‘Liberal’ Fox News Pundit Harold Ford Jr. Folds Like a Lawn Chair in Response to Ridiculous Claim About Trump’s Indictment
No one has ever mistaken the mild-mannered Harold Ford Jr. for a pugnacious cable news pundit, but on Monday his unwillingness to dispute and refute a conservative co-host on The Five reached a stunning new level of deference.
Unlike Jessica Tarlov, another rotating liberal pundit on the show – who is ready to brawl when the conservative co-hosts make wrong or insane points – Ford’s aim is to find common ground. It is typical and even expected that he will say some variation of, “I agree with a lot of what has been said” during a given show. Worse, his points often have all the flavor and heft of an unsalted rice cake.
The fundamental problem with Ford’s approach on the show is that it ignores the fact that the Republican Party’s de facto leader is a deranged sociopath and criminal who bends the party and its base to his whims. As such, the midway point between the Trump GOP and the reality-based world is going to be skewed toward a position that was unthinkable before the Trump era.
For example, Trump will be arraigned on Tuesday in federal court in Miami on 37 counts stemming from the fact that he absconded the White House with truckloads of government documents – some of which were classified. The indictment provides damning evidence that he tried to obstruct the government’s efforts to recover the material. In one instance, he allegedly showed a Pentagon document about a plan to attack Iran to a writer who did not have clearance to view it. The former president is reportedly on tape telling the person he can’t declassify the document because he’s not president anymore. That comment flatly contradicts his public insistence that as president, he declassified all the documents in his possession.
Despite this, conservatives have spent the last few days trying to explain why all of this behavior should be treated with all the seriousness of driving a golf cart on a green.
Which brings us to Monday’s installment of The Five on Fox News in which the co-hosts discussed the indictment.
“I agree with the judge in one regard,” Ford said, referring to co-host and former judge Jeanine Pirro. “The judge is fit to serve down there.”
This other judge, Aileen Cannon, is currently presiding over Trump’s case. Cannon was appointed by him in 2020 and last year, she showed herself to be completely in the tank for her benefactor by issuing a bizarre ruling in Trump’s favor that was subsequently reversed and rebuked by a federal appeals court.
That’s right. “The judge is fit to serve down there,” Ford said. “And if she proves that she’s not, I’m sure the parties there will say otherwise.”
He added, “When President Trump was asked on one or two occasions to return these documents, he chose not to,” he continued. “The legal predicate of this case is that President Trump believes he’s entitled to these documents because they’re governed under the Presidential Records Act.”
Ford did not weigh in on whether he believes Trump’s defense is valid. It is not, as we are about to see.
“Had President Trump just returned the documents after they asked him the third time, we wouldn’t be facing this,” he said. “I don’t wish this on him.”
Ford then said he wishes someone asks Trump, “Why didn’t you return the papers when you were asked to on the third occasion?”
Co-host Jesse Watters was all to happy to answer Ford’s question by giving an extremely bad take.
“Well, he was sifting through them in determining what were personal and what were presidential,” Watters replied. “And under the Presidential Records Act – as you know, Harold – he has the sole discretion to do that.”
Watters is completely wrong.
Last week, the National Archives responded to a statement by a former Trump attorney who claimed the former president has this right. But he does not.
“There is no history, practice, or provision in law for presidents to take official records with them when they leave office to sort through, such as for a two-year period as described in some reports,” it said in a statement. “Only during his time in office does a President have the right to go through his records to separate what may be ‘personal records’ of his, from official records within the scope of the Presidential Records Act.”
During the segment, Ford even noted former Attorney General Bill Barr’s appearance on Fox News over the weekend, in which the former Trump toady made it clear the ex-president had no business retaining the documents.
“He was totally wrong that he had the right to have those documents,” Barr stated. “Those documents are among the most sensitive secrets that the country has. They have to be in the custody of the archivist. He had no right to maintain them and retain them.”
Ford did not challenge Watters on his sweeping claim and instead only focused on the allegation that Trump showed the aforementioned battle plan to a writer.
“Even when he showed it to that reporter?” Ford asked Watters, who was either lying or misinformed.
“Well, if you’re waving it to that reporter who’s an American, how is that different than Hillary’s served getting hacked?” Watters said in an instance of whataboutism before dismissing the idea that Trump showing a writer material about attacking Iran is a big deal.
“We’ll see,” was all Ford offered in response.
“We’re talking about a piece of paper, Harold Ford Jr.,” Watters continued before referring to an unsubstantiated claim that Joe Biden took bribes when he was vice president. “Biden gets caught redhanded with Chinese bribes.”
Ford did not attempt to rebut his co-host.
“Why do you think he can’t keep a lawyer?” Ford asked, referring to Trump.
“Well, that’s a good question but we gotta go to break,” Watters responded.
Co-host Greg Gutfeld then uttered the truest statement he ever has on the show.
“I think you learned something here, Harold Ford Jr.,” he said. “Nothing. You learned nothing here.”
Watch above via Fox News.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
