Politics

‘They Didn’t Get It’: Dagen McDowell Says Networks Were Hoping Democrats Would Attack Amy Coney Barrett

Screenshot/Fox News

Virginia Kruta Associate Editor
Font Size:

Dagen McDowell said Tuesday that networks had only covered Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s hearings because they were hoping Democrats would attack her.

McDowell made the comments during an appearance on Fox News’ “The Five,” pushing back on Juan Williams’ claim that further coverage of Justice Barrett’s confirmation wasn’t really a story because everyone knew it was going to happen. (RELATED: ‘If You Have Proof Bring It Out’: Juan Williams Challenges Jesse Watters Over Alleged Hunter Biden Emails)

WATCH:

Williams began by saying that he had primarily seen the newspaper coverage of Barrett’s confirmation.

“I’m a big newspaper reader. On the front page of The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post this morning were large pictures, above the fold, of the swearing in of Amy Coney Barrett, so to my mind, that’s pretty strong coverage,” Williams explained.

He went on to argue that Monday’s vote and subsequent White House ceremony were both “a foregone conclusion.”

“What you got last night was a foregone conclusion that she was in fact confirmed by a Republican majority that exercised pure power and saying we are going with her no matter what, even if it’s in the days just before an American election and hypocritical because we said no to President Obama on his nominee months before an election,” Williams continued. “That’s the news there and of course you don’t cover news if there’s no story and once the confirmation hearings were done, once the vote was done, what’s the story?”

“Oh, come on,” McDowell pushed back, saying that swearing in a female Supreme Court Justice was news. “That’s the news. That’s what you show. You show the votes!”

“They covered the hearings because these other networks were hoping that the Democrats would beat up this woman and make her look bad,” McDowell continued. “That’s why they covered it and they didn’t get it. Maybe that’s why they ignored it — the vote last night.”