Business

Fox News, Once Home to Trump, Now Often Ignores Him

Published

2 years ago

July 29, 2022

Fox News, Once Home to Trump, Now Often Ignores Him

It’s been greater than 100 days since Donald J. Trump was interviewed on Fox Information.

The community, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch and boosted Mr. Trump’s ascension from actual property developer and actuality tv star to the White Home, is now typically bypassing him in favor of showcasing different Republicans.

Within the former president’s view, based on two individuals who have spoken to him not too long ago, Fox’s ignoring him is an affront far worse than working tales and commentary that he has complained are “too unfavorable.” The community is successfully displacing him from his favourite spot: the middle of the information cycle.

On July 22, as Mr. Trump was rallying supporters in Arizona and teasing the potential for working for president in 2024, saying “We might should do it once more,” Fox Information selected to not present the occasion — the identical method it has taken for almost all of his rallies this yr. As an alternative, the community aired Laura Ingraham’s interview with a potential rival for the 2024 Republican nomination, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida. It was the primary of two prime-time interviews Fox aired with Mr. DeSantis within the span of 5 days; he appeared on Tucker Carlson’s present shortly after speaking to Ms. Ingraham.

When Mr. Trump spoke to a gathering of conservatives in Washington this week, Fox didn’t air the speech reside. It as a substitute confirmed a couple of clips after he was performed talking. That very same day, it did broadcast reside — for 17 minutes — a speech by former Vice President Mike Pence.

Mr. Trump has complained not too long ago to aides that even Sean Hannity, his good friend of 20 years, doesn’t appear to be paying him a lot consideration anymore, one one that spoke to him recalled.

The snubs should not coincidental, based on a number of folks near Mr. Murdoch’s Fox Company who spoke on the situation of anonymity to debate the corporate’s operations. This month, The New York Submit and The Wall Road Journal, each owned by Mr. Murdoch, revealed blistering editorials about Mr. Trump’s actions regarding the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the Capitol.

The skepticism towards the previous president extends to the best ranges of the corporate, based on two folks with information of the considering of Mr. Murdoch, the chairman, and his son Lachlan, the chief govt. It additionally displays considerations that Republicans in Washington, like Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority chief, have expressed to the Murdochs concerning the potential hurt Mr. Trump might trigger to the social gathering’s possibilities in upcoming elections, particularly its odds of taking management of the Senate.

The Murdochs’ discomfort with Mr. Trump stems from his refusal to just accept his election loss, based on two folks aware of these conversations, and is mostly in sync with the views of Republicans, like Mr. McConnell, who largely supported the previous president however way back mentioned the election was settled and condemned his efforts to overturn it.

One particular person aware of the Murdochs’ considering mentioned they remained insistent that Fox Information had made the suitable name when its resolution desk projected that Joseph R. Biden would win Arizona simply after 11 p.m. on the night time of the election — a transfer that infuriated Mr. Trump and short-circuited his try to prematurely declare victory. This particular person mentioned Lachlan Murdoch had privately described the choice desk’s name, which got here days earlier than different networks concluded that Mr. Trump had misplaced the state, as one thing solely Fox “had the braveness and science to do.”

A few of the folks acknowledged that Fox’s present method to Mr. Trump may very well be momentary. If Mr. Trump proclaims he’s working for president, or if he’s indicted, he’ll warrant extra protection, they mentioned.

A spokesman for Mr. McConnell declined to remark. A spokesman for the Fox Company additionally declined to remark, as did a spokeswoman for Mr. Trump.

The connection between Mr. Trump and the Murdoch media empire has lengthy been difficult — an association of mutual comfort and distrust that has had sensational ups and downs since Mr. Trump first talked himself onto the gossip pages of The New York Submit within the Eighties.

However the spat between the previous president and the media baron who has helped set the Republican Social gathering’s agenda for many years is happening in a a lot bigger and extra fragmented media panorama, as new personalities and platforms make it a lot tougher for anybody outlet to alter the narrative. Mr. Trump’s allies within the corners of the conservative media which are extra loyal to him — together with Breitbart, Newsmax and speak radio — are already seizing on the flip inside Fox as proof of a betrayal.

