Fox News spends more time on therapy goats than new Cohen scandal

Fox News is trying very hard to downplay the revelation that Russian funds were allegedly directed to Trump fixer Michael Cohen to pay off his hush money deal with porn star Stormy Daniels.

So, on the network’s lead morning news program, “Fox & Friends,” they decided to devote more time to covering therapy goats than to the bombshell report uncovered the night before.

Out of three hours of airtime, “Fox & Friends” only mentioned the payoff story once, and for all of 41 seconds.

Instead the network repeatedly discussed a story about therapy goats being used on a college campus. They also tackled Melania Trump’s approval rating, a local councilwoman who doesn’t want to say the pledge of allegiance and how a “new cheer policy” at a high school in New Jersey “sparks controversy.”

The story the pro-Trump propaganda network didn’t want its viewers to see was the allegation made by Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti.

According to Avenatti, after Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about her affair with Trump before the 2016 election, the Trump lawyer received $500,000 from Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.

Vekselberg has recently been questioned as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of the relationship between Trump and Russian operatives.

In his report, Avenatti indicates that those funds may have been used to reimburse Cohen for shutting up Daniels:

Mr. Cohen has previously claimed that the source of funds from the $130,000 payment was a home equity line of credit advance conducted on October 26, 2016. This has yet to be confirmed. However, as detailed below, within approximately 75 days of the payment to Ms. Clifford, Mr. Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian Oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, caused substantial funds to be deposited into the bank account from which Mr. Cohen made the payment. It appears that these funds may have replenished the account following the payment to Ms. Clifford.

The money pipeline could end up showing a “conspiracy” with Russia, according to one Watergate prosecutor. So it isn’t surprising that Fox News used their airtime to explore the therapy goat issue.

It is hard to tell where Trump ends and Fox News begins. He used the network to transform himself from a TV host into a political figure. And now, in his current position of power, he regularly promotes the network that shills so shamelessly for him.

Effectively ignoring the Russian kickback story is how Fox and Trump play the game, and Trump fulfills his role by threatening to rescind press credentials for the news organizations who aren’t in his camp like Fox is.

It isn’t a real news network, and that is why Trump is so enamored with it. He backs their fake news, and they in turn try to hide the real news.