Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera Says Donald Trump ‘Probably’ Had Quid Pro Quo With Ukraine
At the center of the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump is his phone call with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky. In particular, the president is accused of proposing a quid pro quo to Zelensky — military aid for investigations into his Democratic rival, Joe Biden. Although Trump and his allies deny any conditions for the aid, Breitbart reports that Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera appears to be breaking with many Republicans.
On Sirius XM’s The Dan Abrams Show, Abrams pressed Rivera on the issue.
“Even if impeachment sucks, can you agree that, of course, he was withholding the aid and the White House visit?” Abrams asked.
“Probably, probably,” Rivera responded, although he didn’t appear to believe such an arrangement was outside the bounds of standard foreign policy.
“When you look at how foreign policy is made, how foreign aid is distributed and dispensed if you don’t think there’s this kind of backroom wrangling almost every time with Israel with Albania or Australia, of course, there is.”
White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney previously admitted that Trump froze military aid to Ukraine to pressure the country into investigating Trump’s rivals, although he later denied making the comment, CNN reported. Rivera touched on Mulvaney’s comment, which came as a shock to some Democrats.
“Mick Mulvaney in that rare moment, spoke the truth. What’s different here is the president is surrounded by snitches and backstabbers and rats and snakes, and everything he does is construed in the most evil way possible by people who are un the business of bringing him down.”
Although Rivera also defended Trump from people who suggested his language led to the New Zealand mosque shooting, the 76-year-old talk show host doesn’t always go to bat for the real estate mogul. Back when the president told congresswomen of color Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley to “go back” to their countries, many of Trump’s allies defended him. Rivera, on the other hand, called Trump’s remarks on “The Squad” racist. Rivera doubled down when he appeared on Fox & Friends, claiming that the president’s comments were an “old racist trope.”
In response, host Pete Hegseth said that Trump’s comment was not referring to race but speaking about The Squad’s love and appreciation for the United States. Hegseth added that people would do not “appreciate” or “love” the country can go somewhere else.
Rivera was taken aback by Hegseth’s comment and called it “intolerable,” noting that all four of the congresswomen are American citizens.
