After months of cooler coverage of former President Donald J. Trump, Fox News hosts rallied around him Thursday evening, denouncing his indictment as an attempt to hinder his chances of re-election and suggesting it might lead to unrest.<\/p>\n
They dismissed the potential charges in the case against Mr. Trump, which relates to his role in hush money paid to a porn star, as a \u201cbookkeeping error\u201d and said that Manhattan\u2019s Democratic district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, had a political vendetta.<\/p>\n
The united defense of Mr. Trump was an intriguing, if perhaps predictable, about-face for the conservative-leaning network.<\/p>\n
Fox News is among the outlets in Rupert Murdoch\u2019s media empire that have been devoting more coverage to Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and his prospective presidential bid, tipping him as the future of the Republican Party. Mr. Trump, once ubiquitous on the network, did not appear on its broadcasts from November until this week.<\/p>\n
And a defamation lawsuit has laid bare some of the behind-the-scenes derision directed toward the former president by the network\u2019s top stars and his baseless claims of fraud in the 2020 election.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights,\u201d Tucker Carlson, a Fox News host, wrote to members of his staff on Jan. 4, 2021, in internal messages released as part of the $1.6 billion lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems. \u201cI hate him passionately.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Thursday, however, shortly after the indictment was revealed, Mr. Carlson attacked it as \u201cthe culmination of an effort to make certain that Trump is never elected president again\u201d and argued that Mr. Trump would be put through a \u201chumiliation ritual\u201d when he is arrested and booked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou see Democrats indict the Republican front-runner, it almost feels like they\u2019re pushing the population to react. We think they\u2019re demoralized and passive, let\u2019s see if they really are,\u201d Mr. Carlson said on his show, \u201cTucker Carlson Tonight.\u201d <\/p>\n
His guest, Glenn Beck, a former Fox host, called Mr. Trump a \u201csymbol of the average, everyday guy\u201d around whom the electorate would rally and put on a red \u201cMAGA\u201d cap.<\/p>\n
Sean Hannity, a reliable Trump ally who interviewed the former president on his program earlier this week, used his Thursday broadcast to read aloud, word for word, a substantial part of Mr. Trump\u2019s statement calling the indictment \u201cpolitical persecution and election interference at the highest level\u201d and a \u201cwitch hunt.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s right,\u201d Mr. Hannity said, before claiming that Mr. Bragg \u201chas literally thrown the rule of law to the wind in exchange for a cheap act of petty political vengeance.\u201d <\/p>\n
Days ago, Laura Ingraham, whose show directly follows \u201cHannity,\u201d expressed skepticism about a Trump loyalist\u2019s praise for the former president and featured a guest who criticized Mr. Trump for \u201cdwelling on grievance.\u201d On Thursday, she was unequivocal in portraying Mr. Trump as a victim of what she called \u201cpolitical vengeance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jesse Watters, co-host of \u201cThe Five,\u201d was live on air Thursday afternoon when a colleague interrupted to deliver breaking news of the indictment. Mr. Watters, whose initial reaction was an audible gasp, alluded to the potential for unrest from supporters in response.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s going to be a major rally-around-the-flag feeling,\u201d he told viewers. \u201cI don\u2019t like it. The country is not going to stand for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Trump, who had recently insulted Mr. Murdoch and labeled Fox as \u201cfake news,\u201d appeared pleased by the revival of his support on the network. On his account on Truth Social, the right-wing social media site he founded, Mr. Trump reposted several Fox News clips in the early hours of Friday, including one of Mr. Watters calling the indictment a \u201ccalculated move.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you think Donald Trump would be indicted if he wasn\u2019t running?\u201d Mr. Watters asks in the clip. \u201cDemocrats are branding Trump as a criminal, along with the 74 million people who voted for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael M. Grynbaum contributed reporting.<\/p>\n