At Donald Trump’s behest, Attorney General William Barr asked Rupert Murdoch to “muzzle” Fox News’ Judge Andrew Napolitano after he began criticizing the president on air, according to a new book. Barr made the request during an Oct. 2019 meeting with the media titan, according to CNN reporter Brian Stelter’s new book, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth. Napolitano has not shied away from publicly criticizing the president, even saying Trump’s Ukraine phone call demonstrated “both criminal and impeachable behavior.” Trump “was so incensed by the judge’s TV broadcasts that he had implored Barr to send Rupert a message in person … about ‘muzzling the judge,’” Stelter writes, according to The Guardian. Ultimately, no one asked to have Napolitano taken off the air, but he lost a slot on a daytime show and wasn’t involved in the network’s impeachment coverage.
