White House senior adviser Jared Kushner reached out to media mogul Rupert Murdoch after Fox News called Arizona for Joe Biden on Election Night, The New York Times reports. Trump aide Jason Miller is also said to have reached out to Fox News to ask them to retract the race call, but to no avail. The assessment that Arizona’s electoral votes would go to Biden later proved to be correct. The president was reportedly left infuriated by the news, and he went on to defy the advice of aides and falsely claim victory in the election after angrily watching Biden deliver his optimistic Election Night address in Wilmington. Kushner subsequently began making calls in search of a “James Baker-like” figure who could spearhead a bid to challenge vote counts in various states, the Times reports.
