CNN’s on-air reference Thursday to Donald Trump’s former lawyer and likely hush-money trial witness Michael Cohen’s scatological nickname for his ex-boss received an unenthusiastic reception from Fox News host Laura Ingraham, who complained that the rival network’s coverage choice should spur James Earl Jones to revoke his iconic voiceover.
Cohen’s social media post last month in which he called Trump “Von ShitzInPants,” perhaps in reference to unverified rumors about Trump passing gas in the courtroom, was read aloud Thursday by Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, during a contempt of court hearing. Blanche was trying to argue that it was unfair for a gag order to prevent Trump from talking about witnesses when they can talk about him.
Last week, Cohen wrote on X that he would cease mentioning Trump until he had testified in the case, in which prosecutors allege Trump—with Cohen’s help—broke state law regarding business records and federal campaign finance law by arranging, then covering up, hush-money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
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Thursday night on Fox, Ingraham played a brief clip of CNN anchor Jake Tapper reporting on Blanche’s comments in court. Tapper then invoked the nickname while asking colleague Dana Bash to weigh in, prompting laughs from others on the panel.
Ingraham took a lengthy pause, as if the severity of the moment was just too much to bear.
“This is CNN,” she said, mocking the network’s tagline.
“Where does James Earl Jones go to get his voiceover back?” she wondered of the acclaimed, deep-voiced actor whose three-word recitation has long been heard on Fox’s rival station.
Trump is barred by a gag order from talking about witnesses and potential witnesses, but that hasn’t stopped him from violating it nine times as of Thursday, resulting in $9,000 in fines.
