Fox News edited Trump’s rambling responses and false statements during barbershop interview, with full video

new York
CNN
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Fox News Channel’s recent segment about Donald Trump’s “surprise” visit to a Bronx hair salon sounded like a campaign ad for the former president’s re-election.

Trump was seen answering questions and chatting with black and Hispanic customers and barbershop employees, some of whom wore “Make Barbers Great Again” shirts. The visit was part of “Fox & Friends” co-host Lawrence Jones’s ongoing interview series with hairstylist.

But the version of the visit shown on television was, to borrow a hair metaphor, a short cut. Fox removed many of Trump’s rambling comments and false claims. Participants had to follow up several times when Trump strayed from the initial point of their questions.

CNN reviewed more extensive video of the barbershop visit, uploaded to Instagram the day of Trump’s appearance in the Bronx, and compared it to segments that aired on “Fox & Friends” on Monday.

Fox’s edits omitted many of Trump’s tangents and exaggerations — a striking move given Trump’s recent attacks on CBS news magazine “60 Minutes” for editing an interview with his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris , at the beginning of the month.

Trump’s complaints about ’60 Minutes’ focus on an edit to Harris’ commentary on the relationship between Israel and the United States. He accused CBS of manipulating Harris’ interview to “make it better” and demanded that CBS release the unedited transcript of the interview, which CBS refused to do.

Ironically, however, Fox edited several of Trump’s recent appearances on the network, including his visit to the barbershop. And some modifications certainly make it better.

The TV broadcast omitted Trump’s comments about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. He told barbershop customers that “they just dumped 50,000 people – 32,000 migrants from another country – in Springfield, Ohio. They don’t know what to do. The actual number of migrants in Springfield is much lower, according to the city’s own data. The show also left out Trump’s gross exaggerations about crime in Aurora, Colorado.

One of the most revealing parts of the dialogue began when an audience member asked Trump to find a way to eliminate federal taxes in the future. On Fox, we saw Trump immediately respond in the affirmative: “There is a way.”

But this response from Trump actually came more than seven minutes later, after Trump (and Jones) had discussed other topics, including legacies, the Keystone pipeline, Ronald Reagan, Russia and transgender athletes. Trump had to be repeatedly nudged on track by the anonymous audience member, who kept backtracking, apologizing, and said, “I couldn’t finish my question.” After reiterating his tax investigation, Trump said “there is a way.”

But on Fox, everything was stitched together as one back and forth.

Fox also cut out some of the former president’s insults, such as when he mocked the Wall Street Journal, a Fox sister property. “Don’t listen to” the “morons on Wall Street or the Wall Street Journal, because they don’t understand,” Trump told the barbershop audience.

In another unaired portion of the visit, Trump praised Hungarian strongman Viktor Orban and called him a “very respected guy.” This exchange highlighted Trump’s tendency to favor autocratic leaders, but Fox decided not to share it with viewers.

A Fox News spokeswoman said each of Jones’ barbershop segments was pre-recorded and edited. The Bronx edition lasted nearly an hour and was trimmed for time and clarity, the network said.

Trump’s recent appearance on Fox News’ “MediaBuzz” was also pre-recorded and edited. One obvious shift occurred when Trump began repeating his false claims about the 2020 election — a sensitive topic for Fox since the network still faces defamation lawsuits related to its 2020 coverage.

“They came to protest a rigged election,” Trump said, referring to January 6. Then there was a sudden cut, suggesting that some of Trump’s distortions had been removed.