Fox News host called ‘irresponsible’ after suggesting US facing a ‘coup’ from Mueller

Fox News is facing fierce backlash on social media after host Jesse Watters suggested that a “coup” might be underway in the U.S.

Watters on his show Saturday night stepped up his attacks against special counsel Robert Mueller, claiming that now that there’s proof at least some agents on Mueller’s investigative team were biased against President Trump, there may be evidence of a “coup.”

“We may now have proof the investigation was weaponized to destroy [Trump’s] presidency for partisan political purposes and to disenfranchise millions of American voters,” Watters said on “Watters’ World.”

{mosads}

“Now if that is true, we have a coup on our hands in America,” he added.

Watters blasted veteran FBI agent Peter Strzok, whom Mueller fired from his team after an investigation revealed that he had sent messages that appeared to be critical of Trump and supportive of his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.

Fox News hosts and conservatives have seized on the messages and are ratcheting up their efforts to discredit Mueller’s investigation as he begins to reach into the president’s inner circle in his investigation of Russian interference in the presidential election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow. 

Trump’s defenders are suggesting Mueller stocked his team with Democrats and therefore his probe is flawed.

Watters, however, escalated the attacks against the federal investigation by claiming that the biased agents indicate Mueller and his team are attempting to overthrow the government. He then began an interview with White House adviser Kellyanne Conway in which the chyron read, “A coup in America?”

The suggestion led high-profile individuals to take to Twitter to condemn the “coup” claims.

Former independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin slammed the chyron as “incredibly irresponsible rhetoric.” 

“A coup in America?” This is incredibly irresponsible rhetoric. It’s no surprise that the same network that still denies Russian interference for Trump, also uses this kind of language to describe law enforcement efforts to uphold the law and our sovereignty. https://t.co/VUilAaAhAD

— Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) December 16, 2017 

Walter Shaub, the former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, tweeted that Fox is trying to “distort the message” and “undermine” Mueller’s investigation.

They and the propaganda blogs, like frivolous Daily Caller & deeply weird Breitbart, are working overtime to distort the message & paint those preparing to protest as calling for violence. It’s a cynical attempt to undermine protests like they’re attempting to undermine Mueller. https://t.co/r2mKBzIzwd

— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) December 17, 2017

Benjamin Wittes, a friend of former FBI Director James Comey who edits the blog Lawfare, also downplayed the controversy.

I wake up this morning in Israel to find out that while I was sleeping, my Twitter feed exploded because GSA gave Mueller transition emails, Team Trump wrote a letter complaining about it, and Fox News is warning of a coup. #BabyCannons are going back to bed!

— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) December 16, 2017

Kevin Baron, the executive editor for military news outlet Defense One, said Fox News was “irresponsible” in their use of the word.

Coup?! I cover wars. Militaries. Actual coups. Where citizens violently rise up and kill each other for power over each other.

This is alarmingly irresponsible language, even for Fox. Inflammatory. Baseless. Dangerous. https://t.co/1tGrKZGfTR

— Kevin Baron (@DefenseBaron) December 16, 2017

Baron’s remarks were echoed by other reporters who have covered the Middle East.

Fox News throwing the c-word around with the kind of carelessness I’ve only ever seen in the Middle East pic.twitter.com/LnTCXhJLLg

— Sulome Anderson (@SulomeAnderson) December 16, 2017