Pro-Trump Sinclair Broadcasting nixes its top pro-Trump 'political analyst'

Boris Epshteyn, a former senior official for the Trump campaign and “chief political analyst” for the right-wing Sinclair group of television stations, has been fired from his position.

“We will be ending the commentary segments this Friday, Dec. 13, featuring Ameshia Cross, and Boris Epshteyn,” Sinclair said in a company-wide memo released on Wednesday.

The network said it was moving away from political commentary in favor of investigative journalism.

Sinclair operates 193 stations across the country and has for years injected conservative ideology and viewpoints into its news broadcasts.

Epshteyn’s commentary segments were designated as “must-run” by the network’s executives, meaning that local stations had to broadcast them regardless of the bigotry or inaccuracy in the content.

“At best, he regurgitates Trump talking points or touts some vague, imaginary bipartisan ideals that involve being nicer to Trump. At worst, he defends the most absurd, racist things Trump does,” explained Media Matters for America, who monitored all of Epshteyn’s segments.

Epshteyn was hired by Sinclair after his stint with the Trump campaign during the 2016 election cycle, in which he frequently appeared on cable news representing the campaign. Like many figures associated with Trump, Epshteyn’s consulting firm did business with Russia.

Sinclair has acted as a pro-Trump propaganda outlet, and in turn received promotion from Trump on his Twitter feed for making his case to its millions of viewers.

The network even designated a softball interview with then-White House press secretary Sarah Sanders as a “must-run” segment for stations around the country. It also echoed the Trump administration by blaming the nationwide anger about the detention of immigrant children on the media and Trump critics, while dismissing widespread criticism of the practice.

Before Sinclair was in the business of praising Trump, it attempted to influence the outcome of the 2004 presidential election by airing a “documentary” film designed to attack John Kerry, the Democratic nominee, right before election day.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.