Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) tore into Jesse Watters after the Fox News star seemingly accused the Texas lawmaker on Tuesday of insider trading, calling the primetime host a “fucking hack” while invoking Watters’ past infidelity.
Crenshaw didn’t stop there, either. In a series of stories on his 2.5-million follower Instagram account, the Texas Republican also claimed that Fox News canceled a “pre-scheduled” Wednesday night interview in retaliation for his attacks against Watters.
“Guess I hurt their feelings by calling out their bullshit,” Crenshaw wrote in an Instagram story on Wednesday. “Oh well.”
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A Fox News source with knowledge, meanwhile, told The Daily Beast that Crenshaw was never scheduled to appear on any Fox News shows on Wednesday evening. The source added that the congressman was previously booked to appear on a Fox Business late-afternoon program and that the cancellation of the interview was unrelated to his social media rant.
Crenshaw’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
During a short two-minute segment on his primetime Fox News program, Watters brought up a new report by the market analysis group Unusual Whales that revealed that many members of Congress once again outperformed the market in their stock picks this past year. While Democrats as a whole fared better than Republicans, there were notable names across party lines who killed it on Wall Street.
Running down the list, Watters first named the two lawmakers who saw the biggest gains compared to the S&P 500—Rep. Ryan Higgins (D-NY) and Rep. Mark Green (R-TN). At the same time, he made sure to bring up former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s stock windfall, calling her the “Wolf of Washington” and sarcastically congratulating her for a job “well done.”
Towards the end of the segment, Watters noted that Crenshaw also beat the market by 13 points before pointing out that Washington lawmakers made over a billion dollars in financial transactions this past year.
“A lot of them investing in companies they had inside information on,” Watters concluded. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is what corruption looks like. And that is why Congress still hasn’t passed a ban on insider stock trade.”
Shortly after the segment aired, Crenshaw profanely lashed out at Watters on his Instagram account.
“Hey you fucking hack, if you’re gonna accuse me of literal corruption, get your facts straight and man up and accuse me to my face,” the conservative congressman wrote in one post. “You’re a fucking clown, desperate for clickbait.”
Crenshaw went on to claim he only had $10,000 invested in stocks and hadn’t made trades in over a year. He also insisted he has never had more than roughly $20,000 invested in the market while he’s been in Congress. (After The Daily Beast reported on Crenshaw’s pandemic stock trading in 2021, the congressman’s communications team said he purchased roughly $30,000 in stocks at the time.)
“Fox knows this but they’re desperate for fake controversy to get clicks,” Crenshaw continued. “Watters is a tool, making millions to push conspiracies on tv, and bash veterans like me who are barely a fraction of his net worth. Wake up America. The political entertainment industry is almost always lying to you.”
He didn’t just leave it there, however. In several more stories on his Instagram page, Crenshaw’s vitriol towards Watters grew ever more personal.
“I’m sitting here trying to feed my 3 month old and this dirt bag millionaire at Fox is accusing me of being a criminal, with zero evidence,” he declared in another IG story. “Stop watching these mediocre entertainers. Stop letting wealthy elitists like Jessye (sic) Watters claim to be ‘fighting for you.’ They live in Manhattan and can’t stand normal people in red states. They think you’re stupid and feed you bullshit to rile you up.” (Watters, for what it’s worth, doesn’t live in Manhattan.)
Insisting that Watters “grew up with a silver spoon,” Crenshaw said the Fox star’s family is made up of “well connected journalists and politicians” while fuming that Watters has “fooled” his fans into “believing he’s some genuine blue collar conservative.” From there, he brought up Watters’ past workplace affair, which resulted in the Fox star divorcing his first wife and marrying his ex-producer.
“Yeah, he’s such a ‘conservative’ he cheated on his wife and then left her with twins while he went off with another Fox producer,” Crenshaw seethed.
Continuing the scorched-earth campaign, Crenshaw threw another low blow at the anti-woke host, joking that “Jesse Watters seems like the type of dude who pees sitting down.”
Following his Tuesday night social media tirade, Crenshaw revealed on Wednesday afternoon that the conservative cable giant had nixed an interview for later that evening due to his anti-Watters rant.
While Crenshaw is now railing against Fox, the “political entertainment industry” and Watters, he has been a frequent guest of the right-wing network since joining Congress. In the past six months, he has made over a dozen appearances on Fox News and its sister network Fox Business.
Additionally, while he currently believes that Watters is a “fucking clown,” Crenshaw has appeared on Watters’ show several times, including a cordial interview last spring (that Crenshaw promoted on his personal YouTube page).
Crenshaw also invited the Fox News star onto his podcast back in 2021, helping the former Bill O’Reilly lackey promote his book while praising Watters throughout the hourlong interview. “I appreciate all you do, Jesse,” Crenshaw said at one point.