Mr. Trump seems prepared to struggle. He blasted “Fox & Buddies” this week on his social media service, Fact Social, for being “horrible” and having “gone to the ‘darkish aspect’” after one in all its hosts had talked about that Mr. DeSantis had beat Mr. Trump in two latest polls of a hypothetical 2024 Republican main contest. Then, providing no proof, he blamed Paul Ryan, the previous Republican speaker of the Home, with whom he typically clashed. Mr. Ryan sits on the Fox Company’s board of administrators.

The Submit was typically on Mr. Trump’s aspect in its editorials when he was president. Nevertheless it sometimes went towards him, like when Mr. Trump refused to concede the election in 2020 and the paper’s front-page headline blared: “Mr. President, STOP THE INSANITY.”

Mr. Trump discovered a house on Fox Information when the community’s founder, Roger Ailes, gave him a weekly slot on “Fox & Buddies” in 2011. Mr. Trump used the platform to attach with the budding Tea Social gathering motion as he thrashed institution Republicans like Mr. Ryan and unfold a lie concerning the authenticity of President Barack Obama’s start certificates.

Initially, neither Mr. Ailes nor Mr. Murdoch considered Mr. Trump as a critical presidential candidate. Mr. Ailes instructed colleagues on the time that he thought Mr. Trump was utilizing his 2016 marketing campaign to get a greater take care of NBC, which broadcast “The Apprentice,” based on “Insurgency,” this reporter’s account of Mr. Trump’s rise within the G.O.P. And, when Ivanka Trump instructed Mr. Murdoch over lunch in 2015 that her father supposed to run, Mr. Murdoch reportedly didn’t even search for from his soup, based on “The Satan’s Discount,” by Joshua Inexperienced.

However as Mr. Trump turned greater than anybody information outlet — and larger than even his personal political social gathering — he was in a position to flip the tables and rally his supporters towards Fox or some other outlet he felt was too essential of him. He recurrently used Twitter to assault Fox personalities like Megyn Kelly, Charles Krauthammer and Karl Rove.

The community might at all times be essential of him in its information protection. However now the skepticism comes by means of louder — in asides from information anchors, in interviews with voters or in opinion articles for different Murdoch-owned properties.

Referring to the congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 assault, the Fox anchor Bret Baier mentioned it had made Mr. Trump “look horrific” by detailing the way it had taken 187 minutes for him to be persuaded to say something publicly concerning the riot. One latest section on FoxNews.com featured interviews with Trump supporters who have been overwhelmingly unenthusiastic a couple of potential third marketing campaign, saying that they thought “his time has handed” and that he was “a little bit too polarizing.” Then they supplied their ideas on who ought to change him on the ticket. Unanimously, they named Mr. DeSantis.

“I spent 11 years at Fox, and I do know nothing pretaped hits a Fox display that hasn’t been signed off on and sanctioned on the very high ranges of administration,” mentioned Eric Bolling, a former Fox host who’s now with Newsmax. “Particularly when it has to do with a presidential election.”

There might be no denying that Fox Information stays Fox Information. Viewers in latest weeks have seen sometimes essential protection of Mr. Trump, however, in contrast to different information networks, Fox has chosen to air its personal prime-time programming quite than the hearings of the committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault. (The author of this text is an MSNBC contributor.) Mr. Carlson, Mr. Hannity and Ms. Ingraham dismiss the hearings as a “present trial.”

“They’re mendacity, and we’re not going to assist them do it,” Mr. Carlson has mentioned. “What we’ll do as a substitute is to attempt to let you know the reality.”

The community has aired the Jan. 6 committee hearings through the day, when far fewer viewers are tuning in. However different segments through the daytime and early night play up violent crime in Democratic-run cities or Mr. Biden’s verbal and bodily stumbles. As the federal government introduced {that a} key indicator of financial well being declined final quarter, the headline Fox scrawled throughout the display learn, “Biden Denies Recession as U.S. Enters Recession.”

On April 13, Mr. Trump referred to as into Mr. Hannity’s present and ran by means of a listing of crises he claimed wouldn’t be taking place “had we received this election, which we did.”

He hasn’t been interviewed on the community since.

Business

Albania Gives Jared Kushner Hotel Project a Nod as Trump Returns

Published

3 hours ago

January 16, 2025

Press Room

Albania Gives Jared Kushner Hotel Project a Nod as Trump Returns

The government of Albania has given preliminary approval to a plan proposed by Jared Kushner, Donald J. Trump’s son-in-law, to build a $1.4 billion luxury hotel complex on a small abandoned military base off the coast of Albania.

