Fox & Friends Blame Jerry Nadler For Trump’s Tax Subpoena, Then Realize It Wasn’t Him

Fox & Friends Saturday expressed outraged that President Donald Trump’s tax returns have been demanded by Democrats in the House. Accusing Democrats of a fishing expedition, the Fox News co-hosts strongly criticized Congressman Jerry Nadler.

Unfortunately, though Nadler has become something of a bête noire on Fox News, he was not responsible for issuing the subpoena for six years of the President’s taxes. This didn’t stop the hosts heaping scorn on Nadler and blaming him for it.

“And it’s coming from one person now,” Griff Jenkins said. “Jerry Nadler, New York congressman, is the chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, that is the center of all of these subpoenas right now and the IRS commissioner is significantly … broadening the investigations right?”

“So we were stuck on the Mueller report right,” Jenkins went on. “So, people said hey, listen, we’ve had enough. We’ve looked at it. But now we’re broadening. Now Nadler is broadening his dive into this administration. This really tells us once you’re going after the IRS commissioner, you’re sending a signal that no place is safe in this administration that he won’t go with his new found power.”

However, Nadler did not issue a subpoena for the President’s tax returns and as chair of the Judiciary Committee he likely doesn’t have the power to do so. The subpoena was issued by Congressman Richard Neal, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Somebody must have been whispering into Jenkins’ earpiece because later in the segment he issued a clarification.

“I left out a little important part here,” Jenkins said. “And that is, Nadler, of course, of the Judiciary Committee, well, it’s Richard Neal, who’s the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. They write the tax laws. That is perhaps the most powerful traditional committee and so Chairman Neal is the one that’s subpoenaing the IRS commissioner. And so it’s not just Nadler.”

The fact that Neal was the one issuing the subpoena was clear in all the reporting on the story and anyone covering Capitol Hill ought to be familiar with the functions of the various committees. In this case, Jerry Nadler is an easy target for Fox News and well-known to viewers, so it’s likely accuracy was overlooked.

Watch the video above, via Fox News.