 percent of Americans. Instead, the Republican and Democratic parties are run by and for different sections of U.S. elites. Democrats therefore can’t clearly and powerfully advocate for policies that would harm their elites. This incentivizes them to wander into bizarre cul-de-sacs like Russiagate, where the ratio of effort expended to significance approached infinity.
The Corporate Media Failed
The corporate media does not exist to tell people the truth any more than chainsaws exist to brush your teeth. You may be able to clean your teeth with a chainsaw, but only if you’re extremely careful. If you just jam it in your mouth every morning, you’re going to be disappointed.
The same level of care is necessary to get much out of the corporate media. Its goal is to make as much profit as possible, and telling the truth is generally not just not profitable, but actively anti-profit.
The regular corporate press experienced Trump’s election as a tremendous shock to its system. It turned out many, many people loathed the media — for some legitimate reasons as well as many illegitimate ones. The corporate press could have used the occasion as an opportunity to rethink everything about how it functions. The late journalist William Greider once imagined a transformed media with “editors with different kinds of skills (perhaps more like a political organizer’s or a priest’s) and reporters who were equipped to do a different kind of news — stories that began respectfully with what people needed to understand to focus as citizens, not with the governing agenda of the higher authorities.”
But the profit motive means this will never happen. Instead, the corporate press saw Trump in the White House and decided to do exactly what it did before — i.e., try to make as much profit as possible — just now with extra sanctimony.
A Few Bright Spots
Not everything about the past four years has been bleak. The immediate resistance to Trump in the streets — seemingly spontaneous but actually built on long-term political organizing outside the two parties — helped block even more egregious actions by his administration. The resurgence of #BlackLivesMatter made it, as Noam Chomsky has called it, “the biggest social movement in American history with support beyond anything that’s ever been registered in the past.”
Meanwhile, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and others have demonstrated that there are far more chinks in the armor of formal politics than the people inside want you to believe. In fact, the Squad & Co. have accomplished so much with such meager resources that it suggests the system is incredibly decrepit and rotten — so much so that a good hard shove might cause much of it to collapse.
But while the possibilities in front of us are real, we should not deceive ourselves about what we learned about this country during our nightmarish Time of Trump. There are no benevolent adults in charge. Anything at all can happen. The time to start fighting to prevent a future, even more terrifying Trump is now.


theintercept--2020-11-06--As Trump Is Defeated, the Murdochs Try to Dodge Backlash for Fox News

that could determine the extent of post-election violence in America is breaking into the open , but it ’ s not at the White House or inside the GOP .
It is within the billionaire Murdoch family , the owners of Fox News .
On Friday morning , a day before Joe Biden was declared president-elect , one of Rupert Murdoch ’ s daughters-in-law , Kathryn Murdoch , tweeted out an unprecedented criticism of Fox News and the family ’ s handling of the network as President Donald Trump was heading for defeat .
Responding to CNN anchor Jake Tapper @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the Murdochs to make clear that there was no credible evidence of election fraud , Kathryn Murdoch tweeted , “ I agree with this.
” Her sentiments appeared to have support within the family , because their media holdings — not just Fox News — began sending out clear signals to President Trump that he should accept defeat .
On Friday evening , the Wall Street Journal ’ s editorial page skeptically noted that the Trump campaign “ will have to prove ” its baseless claims of election fraud , and advised @ @ @ @ @ @ @ concede gracefully.
” The article ’ s headline was “ The Presidential Endgame.
” On Fox News last night , primetime host Laura Ingraham , a guest at the White House just a few days ago , said the president should exhibit “ grace and composure ” when the moment comes to admit defeat , which she seemed to feel was coming soon .
A graphic displayed during her show stated that one of the three tasks ahead is to “ Accept the Results of the Election.
” Finally , the front-page headline @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Post seemed to mark a clear turn from the Trump era , blaring out , “ Ready , Set… Joe ?
” The Murdoch family , presided over by 89-year-old patriarch Rupert Murdoch , owns Fox News and a constellation of other media properties in the United States and across the world ; the family is the inspiration for the HBO series “ Succession.
” The political bent of Fox News and other media outlets reflects the right-wing orientation of Rupert and his eldest son Lachlan , who now oversees the network as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Fox Corporation .
But the family ’ s ownership of its media properties is a 50-50 split between Rupert on one side and his six children on the other .
The key progeny , when it comes to running the empire , have nearly always been the conservative Lachlan and his younger brother James , who is a centrist .
Kathryn Murdoch is James ’ s wife .
In recent years , she and James have not hidden their political preferences : They made significant donations to the campaigns of Pete Buttigieg and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ became the Democratic Party nominee .