The project is one of several involving Mr. Trump and his extended family that directly involve foreign government entities that will be moving ahead even while Mr. Trump will be in charge of foreign policy related to these same nations.

The approval by Albania’s Strategic Investment Committee — which is led by Prime Minister Edi Rama — gives Mr. Kushner and his business partners the right to move ahead with accelerated negotiations to build the luxury resort on a 111-acre section of the 2.2-square-mile island of Sazan that will be connected by ferry to the mainland.

Mr. Kushner and the Albanian government did not respond Wednesday to requests for comment. But when previously asked about this project, both have said that the evaluation is not being influenced by Mr. Kushner’s ties to Mr. Trump or any effort to try to seek favors from the U.S. government.

“The fact that such a renowned American entrepreneur shows his interest on investing in Albania makes us very proud and happy,” a spokesman for Mr. Rama said last year in a statement to The New York Times when asked about the projects.

Mr. Kushner’s Affinity Partners, a private equity company backed with about $4.6 billion in money mostly from Saudi Arabia and other Middle East sovereign wealth funds, is pursuing the Albania project along with Asher Abehsera, a real-estate executive that Mr. Kushner has previously teamed up with to build projects in Brooklyn, N.Y.

The Albanian government, according to an official document recently posted online, will now work with their American partners to clear the proposed hotel site of any potential buried munitions and to examine any other environmental or legal concerns that need to be resolved before the project can move ahead.

The document, dated Dec. 30, notes that the government “has the right to revoke the decision,” depending on the final project negotiations.

Mr. Kushner’s firm has said the plan is to build a five-star “eco-resort community” on the island by turning a “former military base into a vibrant international destination for hospitality and wellness.”

Ivanka Trump, Mr. Trump’s daughter, has said she is helping with the project as well. “We will execute on it,” she said about the project, during a podcast last year.

This project is just one of two major real-estate deals that Mr. Kushner is pursuing along with Mr. Abehsera that involve foreign governments.

Separately, the partnership received preliminary approval last year to build a luxury hotel complex in Belgrade, Serbia, in the former ministry of defense building, which has sat empty for decades after it was bombed by NATO in 1999 during a war there.

Serbia and Albania have foreign policy matters pending with the United States, as both countries seek continued U.S. support for their long-stalled efforts to join the European Union, and officials in Washington are trying to convince Serbia to tighten ties with the United States, instead of Russia.

Virginia Canter, who served as White House ethics lawyer during the Obama and Clinton administrations and also an ethics adviser to the International Monetary Fund, said even if there was no attempt to gain influence with Mr. Trump, any government deal involving his family creates that impression.

“It all looks like favoritism, like they are providing access to Kushner because they want to be on the good side of Trump,” Ms. Canter said, now with State Democracy Defenders Fund, a group that tracks federal government corruption and ethics issues.

Business

Craft supplies retailer Joann declares bankruptcy for the second time in a year

Published

3 hours ago

January 16, 2025

Press Room

Craft supplies retailer Joann declares bankruptcy for the second time in a year

The craft supplies and fabric retailer Joann filed for bankruptcy for the second time in less than a year, as the chain wrestles with declining sales and inventory shortages, the company said Wednesday.

The retailer emerged from a previous Chapter 11 bankruptcy process last April after eliminating $505 million in debt. Now, with $615 million in liabilities, the company will begin a court-supervised sale of its assets to repay creditors. The company owes an additional $133 million to its suppliers.

“We hope that this process enables us to find a path that would allow Joann to continue operating,” said interim Chief Executive Michael Prendergast in a statement. “The last several years have presented significant and lasting challenges in the retail environment, which, coupled with our current financial position and constrained inventory levels, forced us to take this step.”

Joann’s more than 800 stores and websites will remain open throughout the bankruptcy process, the company said, and employees will continue to receive pay and benefits. The Hudson, Ohio-based company was founded in 1943 and has stores in 49 states, including several in Southern California.

According to court documents, Joann began receiving unpredictable and inconsistent deliveries of yarn and sewing items from its suppliers, making it difficult to keep its shelves stocked. Joann’s suppliers also discontinued certain items the retailer relied on.

