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Trump Says He'll Meet With Rupert Murdoch, Ask Him to Nix Negative Political Ads
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Former President Donald Trump participates in a Fox News town hall with Sean Hannity at the New Holland Arena on Sept. 4, 2024, in Harrisburg, Pa. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
By Samantha Flom
10/18/2024Updated: 10/20/2024

Former President Donald Trump has said that he will ask media mogul Rupert Murdoch to stop Fox News from airing negative political ads against him ahead of the election.

“I’m going to see Rupert Murdoch,” Trump said during an Oct. 18 appearance on “Fox and Friends.”

“I’m going to tell him something very simple, because I can’t talk to anybody else about it: Don’t put on negative commercials for 21 days.”

Murdoch, 93, stepped down as chairman of Fox News’ parent company, Fox Corp., last year, ending a seven-decade career that spawned a media empire. His son, Lachlan, now serves as the company’s chairman and CEO.

Trump said he wasn’t sure the older Murdoch would be “thrilled” with his disclosing their meeting on air but said that he was planning to say: “‘Rupert, please do it this way.’ And then we’re going to have a victory, because I think everybody wants to have a victory.”

The former president has ramped up his criticism of Fox News in recent weeks, criticizing the network via his Truth Social platform for giving airtime to Democrat pundits and Harris campaign officials.

Echoing that criticism on Oct. 18, he said: “In the old days, you never played negative ads. ... When I leave here, I’ll then be hit by five or six ads.”

Host Brian Kilmeade responded that the network airs the ads because advertisers pay for those time slots.

Trump and his allies have made frequent appearances on Fox News amid his third bid for the White House. His latest criticism comes just days after Harris sat for an interview with Fox News anchor Bret Baier in an appeal to the network’s largely conservative audience.

The exchange quickly grew heated as the pair repeatedly interrupted and talked over each other.

David Plouffe, a senior adviser to the Harris campaign, called the interview an “ambush” in a social media post, while the campaign accused Fox News of selectively editing a video clip of Trump that aired during the interview.

Baier later admitted on his show, “Special Report,” that he “did make a mistake” in that he expected another clip to be shown. He also defended his interviewing style, telling fellow Fox News host Harris Faulkner that Harris “was going to be tough to redirect” if he didn’t try to interrupt.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.

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Samantha Flom is a reporter for The Epoch Times covering U.S. politics and news. A graduate of Syracuse University, she has a background in journalism and nonprofit communications. Contact her at samantha.flom@epochtimes.us.

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