Fox News’ chief political anchor Bret Baier has responded to claims that he was trying to spin the midterm election results in the Republicans’ favour.
After weeks of tense campaigning, last night saw Americans finally cast their vote for who will represent them in Congress.
The night ended in a resounding victory for the Democrats, who scooped up a majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate – much to the chagrin of Donald Trump.
But there was one blunder that caught people’s attention online, after Baier appeared to question how the network would ‘spin’ the result of Abdul El-Sayed’s win in Michigan.
Following reporter Garrett Tenney’s revelation that his team on the ground had seen numerous yard signs declaring their support for El-Sayed, Baier was then heard saying: “Okay. Can we do a spin on the races that…”
The journalist hosts Fox News’ Special Report (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
Realising that his comment had been broadcast live to viewers, the anchor then hastily added: “Oh, I’m sorry. I guess we’re on TV now.”
He then attempted to laugh off the moment alongside co-host Martha MacCallum, joking: “That’s what happens at 11:24pm.”
Unfortunately for Baier, you can’t edit comments which have been broadcast live, with reactions swiftly pouring in across social media.
“Watched this live. Breaking down in real time, then just fumbling his glasses lmao,” read one reaction on X.
“Can’t spin the unspin-able. The country has spoken,” added a second, while a third wrote: “And Fox News was supposed to be the no-spin zone when it started.”
Bret Baier responds to ‘spin’ backlash
Baier has since responded to claims that he was trying to spin the news of El-Sayed’s popularity in Trump’s favour, writing on X that he was trying to communicate with another journalist off-camera at the time.
“That was to Bill Hemmer. A spin on the board with Bill to see the various races that were outstanding. Thanks,” he wrote.
The Democrats have won control in both the Senate and the House (LADbible/Getty Stock Images)
Baier later clarified: “It means a spin on the board that Bill Hemmer controls looking at different states that had votes coming in. ‘A spin on the board’. Means show Michigan – Maine – Iowa The states that are remaining at that time.”
Donald Trump reacts to midterm losses
Reacting to the midterm results on his Truth Social platform, the US president wrote: “I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
In a series of separate posts, Trump referred to the Democratic Party as the ‘Dumocrats’, appeared to blame Fox News for heavy Republican losses and claimed that he was going to become a political pundit.
Donald Trump had a mixed reaction to the results (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
However, when interviewed by the network, Trump gave a more diplomatic response, saying that his opponents ‘fought hard’ and ‘did a good job’.
“I think the Democrats did a good job; I really do,” he told Fox. “They fought hard. They were, you know, they’ve been fighting for a long time. They’ve been fighting me for a long time.
“They’ve been looking for this one for 11 years, and they finally got it.”
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