Fox News displayed the viral photo that has made its way across social media showing Donald Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, standing alongside Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. The latter was arrested on Friday on sex abuse charges.
Maxwell was a confidante of Epstein, who was a convicted sex offender and faced federal charges for sex trafficking of minors in both New York and Florida before eventually being found dead in his jail cell last August. Maxwell dated Epstein and worked alongside him for more than a decade and allegedly helped him in his trafficking. After news of her arrest, a photo showing all four people began to sweep across the Internet. Fox News displayed the image but opted to cut out the president from the broadcast.
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Fox News later issued a statement on the incident. “On Sunday, July 5, a report on Ghislaine Maxwell during FOX News Channel’s America’s News HQ mistakenly eliminated President Donald Trump from a photo alongside then Melania Knauss, Jeffrey Epstein and Maxwell. We regret the error,” the statement reads.
Fox News cropped Donald Trump out of a photo it broadcast of Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and Melania. (Fox News screencap on left; original photo on right — h/t to @ScottSCroker) pic.twitter.com/TVc7nTUvde
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 5, 2020
Seeing this, many people took to Twitter to react to the decision to keep Trump out of the group shot, especially with the picture having gone viral and people already seeing it. Here’s a look at some of the most notable comments to be made in regards to Fox News’ decision.
Holy shit @FoxNews just aired this photo of Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and conveniently edited out @realDonaldTrump because, in case you don’t recognize her, that’s @FLOTUS on the left. What. The. Actual. Fuck??? pic.twitter.com/bgVJA8fkO5
— Scott Croker (@ScottSCroker) July 5, 2020
I love this because it means they looked and looked for a picture of her and Epstein that didn’t include Trump, but couldn’t find one.
— Mark WearerOfMasks Porter (@MarkPort67) July 5, 2020
I’m not surprised!! Why are u?? This is @FoxNews @FoxNewsPhotos after all!! Of course they’ll edit the pic to remove Trump but don’t stress…. EVERYONE knows Trump is in that photo. They can edit him out of the pic but not from our minds!
— Sandi Margolis (@SandiMargolis) July 5, 2020
We’ve all seen the photo and can’t forget it. But, why would they leave Melania in that photo especially with her in that pose leaning into Epstein? Eck!
— Joan Gallo-Silver 🌊🌊 (@DollyBelle) July 5, 2020
How shameful of them. But I thought, according to the Right, this news source is reliable and would never not tell the truth? Instead they are trying to help Trump while bashing Biden? News should be unbiased. Period.
— 🌊🇺🇸White Male🏳️🌈🌊 (@educated_educ8r) July 5, 2020
Hey @FoxNews Donnie is in that pic too. Shame your editing cut that out.
— Rosalynn (@Carter19521) July 5, 2020
I can’t really tell if that’s just lazy – it’s not like Epstein and Maxwell weren’t out there being photographed a ton – or subversive, obviously everyone who has seen the original will know who was cut out.
— Breonna Taylor deserves justice (@atypicalZoe) July 5, 2020
Interns should be paid is what I’m saying.
