Michelle Fields used to appear weekly on Fox News weekend gabfest Cashin’ In. The show’s host, Eric Bolling, was one of her biggest boosters—giving her a regular spot on his program, promoting her on social media, serving as a key “advocate” for the budding conservative commentator’s career.
But that’s all over now that she dared to get manhandled by Donald Trump’s notoriously shady campaign manager.
After Fields was grabbed and nearly yanked to the ground by Corey Lewandowski, hung out to dry by her own employers at Breitbart News (who later vowed to sue her), and maliciously smeared by the Trump campaign, nearly all of her colleagues at Fox have publicly and repeatedly shared their support. But not Bolling.
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Instead, according to multiple sources close to the situation, she received a phone call from Bolling’s producer informing her that she will no longer appear on Cashin’ In.
Fields was told that she’s off the show because she is no longer “impartial” to Trump and therefore cannot speak objectively on his candidacy so long as it’s in the news.
Of course, that excuse for her dismissal rings especially hollow to any casual observer of Bolling’s weekend shoutfest.
The half-hour mudslinging contest regularly features panelists hurling partisan insults at one another; and Bolling’s concluding monologue—subtly titled “WAKE UP AMERICA”—impartially implores his viewers to rise up against the “cancer” or Ebola-like virus of liberalism.
And as The Daily Beast has previously reported, Bolling himself is an unabashed Trump fan.
The self-described “friend of [the] Trump family” has been described by his own colleagues as a Trump “apologist” who “Trumpsplains” the candidate’s various offenses. Bolling’s special guest for the network’s New Year’s Eve was none other than The Donald; and his interviews with the GOP frontrunner are games of slow-pitch softball.
So it should come as no surprise that Bolling would kick her to the curb.
The only time Bolling publicly mentioned the incident, during a Friday segment of The Five, he offered rhetoric similar to that of Breitbart's (a segment which a Fox spokesperson referred The Daily Beast to on Thursday).
"She is a very, very good friend," he declared. "That said, I haven't spoken to her, but I've seen the video. Michelle said she's not sure who actually grabbed her and the Washington Post reporter's the one who said it was [Corey]," he added, essentially blaming reporter Ben Terris rather than outright believing Fields' account. "Calmer heads prevail for now," he continued.
And then came the caveat-laden Breitbart-esque conclusion: "Michelle Fields should never be manhandled, period. If a secret service agent was moving her aside, that's one thing. If Corey Lewandowski did grab her, he should apologize."
When confronted with the fact that tapes confirmed the campaign manager grabbed Bolling's "friend," the Fox host immediately deflected to how "pro-Trump supporters are being attacked by liberals." And that was all.
While other Fox hosts like Megyn Kelly and Gretchen Carlson have repeatedly offered Fields a platform to tell her side of the story, Bolling has quietly thrown her under the bus, seemingly to score brownie points with his buddy Trump.
Bolling did not return The Daily Beast’s request for comment by press time.
UPDATE—10:23 p.m. ET: A statement given to TheBlaze by a Fox News spokesperson denies The Daily Beast's story. "There was never any discussion or directive to remove Michelle Fields from the program and certainly not by Eric Bolling," the unnamed representative said. "The only recent conversation about her appearances on ‘Cashin In’ was with a show producer last night and they mutually agreed to take her role as a guest panelist on a week to week basis."
