Fox News anchor Shepard Smith suggested there is a “concerted effort” by people appearing on his network to advise President Trump not to sit down for an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller.
“There appears to be a concerted effort … to put a bunch of people on television having seen [Mueller’s] questions, and to say into the television — like this channel — ‘Don’t do it, Mr. President. Don’t do it. Don’t go up there, don’t do it. We know you want to. Don’t do it. Can’t do it,’” Smith told Reuters White House correspondent Jeff Mason Wednesday.
“We all know the president does watch some television, and he’s got a lot of surrogates, as we call them, or friends out there that speak for him and speak on behalf of him,” Mason said.
“And they all say don’t do it,” Smith said.
Shep Smith calls out people on his own network speaking directly to Trump through the TV telling him not to talk to Robert Mueller pic.twitter.com/lx4giKDRdt
— Media Matters (@mmfa) May 2, 2018
The list of questions, which was published Monday by the New York Times, includes questions about former national security adviser Michael Flynn, fired FBI Director James Comey, and potential collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.
Trump might be willing to sit down with Mueller for “two to three hours” if federal investigators agree to certain conditions beforehand, Rudy Giuliani, who is a member of his legal team, said Wednesday.
Mueller is looking into Russian interference in the 2016 election and if the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin.
