“Fox & Friends” hosts sparred Tuesday over the criminal investigations into former President Donald Trump.
The tension arose as “Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade criticized special counsel Jack Smith for making Trump’s lawyer, Evan Corcoran, and Secret Service testify in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case during a March 24 court hearing.
“They are now making Secret Service testify. They make his own attorney, (Evan) Corcoran, he has to testify,” Kilmeade said. “Jack Smith is somehow rocket fuel to get Trump in a way that … I can’t believe people aren’t challenging this and saying, even if I don’t like Donald Trump, what’s going on here?”
“Because of the crime we have talked about. The crime-fraud exemption. If you get legal advice during the execution of a crime-” co-host Steve Doocy said.
“Almost never happens,” Kilmeade interrupted.
“It happens more than you would believe,” Doocy pushed back. “Your attorney-client privilege goes out the window.
Co-host Ainsley Earhardt said it is “ludicrous” that an attorney for the former president and secret service would testify in the case. Doocy reiterated that prosecutors are following the law. (RELATED: Trump’s Lawyers Argue Against Cameras At Arraignment, Says They’ll Create A ‘Circus-Like Atmosphere’)
“I’m getting heckled over here,” Doocy said.
“I’m not heckling you, I’m just saying it’s so ludicrous that you can tell your attorney, your secret service,” Earhardt added.
“I just want to explain the law,” Doocy said.
“I know the law, I’m just saying it almost never happens so it doesn’t matter what the law says, it almost never happens and they’re targeting a former president,” Kilmeade said. “This guy, Jack Smith, is out of his mind with aggression.”
Corcoran testified for over three hours, disclosing his communications with Trump relating to the classified documents seized by the FBI at his Mar-a-Lago home. A federal judge denied Corcoran’s claims of attorney-client privilege over some topics and encouraged him to answer prosecutors’ questions and turn over evidence of a “crime-fraud exception.”
Prosecutors are specifically interested in learning about an alleged June 24, 2022, call between Corcoran and Trump, which would have happened around the time federal agents were trying to get ahold of the documents.
Doocy said that if the Secret Service witnessed a crime, it is expected to disclose it. Kilmeade argued that the Secret Service had been silent after witnessing the actions of previous presidents, notably former President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky.
“Double standard, double standard here,” Earhardt said.
“Triple, quadruple standard in American history,” Kilmeade added.
Trump traveled to New York City Monday where he will be arraigned at the courthouse in relation to the Manhattan grand jury indicting him over the alleged $130,000 in hush money paid to former porn actress Stormy Daniels. Protests are expected to develop during the arraignment per Trump’s request in a March 18 Truth Social post predicting his arrest. The former president has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the case.