A Wednesday report from Vanity Fair claimed that Donald Trump called Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch and screamed at him for his network’s decision to deem Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden the winner of Arizona late Tuesday night.
“A civil war is raging between Fox News and Donald Trump over Fox’s controversial decision to be the first media outlet to call Arizona for Joe Biden just before 11:30 p.m. last night,” the report read.
“According to a source, Trump phoned Fox owner Rupert Murdoch to scream about the call and demand a retraction. Murdoch refused, and the call stood.”
The publication noted that the pair have reportedly clashed in the months leading up to the election due to the network’s coverage of the race, including its polling. Notably, Murdoch has allegedly been privately telling associates for months that he believes Trump would lose the election.
As The Inquisitr reported, Trump revealed on Rush Limbaugh’s show early last month that he thinks Fox News is a barrier to his re-election. Although he praised hosts like Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity, he suggested that House Speaker Paul Ryan’s presence on the company’s board has pushed the network into a different direction that’s not in his favor.
The New York Times reported that Fox News called Arizona for Biden with just 73 percent of the state’s votes counted. According to the publication, the move didn’t sit well with the Trump campaign and started a chain reaction of chaos.
“What ensued for Mr. Trump was a night of angry calls to Republican governors and advice from campaign aides that he ignored, leading to a middle-of-the-night presidential briefing in which he made a reckless and unsubstantiated string of remarks about the democratic process.”
The result allegedly fueled Trump’s belief that the election is rigged, as he pushed for halting vote counting and subsequent involvement of the Supreme Court.
Nevertheless, the Associated Press gave Arizona to Biden, with 84 percent of votes counted. Specifically, the publication has him with 51 percent — or 1,413,891 ballots — of the current vote count, while Trump has 47.6, or 1,321,074 ballots.
In a Wednesday evening tweet , Trump researcher Pat Dennis claimed that the president’s campaign mentally conceded the race after Arizona was called against them.
Elsewhere, reporter Zach Crenshaw noted on Twitter that the Associated Press’ decision came ahead of a ballot drop in the state at 7 p.m. Crenshaw claimed that there are a significant number of Republicans who believe that the commander-in-chief could still win Arizona.