Hosting a segment on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” on Saturday that showed the crowds celebrating Joe Biden’s results in the presidential race, Fox News host Sandra Smith was caught on video making faces as a guest argued that just because the media, including Fox News, had declared Biden the winner did not prove that to be the case. Smith was also caught on a hot mic exclaiming, “What?!!” as the woman tried to make her point, saying in exasperation to Fox News’ Trace Gallagher, “Trace, we’ve called it.”
As Newsweek notes, Cleta Mitchell, the guest and a lawyer based in Washington, D.C., argued, “Remember, just because CNN says or even Fox News says that somebody’s president doesn’t make them president. So I think everybody —”
Smith, seemingly unaware that she was being recorded, exclaimed, “What?!!”
Mitchell: “— wants to know this was done properly and legally—”
Smith to co-host Trace Gallagher: “What is happening?!! Trace, we’ve called it.”
Mitchell: “They should trust the results, and I think they should look into every one of these concerns.”
Gallagher, turning to guest Steve Mulroy, a University of Memphis law professor, “And I think Cleta makes a very good point there, Steve.”
HOT MIC! “We need to look into it”, listen to the Fox anchors response! 👀
pic.twitter.com/yupBEFwpRg— Qtah (@Qtah17) November 9, 2020
As The Daily Wire has noted, Fox News was heavily criticized for calling the state of Arizona in favor of Biden before final results had been tallied:
Outrage erupted online late on Tuesday night after Fox News called the presidential race in Arizona for Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden, a call that many believed was too early and ultimately led to a response from the state’s governor.
Governor Doug Ducey, without specifically naming the network, responded to the call that Biden had won the state, which had not been reported yet by the other networks.
“It’s far too early to call the election in Arizona,” Ducey wrote. “Election Day votes are not fully reported, and we haven’t even started to count early ballots dropped off at the polls. In AZ, we protected Election Day. Let’s count the votes — all the votes — before making declarations.” …
Federalist co-founder Sean Davis wrote on Twitter: “I’ve talked to several Trump campaign advisers, and I can’t convey how furious the campaign is at Fox for its completely unjustified AZ call for Biden. They say when not even CNN and MSNBC have called a race for the Democrat, you know something is up.”
“Fox is ‘f***ing us hard,’ one adviser said,” Davis added.
On Wednesday, FiveThirtyEight election forecaster Nate Silver called on Fox News and The Associated Press to retract their call that Biden had won Arizona after more votes were counted in Maricopa County which caused Biden’s lead over Trump to shrink.
Silver wrote, “I don’t know, I guess I’d say that Biden will win Arizona if you forced me to pick, but I sure as heck don’t think the state should have been called by anyone, and I think the calls that were previously made should be retracted now.”