Earlier this year , after James lost a succession battle to Lachlan and resigned from his last remaining board position , he issued an oblique criticism of the political direction of the family ’ s holdings , but he did not say anything specific about Fox News and its central role in laundering white nationalist extremism and its related conspiracy theories .
With Trump ’ s defeat , the network and the family are at a crossroads , facing far more critical scrutiny and pressure than they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Fox is in the position , at this moment , of state broadcasters in unstable countries where an unpopular leader has been voted out of power but refuses to accept the result .
Will the broadcaster be loyal to the defeated leader and claim that the election was rigged — a path that will probably not be successful but would nearly guarantee a higher level of post-election instability ?
Or does the broadcaster take the journalistically and morally correct path of reporting the fact that the president really did lose an election that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the 24 hours leading up to Biden surpassing 270 Electoral College votes on Saturday , the Murdoch properties showed added evidence of taking the latter path .
It is useful to step back for a moment and realize the deformity of this moment .
Due to the unique power of Fox News — alongside Facebook , it is the most prominent platform in the U.S. for spreading right-wing disinformation — a single family with a net worth of approximately $ 17 billion is positioned to decide whether election conspiracy theories will have the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and deeply across the country .
It is a concentration of power that has been amassed and abused for decades by the Murdoch family , and has caused immense damage in the U.S. and other countries too ( the Murdochs are responsible for similar harm in the U.K. and Australia , where they also have significant media holdings ) .
As election results came in and showed Trump on a trajectory to defeat , Fox ’ s coverage became notably split earlier this week .
The so-called news side of Fox , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ conservative but not delusional journalists like Chris Wallace and Bret Baier , has done a generally straight-up job of reporting the results .
Fox ’ s data team is still the only cable network to have called Arizona for Biden , a move that infuriated the White House and was apparently a factor that led a crowd of pro-Trump protesters outside a ballot-counting office in Phoenix to chant “ Fox News sucks.
” In a reflection of what would seem to be early evidence of a Murdoch inclination to take their media properties @ @ @ @ @ @ @ York Post , which was one of Rupert Murdoch ’ s first media acquisitions in the United States and has been consistently right-wing under his decades of ownership , published two articles on Thursday that were sharply critical of Trump ’ s fraud claims , including a story that was headlined , “ Downcast Trump makes baseless election fraud claims in White House address.
” But the primetime hosts at Fox News , especially Sean Hannity , who also functions as a nonofficial adviser to Trump , did not move as quickly to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s episode of Hannity ’ s show was particularly egregious , with such guests as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich angrily repeating the Trump campaign ’ s evidence-free assertions of election fraud .
It was 60 minutes of nationwide conspiracy dissemination , a brutal demonstration of Fox ’ s power to superspread a political virus in America .
While Ingraham altered her position on Friday night , Hannity did not modulate his they ’ re-stealing-the-election tune .
And this has led to unusually direct scrutiny of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ usually been mentioned in the many years and fountains of media criticism of their network .
In addition to Tapper ’ s monologue , CNN ’ s Brian Stelter put his finger on the Murdochs after news broke that a memo circulated at Fox News on Friday instructed on-air talent to not refer to Biden as president-elect once he amassed enough Electoral College votes to win .
“ The Murdochs are ultimately responsible , ” Stelter said .
“ Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch are responsible for what is on this network in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as Fox ’ s pivot became more apparent but hardly complete , Stelter pointed to Ingraham ’ s shift and Hannity ’ s intransigence , saying there is a “ giant tug of war ” at Fox right now .
Kathryn Murdoch is the only family member to have spoken out since the election .
The Murdoch family holds its intramural activity fairly close , but her tweet , endorsing a call for the family to put country before profit , touches on what might be the family ’ s main concern : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ strong conservative political beliefs , the Fox proposition has always been a business one — the family has reaped billions from the network .
In the U.K. in 1997 , the Murdoch media holdings shifted their support to then-Labour Party leader Tony Blair , not for ideological reasons but business ones .
Now , Kathryn Murdoch , in calling for the network to report honestly about election-fraud conspiracy theories in the U.S. , seems to be acknowledging that it would not be a revenue-enhancing position .
Many of Fox News ’ s pro-Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ loss of viewers could ultimately affect the network ’ s crucial revenue stream : cable fees .
The question could be asked : After decades of running Fox News as an irresponsible right-wing propaganda machine , why change now , why speak out now , after all that ’ s been done by the network and supported by the family ?
