Fox News Cuts Away From Kayleigh McEnany's Comments Accusing Democrats of 'Welcoming' Fraud

Fox News on Monday cut away from a briefing held by White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany [...]

By Allison Schonter

Fox News on Monday cut away from a briefing held by White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany during which she repeated President Donald Trump's unfounded claims that there has been widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. After McEnany, who also serves as the Trump campaign spokesperson, accused Democrats of "welcoming" fraud and illegal voting, Fox News host Neil Cavuto cut in to end the network's broadcast of the video, as he couldn't "in good countenance continue showing you this."

Speaking in her "personal capacity" during a campaign event at the Republican National Committee headquarters Monday evening, McEnany began her address by declaring that the election is "not over," as Republicans had "only begun the process of obtaining an accurate, honest vote count." She went on to suggest that Democrats welcomed "fraud" and "illegal" voting in the 2020 election, accusing them of opposing voter ID laws, verifying signatures and other identity markers, and preventing observers from watching ballots being counted in the past election. Fox News cut away shortly after McEnany stated Republicans want "every legal vote to be counted, and every illegal vote to be discarded."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa – I just think we have to be very clear. She's charging the other side as welcoming fraud and welcoming illegal voting. Unless she has more details to back that up, I can't in good countenance continue to show you this," Cavuto said from the newsroom. "I want to make sure that maybe they do have something to back that up, but that's an explosive charge to make, that the other side is effectively rigging and cheating. If she does bring proof of that, of course we'll take you back. So far she has started saying, right at the outset – 'welcoming fraud, welcoming illegal voting.' Not so fast."

According to The Washington Post, which cited people familiar with the matter, the decision to cut away from the briefing was Cavuto's and not one handed down from "top brass" at the network. The outlet noted that the network has cut away from McEnany's briefings on a handful of occasions in the past.

During the Monday briefing, McEnany, amid a number of allegations, claimed that Republican poll watchers were barred from observing the counting of ballots. That allegation has been refuted numerous times on air by Fox News reporter Eric Shawn, who said just last week, "that's not true. That's just not true."

McEnany's Monday remarks were just the latest example of the Trump campaign pressing allegations of voter fraud in the days since Joe Biden was declared the projected winner. The campaign on Monday filed a lawsuit to block the state of Pennsylvania from certifying Biden's victory in the state, raising a number of allegations of voter fraud.

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