Donald Trump’s relationship with Fox News has come under renewed scrutiny after Sean Hannity conducted a hostile interview with the president’s new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, shortly before Trump encouraged her to reconsider remaining in the job.
Zacharia had been in post for only four days when she appeared on Hannity’s programme expecting what was described as a supportive interview. Instead, the Fox host questioned why she had repeatedly claimed to be an attorney and why she had taken so few questions.
A senior administration official alleged that someone at the White House had arranged the interview as a trap. The official said the decision could only have been made by Trump or his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, because nobody else would have been able to make such a request to Hannity.
Following the interview, and what the official described as an equally poor follow-up appearance the next morning, Trump told Zacharia: “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. Honestly if I were you, I’d reconsider.”
The episode highlighted the unusual influence wielded by Fox News personalities around the president. Yet Trump’s relationship with the network is not consistently warm, and he has recently attacked Fox News publicly.
On Monday morning, he complained on Truth Social that the network was spending too much time defending Democrats and airing their views, adding: “FoxNews is trying too hard to be Politically Correct!”
Trump’s allies at Fox News
Hannity remains one of Trump’s most prominent supporters at the network. The 64-year-old presenter has described himself as a friend of the president, saying their relationship stretches back long before Trump entered politics.
The two New Yorkers have known each other for three decades. During Trump’s first term, aides reportedly referred to Hannity as an “unofficial chief of staff” because of the frequency of his telephone conversations with the president.
Hannity has said his approach when interviewing Trump is simply to “let him talk”. His influence has also become a matter of personal interest to the president: Hannity is engaged to Ainsley Earhardt, the Fox & Friends co-host whom Trump has repeatedly praised.
Trump congratulated the couple when their engagement was announced in December 2024, writing: “There are no finer people than these, and there will be no finer couple. A deal made in HEAVEN!!!”
Earhardt, 50, is regarded as a dependable supporter of the president and has often sought to limit criticism from guests or fellow presenters. On one occasion, however, she questioned what should be done to address viewers’ concerns about the economy and fuel prices ahead of the midterm elections.
Jesse Watters is another outspoken defender. He has repeatedly dismissed controversial remarks by Trump as jokes and portrayed him as a man with a sense of humour.
When Trump said he would be “a dictator on day one”, Watters treated the comment as a joke. After Trump lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden, he described the former president as “a legend no matter what happens”.
Trump has returned the support. When criticising a Washington judge over a ruling concerning the Reflecting Pool, he pointed viewers towards what he called the “very inspiring Jesse Watters show”, saying it had explained the matter.
Fox presenters willing to challenge the president
Other Fox News figures have maintained more independent positions. Bret Baier, the network’s chief political anchor, was praised for pressing Trump during a 2023 interview over his handling of classified documents.
Trump later described the interview as “nasty”, while Baier said he regarded his conversations with the president as “tough but fair”. He has also defended informal discussions with Trump, arguing that they provide an opportunity to understand the president’s thinking.
Laura Ingraham, a long-standing friend and adviser to Trump, has similarly combined loyalty with occasional criticism. She questioned him over the war with Iran, asking how the country was still able to obtain missiles after he had claimed its capabilities had been severely damaged.
Harris Faulkner also challenged Trump in 2020 over his post that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” during unrest following the killing of George Floyd. She told him the words had frightened many people and pressed him on their meaning.
Trump has nevertheless shown little patience with some of Fox’s more questioning presenters. He has criticised Martha MacCallum after interviews and said he would have preferred Hannity, Watters or Ingraham to moderate a proposed debate with Kamala Harris.
He later attacked MacCallum for interviewing Democratic Senate contender Abdul el-Sayed, complaining that Fox was giving too much coverage to Democratic candidates.
Growing criticism of Trump on Fox News
Brian Kilmeade, one of the network’s longest-serving presenters, has also become more critical of the president. Although he supported Trump’s war with Iran, he condemned the decision to ease sanctions on Russian diesel and accused the president of appeasing Vladimir Putin.
Mark Levin, usually a strong Trump supporter, objected to the president’s call for Ukraine to hold elections. “When will Putin have real elections?” Levin wrote, arguing that Putin had been running Russia for longer than Volodymyr Zelensky had been president of Ukraine.
Fox reporters Jacqui Heinrich and Jennifer Griffin have been more consistently prepared to confront the administration. Heinrich immediately rejected Trump’s 2020 claim that voting machines had been rigged against him.
She later said Trump’s 2025 summit with Putin in Alaska had appeared to go badly for the American president, describing how the Russian leader had secured the moment he wanted before leaving.
Griffin, the network’s Pentagon correspondent, has also challenged Trump over the war with Iran. After a Tomahawk missile struck a girls’ school, she said the president was attempting to “muddy the waters” by suggesting another country might have been responsible.
When reporters faced threats of subpoenas over coverage of a Qatari gift plane and the controversy surrounding Air Force One, Griffin said the action “should alarm every American”. Pete Hegseth, the secretary of war, subsequently called her a “Trump hater”.
The tension has been especially visible since the departure of Maria Bartiromo, a prominent Trump ally. Trump said he missed the presenter and criticised Fox executives after reports that she had left amid concerns about alleged sharing of broadcast plans with the White House.
Bartiromo’s lawyer denied that she had been fired and said she remained employed by Fox at the time of her departure.
Trump has continued to promote presenters he considers loyal while attacking coverage he believes is insufficiently supportive. Fox News did not respond to a request for comment on the dispute.
