Fox News Host Addresses Situation of Newt Gingrich’s George Soros Comment

Hungarian-born U.S. investor George Soros in Vienna, Austria on June 21, 2019. Georg Hochmuth/AFP via Getty Images

Fox News host Harris Faulkner on Thursday addressed an awkward televised exchange that occurred the previous day when Newt Gingrich was told by other co-hosts that liberal billionaire financier George Soros does not need to be part of the conversation regarding riots across America.

“We had a little incident on the show yesterday that was not smooth. And while I was leading that segment, we had interruptions, and I sat silently while all of that played out—also not ideal,” Faulkner said on news and talk show “Outnumbered.”

She continued, "Our guest, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich—who is beloved and needed to be allowed to speak with the openness and respect that this show is all about—was interrupted.

Television anchor Harris Faulkner attends the 2018 White House Correspondents' Dinner at Washington Hilton in Washington, on April 28, 2018. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

“Do we debate with fire here? Yes, but we must also give each other the space to express ourselves. As the only original member of the six-year-old amazing daytime ride known as ‘Outnumbered,’ I especially want to rock ‘n roll with every voice and perspective at the table.

“We don’t censor on this show,” she added. “And that’s why we are winning weekdays at noon.”

Former House Speaker Gingrich (R-Ga.) on Wednesday had said on the show that, amid the violence occurring in American cities, “The number one problem in all these cities is George Soros elected left-wing anti-police, pro-criminal district attorneys who refuse to keep people locked up.”

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), in Washington on Oct. 24, 2019. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

He added, “Just yesterday they put so many back on the street who’s wanted for two different murders in New York City. You cannot solve this problem, and both Harris and Biden have talked very proudly about what they call ‘progressive district attorneys.’

“Progressive district attorneys are anti-police, pro-criminal and overwhelmingly elected with George Soros’s money and they are a major cause of the violence we’re seeing, because they keep putting the violent criminals back on the street,” he goes on.

“I’m not sure we need to bring George Soros into this,” Fox News host Melissa Francis responded.

“He paid for it, he paid for it,” Gingrich replied. “Why can’t we discuss that millions of dollars have been spent—

“No, he didn’t,” interjected co-host Marie Harf. “I agree with Melissa that he didn’t need to be a part of this conversation.”

“OK. So it’s verboten,” Gingrich replied.

“Alright we’re gon—” Faulkner said, before pausing for almost eight seconds of silence, then said, “Alright, we’re going to move on.”

Fox News didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Faulkner shared a post on Thursday on her Twitter account that noted that she did not apologize for the situation but explained what happened and reinforced Fox News’ policy of sharing multiple points of views.

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In a statement on Thursday published on the American Mind, Gingrich noted how immediately after the awkward exchange on the Fox News show, people on Twitter and other social media platforms “went crazy” and were “alleging that any criticism of Soros’s political involvement is automatically false, anti-Semitic, or both.”

“This is ludicrous,” he wrote. “Soros’s plan to elect these prosecutors has been well documented already—and it has nothing to do with his spiritual or ethnic background. The Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Politico, USA Today, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, CBS, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel—even Fox News itself, among others, have all thoroughly reported on it.”

He went on to provide examples of instances where Soros-backed district attorneys made decisions that appear to have given more leniency to alleged crime and violence in their cities.

“I think the heart of this mass denial is that Democrats and the Left are watching the terrible human cost of their misguided, pro-criminal, anti-police justice policies, and they are beginning to worry that the American people will realize who is responsible for them,” Gingrich wrote.

The Fox News incident is not the first time in recent days that Gingrich has mentioned Soros in relation to current unrest in U.S. cities. Recently, Gingrich wrote in a Twitter post on Sept. 9, “Why are some in the left so afraid of our mentioning George Soros’ name that they scream anti-semitic? It IS his name. He IS funding pro-criminal, anti-police district attorneys. Why is the left afraid of the facts?”

In a subsequent Twitter post on Sept. 14, Gingrich shared a podcast where he discussed the question, “Does the rise in crime in our cities correlate to the election of so-called progressive prosecutors?”

Soros, 90, who has a net worth of about $8 billion, has been heavily involved in political lobbying and spent at least $48 million in 2019.

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.