The answer might be that the Murdoch family ’ s run of remarkable impunity could really be over as there is now greater scrutiny of what they ’ re responsible for .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ tweet that hinted at her reputational concerns .
“ What will you tell your children or your future self about the part you played in history ?
” she asked .
And after Biden was declared president-elect on Saturday , she tried to publicly implant herself even more firmly in the anti-Trump resistance , tweeting out , “ We did it !
!
!
” Whichever direction the Murdochs take with Fox News in the coming hours and days , their effort to avoid history ’ s judgment , if not the judgment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even if their network reports the truth now that Trump ’ s defeat is official .
This was noted by Angel Carusone , the chief executive of Media Matters for America .
“ When this is all over , ” he tweeted , “ Everyone should take a respite .
And then , we need to finally do something about the deceitful and destructive force ” that is Fox News .
Updated : Saturday , Nov. 7 , 11:05 a.m .
This article was updated with new information about Fox News , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ York Post shifting further away from President Trump ’ s unfounded claims of election fraud .
Updated : Saturday , Nov. 7 , 2:50 p.m .
This article was updated to reflect that Joe Biden has been declared president-elect of the United States .

A behind-the-scenes struggle that could determine the extent of post-election violence in America is breaking into the open, but it’s not at the White House or inside the GOP. It is within the billionaire Murdoch family, the owners of Fox News.
On Friday morning, a day before Joe Biden was declared president-elect, one of Rupert Murdoch’s daughters-in-law, Kathryn Murdoch, tweeted out an unprecedented criticism of Fox News and the family’s handling of the network as President Donald Trump was heading for defeat. Responding to CNN anchor Jake Tapper saying that it was time for Fox and the Murdochs to make clear that there was no credible evidence of election fraud, Kathryn Murdoch tweeted, “I agree with this.”
I agree with this. https://t.co/VgmYiJ0hPU — Kathryn Murdoch (@KathrynAMurdoch) November 6, 2020
Her sentiments appeared to have support within the family, because their media holdings — not just Fox News — began sending out clear signals to President Trump that he should accept defeat. On Friday evening, the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page skeptically noted that the Trump campaign “will have to prove” its baseless claims of election fraud, and advised the president to be ready to “concede gracefully.” The article’s headline was “The Presidential Endgame.” On Fox News last night, primetime host Laura Ingraham, a guest at the White House just a few days ago, said the president should exhibit “grace and composure” when the moment comes to admit defeat, which she seemed to feel was coming soon. A graphic displayed during her show stated that one of the three tasks ahead is to “Accept the Results of the Election.” Finally, the front-page headline of Saturday morning’s New York Post seemed to mark a clear turn from the Trump era, blaring out, “Ready, Set… Joe?”
The Murdoch family, presided over by 89-year-old patriarch Rupert Murdoch, owns Fox News and a constellation of other media properties in the United States and across the world; the family is the inspiration for the HBO series “Succession.” The political bent of Fox News and other media outlets reflects the right-wing orientation of Rupert and his eldest son Lachlan, who now oversees the network as chief executive of its parent company, Fox Corporation. But the family’s ownership of its media properties is a 50-50 split between Rupert on one side and his six children on the other. The key progeny, when it comes to running the empire, have nearly always been the conservative Lachlan and his younger brother James, who is a centrist.
Kathryn Murdoch is James’s wife. In recent years, she and James have not hidden their political preferences: They made significant donations to the campaigns of Pete Buttigieg and later, Joe Biden, once he became the Democratic Party nominee. Earlier this year, after James lost a succession battle to Lachlan and resigned from his last remaining board position, he issued an oblique criticism of the political direction of the family’s holdings, but he did not say anything specific about Fox News and its central role in laundering white nationalist extremism and its related conspiracy theories.
With Trump’s defeat, the network and the family are at a crossroads, facing far more critical scrutiny and pressure than they ever have in the United States. Fox is in the position, at this moment, of state broadcasters in unstable countries where an unpopular leader has been voted out of power but refuses to accept the result. Will the broadcaster be loyal to the defeated leader and claim that the election was rigged — a path that will probably not be successful but would nearly guarantee a higher level of post-election instability? Or does the broadcaster take the journalistically and morally correct path of reporting the fact that the president really did lose an election that was not rigged against him? In the 24 hours leading up to Biden surpassing 270 Electoral College votes on Saturday, the Murdoch properties showed added evidence of taking the latter path.
