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Daily Mail
23-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Republican senator flippantly fires back after shocking on-air freezing episode goes viral
Louisiana Senator John Kennedy made a triumphant return to the cable news pantheon Wednesday afternoon, after he froze during an appearance on the same Fox Business show Tuesday. Kennedy brushed off concerns about his health that had been generated by Tuesday's segment in his usual jovial fashion, while Fox host Larry Kudlow helped him debunk the myths that were started by yesterday's incident. 'A lot of lefty media are saying things they shouldn't say. As I understand it, what happened was your IFB, your wire broke down. And you had a lot of noise in your ear. And you had to stop talking because you couldn't get anything through,' Kudlow said, kicking off the exchange. 'I was just yapping away, and all of a sudden my ear piece blew up,' Kennedy said, pointing to his right ear. He described the sound as like 'a 747 taking off' and said his ears were still ringing. Kennedy dismissed speculation about his health, saying some publications have suggested he 'had a brain freeze live on TV, or a stroke, or caught an STD.' 'I'm ok. I'm back here today, I'm full of piss and vinegar and I'd be glad to answer your questions,' the Senator concluded. The moment when Kennedy suddenly stopped speaking mid-sentence during his television appearance has been widely circulated online over the past 24 hours. Kennedy was speaking about the Trump administration's stance on sanctuary cities when the concerning moment occurred. The senator began to trail off while referencing how Jesus loves immigrants. 'Jesus loves them, but everybody else thinks ….' Kennedy said, before mumbling a few barely-audible words. 'Everybody else thinks…' he repeated before looking off into the distance and going completely silent. Kennedy remained motionless on camera with his lips parted and eyes staring forward until host Larry Kudlow cut in, attributing the moment to a technical issue. The senator's office disputed initial reporting about the incident, saying there was simply an earpiece malfunction that also affected Senator Rand Paul, who was interviewed before Kennedy. "I heard a loud screeching noise with a lot of static. It sounded like a 747 taking off," Kennedy explained in a statement. "I stopped talking until the interference cleared up, and thought we were off the air." Kennedy criticized The Daily Beast's coverage, saying the media outlet failed to contact Kudlow's producer to verify the technical explanation.
The Independent
23-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Charlie Kirk, who bashed Murdoch media ‘hit job, tapped to host Fox & Friends Weekend
Fox News has tapped MAGA activist Charlie Kirk to guest host the right-wing network's weekend version of its flagship morning program, a network spokesperson confirmed to The Independent . This will be the Turning Point USA founder's first time hosting a show on Fox News. As Axios first reported, Kirk is set to join regular Fox & Friends Weekend co-hosts Rachel Campos-Duffy and Charlie Hurt on the curvy couch this coming Saturday and Sunday. With the dog days of summer upon us, cable news networks are reaching deep into their benches to fill out hosting slots, as this is prime vacation time for anchors and reporters. Therefore, it isn't surprising to see Fox News turn to outside personalities for one-off hosting gigs during this time of year, especially someone with a well-established audience like Kirk, who hosts a radio show and a top-rated podcast. What does make this stand out, though, is that Kirk was one of the MAGA influencers who was highly critical of the Wall Street Journal's bombshell story on the 'bawdy' birthday card Donald Trump allegedly sent deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2003. According to the WSJ , the card included a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman, with Trump's signature mimicking pubic hair. The report, which Trump immediately described as 'fake,' led to the president suing the Wall Street Journal and its owner Rupert Murdoch, who also owns Fox News. Meanwhile, the story appeared to dissipate the MAGA uproar over the Epstein files, as prominent conservatives who had grown increasingly frustrated with the administration's handling of the saga quickly rallied around the president over their shared disdain of the mainstream media. MAGA podcaster and TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk is set to serve as a guest co-host on Fox & Friends Weekend this coming Saturday and Sunday. (Getty Images) 'This is not how Trump talks at all. I don't believe it,' Kirk tweeted in response to the Wall Street Journal story shortly after it was published. He would go on and share other social media posts from Vice President JD Vance, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, and Donald Trump Jr. blasting the report as defamatory. Kirk would be even more outspoken about the story on his radio show this week, where he fumed that the WSJ 'attempted a terrible drive-by… of our phenomenal president' while applauding Trump for his $10 billion lawsuit against Murdoch. 'As soon as I read this story, I said this is the dumbest, obviously fakest thing. I don't believe it,' he declared. 'Now I quickly, and we quickly, came to the president's defense because this thing was obviously a hit job. Obviously, a drive-by shooting trying to go after President Trump and trying to tie some of the Epstein news to President Trump to try to bring down his approval rating.' Meanwhile, the MAGA backlash against the WSJ as Trump comes for Murdoch has put Fox News in something of a bind, especially considering that the conservative cable giant shares a symbiotic relationship with the president and has helped staff up his administration. Left without the option of doing what is the network's standard modus operandi, which is parroting Trump's attacks on the mainstream media, Fox News has also decided against defending its sister publication and its owner. This has resulted in the network largely ignoring both the WSJ's blockbuster article and the president's lawsuit, mentioning both only a handful of times since last week. Additionally, the network has also devoted significantly less airtime to the Epstein controversy than its cable news rivals and even other right-wing outlets. After the president began ordering his supporters to 'stop talking about' Epstein, Fox News has pulled way back on its coverage of the drama surrounding the administration's handling of the flies, prompting MAGA media competitors to outright mock the 'terrified' network for not wanting to 'p*ss off' Trump. Sharing common ground with Fox News on the issue, Kirk has also sought to heed the president's demand that the MAGA base move on from Epstein and instead concentrated on the various seeming distractions he's tossed out into the ether, such as changing sports teams' names back to racist caricatures or reigniting the 'Russia Witch Hunt' conspiracy and demanding 'Barack Hussein Obama' be charged with treason. After hosting a TPUSA student event that featured young activists railing against Trump over the DOJ memo that concluded Epstein died by suicide and didn't keep a 'client list,' Kirk returned to his podcast that Monday and said he was 'done talking about Epstein' and would instead 'trust my friends in the government.' That announcement came shortly after it was reported that Trump personally called Kirk to ask him to ease up on the criticism of Attorney General Pam Bondi, who had come under intense fire from MAGA loyalists over the memo, particularly because she had previously said she had the so-called 'client list' on her desk for review. Kirk would later backtrack from his proclamation that he was moving on from Epstein, declaring the following day that he had merely meant 'yesterday' when he said 'for the time being,' grousing that the 'fake news' had taken him out of context.
