Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera defended the cable network and his longtime “friend” President Trump during a Friday appearance on “Real Time With Bill Maher.”
“You care very much about your legacy being as a journalist, so I do have to ask, why Fox News?” Maher asked.
“I think that your characterization of Fox is a stereotype, with all due respect,” responded Rivera. “I’m pro-choice. I’m pro-immigration reform. I’m pro-gun control. And I’m on Fox News. It’s easy because Sean Hannity, for instance, is such a big personality, to say that he represents the sum total of Fox, but I think that, with due respect, that there are more voices. It’s not state-run TV. It has a conservative leaning. MSNBC is as liberal and as progressive as you can possibly be, aside from this show.”
“We’re HBO,” Maher quipped. “But, there is a big difference between MSNBC and Fox News. MSNBC sticks to the truth. They don’t make things up.”
The “Real Time” host then launched into several talking points about Trump watching the network and how “our policy seems to be coming from ‘Fox & Friends.'”
Rivera responded, “I’m still stuck on your saying that MSNBC sticks to the truth.”
The Fox News personality then listed “Russian collusion” as an example of something the liberal networks focus on with little substance to back it up.
“I say that anyone who views the witnesses who have been interviewed, the indictments that have come down, the scope of the investigation so far has to come to the conclusion that there’s nothing there yet,” said Rivera.
“Where’s the collusion? It’s an illusion!” Rivera asked, adding that Maher “would blame them if they had Russian dressing on their salad.”
“This is what I don’t get,” Maher said later in the interview. “I remember thinking of you as a crusading reporter who was fighting against the spin. I feel like now you are the spin.”
“That’s so bull!” Rivera responded.
“You’re a smart guy,” said Maher. “This befuddles me. I looked up to you.”
“If you don’t look up to me because I’m still friends with the president of the United States, then shame on you,” said Rivera, who also defended the president against the Stormy Daniels allegations.
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