Along with the “unanticipated inventory challenges,” Joann and other retailers face pressure from inflation-wary consumers and interest rates that were for a time the highest in decades. The crafts supplier has also been hindered by competition from others in the space, including Michael’s, Etsy and Hobby Lobby, said Retail Wire Chief Executive Dominick Miserandino.

“It did not necessarily learn to evolve like its nearby competitors,” Miserandino said of Joann. “Not many people have heard of Joann in the way they’ve heard of Michael’s.”

Joann is not the first retailer to continue to struggle after going through bankruptcy. The party supply chain Party City announced last month it would be shutting down operations, after filing for and emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2023.

Over the last two years, more than 60 companies have filed for bankruptcy for a second or third time, Bloomberg reported, based on information from BankruptcyData. That’s the most over a comparable period since 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic kept shoppers home.

Discount chain Big Lots filed for bankruptcy last September, and the Container Store, a retailer offering storage and organization products, declared bankruptcy last month. Companies that rely heavily on brick-and-mortar locations are scrambling to keep up with online retailers and big-box chains. Fast-casual restaurants such as Red Lobster and Rubio’s Coastal Grill have also struggled.

High prices have prompted consumers to pull back on discretionary spending, while rising operating and labor costs put additional pressure on businesses, experts said. The U.S. annual inflation rate for 2024 was 2.9%, down from 3.4% in 2023. But inflation has been on the rise since September and remains above the Federal Reserve’s goal of 2%.

If a sale process for Joann is approved, Gordon Brothers Retail Partners would serve as the stalking-horse bidder and set the floor for the auction.

Business

U.S. Sues Southwest Airlines Over Chronic Delays

Published

11 hours ago

January 15, 2025

Press Room

U.S. Sues Southwest Airlines Over Chronic Delays

The federal government sued Southwest Airlines on Wednesday, accusing the airline of harming passengers who flew on two routes that were plagued by consistent delays in 2022.

In a lawsuit, the Transportation Department said it was seeking more than $2.1 million in civil penalties over the flights between airports in Chicago and Oakland, Calif., as well as Baltimore and Cleveland, that were chronically delayed over five months that year.

“Airlines have a legal obligation to ensure that their flight schedules provide travelers with realistic departure and arrival times,” the transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, said in a statement. “Today’s action sends a message to all airlines that the department is prepared to go to court in order to enforce passenger protections.”

Carriers are barred from operating unrealistic flight schedules, which the Transportation Department considers an unfair, deceptive and anticompetitive practice. A “chronically delayed” flight is defined as one that operates at least 10 times a month and is late by at least 30 minutes more than half the time.

In a statement, Southwest said it was “disappointed” that the department chose to sue over the flights that took place more than two years ago. The airline said it had operated 20 million flights since the Transportation Department enacted its policy against chronically delayed flights more than a decade ago, with no other violations.

“Any claim that these two flights represent an unrealistic schedule is simply not credible when compared with our performance over the past 15 years,” Southwest said.

Last year, Southwest canceled fewer than 1 percent of its flights, but more than 22 percent arrived at least 15 minutes later than scheduled, according to Cirium, an aviation data provider. Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Alaska Airlines and American Airlines all had fewer such delays.

The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. In it, the government said that a Southwest flight from Chicago to Oakland arrived late 19 out of 25 trips in April 2022, with delays averaging more than an hour. The consistent delays continued through August of that year, averaging an hour or more. On another flight, between Baltimore and Cleveland, average delay times reached as high as 96 minutes per month during the same period. In a statement, the department said that Southwest, rather than poor weather or air traffic control, was responsible for more than 90 percent of the delays.

“Holding out these chronically delayed flights disregarded consumers’ need to have reliable information about the real arrival time of a flight and harmed thousands of passengers traveling on these Southwest flights by causing disruptions to travel plans or other plans,” the department said in the lawsuit.

The government said Southwest had violated federal rules 58 times in August 2022 after four months of consistent delays. Each violation faces a civil penalty of up to $37,377, or more than $2.1 million in total, according to the lawsuit.

The Transportation Department on Wednesday also said that it had penalized Frontier Airlines for chronically delayed flights, fining the airline $650,000. Half that amount was paid to the Treasury and the rest is slated to be forgiven if the airline has no more chronically delayed flights over the next three years.

This month, the department ordered JetBlue Airways to pay a $2 million fine for failing to address similarly delayed flights over a span of more than a year ending in November 2023, with half the money going to passengers affected by the delays.