It is useful to step back for a moment and realize the deformity of this moment. Due to the unique power of Fox News — alongside Facebook, it is the most prominent platform in the U.S. for spreading right-wing disinformation — a single family with a net worth of approximately $17 billion is positioned to decide whether election conspiracy theories will have the media oxygen they need to spread widely and deeply across the country. It is a concentration of power that has been amassed and abused for decades by the Murdoch family, and has caused immense damage in the U.S. and other countries too (the Murdochs are responsible for similar harm in the U.K. and Australia, where they also have significant media holdings).
Photo: Michael Nigro/Sipa USA/AP
As election results came in and showed Trump on a trajectory to defeat, Fox’s coverage became notably split earlier this week. The so-called news side of Fox, which is anchored in its daytime programming with conservative but not delusional journalists like Chris Wallace and Bret Baier, has done a generally straight-up job of reporting the results. Fox’s data team is still the only cable network to have called Arizona for Biden, a move that infuriated the White House and was apparently a factor that led a crowd of pro-Trump protesters outside a ballot-counting office in Phoenix to chant “Fox News sucks.”
In a reflection of what would seem to be early evidence of a Murdoch inclination to take their media properties in a pragmatic direction, the New York Post, which was one of Rupert Murdoch’s first media acquisitions in the United States and has been consistently right-wing under his decades of ownership, published two articles on Thursday that were sharply critical of Trump’s fraud claims, including a story that was headlined, “Downcast Trump makes baseless election fraud claims in White House address.”
But the primetime hosts at Fox News, especially Sean Hannity, who also functions as a nonofficial adviser to Trump, did not move as quickly to change their pro-Trump cheerleading. Thursday night’s episode of Hannity’s show was particularly egregious, with such guests as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich angrily repeating the Trump campaign’s evidence-free assertions of election fraud. It was 60 minutes of nationwide conspiracy dissemination, a brutal demonstration of Fox’s power to superspread a political virus in America. While Ingraham altered her position on Friday night, Hannity did not modulate his they’re-stealing-the-election tune.
And this has led to unusually direct scrutiny of the Murdoch family, whose name has not usually been mentioned in the many years and fountains of media criticism of their network. In addition to Tapper’s monologue, CNN’s Brian Stelter put his finger on the Murdochs after news broke that a memo circulated at Fox News on Friday instructed on-air talent to not refer to Biden as president-elect once he amassed enough Electoral College votes to win (Fox denied the CNN report). “The Murdochs are ultimately responsible,” Stelter said. “Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch are responsible for what is on this network in the coming hours.” On Saturday morning, as Fox’s pivot became more apparent but hardly complete, Stelter pointed to Ingraham’s shift and Hannity’s intransigence, saying there is a “giant tug of war” at Fox right now.
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Kathryn Murdoch is the only family member to have spoken out since the election. The Murdoch family holds its intramural activity fairly close, but her tweet, endorsing a call for the family to put country before profit, touches on what might be the family’s main concern: money. While Rupert and Lachlan have strong conservative political beliefs, the Fox proposition has always been a business one — the family has reaped billions from the network. In the U.K. in 1997, the Murdoch media holdings shifted their support to then-Labour Party leader Tony Blair, not for ideological reasons but business ones. Now, Kathryn Murdoch, in calling for the network to report honestly about election-fraud conspiracy theories in the U.S., seems to be acknowledging that it would not be a revenue-enhancing position. Many of Fox News’s pro-Trump viewers would be incensed, and a loss of viewers could ultimately affect the network’s crucial revenue stream: cable fees.
The question could be asked: After decades of running Fox News as an irresponsible right-wing propaganda machine, why change now, why speak out now, after all that’s been done by the network and supported by the family? The answer might be that the Murdoch family’s run of remarkable impunity could really be over as there is now greater scrutiny of what they’re responsible for. Kathryn Murdoch had a little-noticed Election Day tweet that hinted at her reputational concerns. “What will you tell your children or your future self about the part you played in history?” she asked. And after Biden was declared president-elect on Saturday, she tried to publicly implant herself even more firmly in the anti-Trump resistance, tweeting out, “We did it!!!”
Whichever direction the Murdochs take with Fox News in the coming hours and days, their effort to avoid history’s judgment, if not the judgment of courts too, is perhaps doomed even if their network reports the truth now that Trump’s defeat is official. This was noted by Angel Carusone, the chief executive of Media Matters for America. “When this is all over,” he tweeted, “Everyone should take a respite. And then, we need to finally do something about the deceitful and destructive force” that is Fox News.
Updated: Saturday, Nov. 7, 11:05 a.m.
This article was updated with new information about Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post shifting further away from President Trump’s unfounded claims of election fraud.
Updated: Saturday, Nov. 7, 2:50 p.m.
This article was updated to reflect that Joe Biden has been declared president-elect of the United States.