Earlier this year, co-host on Fox News’s “The Five,” Jessica Tarlov, found herself in hot water after touting a false claim about Tony Bobulinski, a former business partner of Hunter Biden’s who has testified against the president’s son. During a previous segment, Tarlov had claimed that a Trump Super PAC had paid for Bobulinki’s lawyer fees. However, this claim proved to be wrong, where Tarlov was forced to issue a retraction after backlash to her statement.
“Tony Bobulinski’s lawyers fees have been paid by a Trump Super PAC that’s as recent as January,” Tarlov said during a Fox News segment. “Do you think that a guy who’s invested in how much better off he wants the United States to be and really getting to the bottom of this would be taking money from the guy who extorted the Ukrainians to get dirt on the Bidens and we should talk about Lev Parnas who’s the democratic witness.”
With the threat looming legal action following her statement, Tarlov issued a retraction during a followup segment. “I would like to clarify a comment I made yesterday during our discussion of Tony Bobulinski appearance at the congressional hearing,” she said. “During exchange with my colleagues about the hearing, I said that Mr. Bobulinski lawyers fees have been paid by a Trump Super Pac as recently as January. What was actually said during the hearing was that the law firm representing Mr. Bobulinski was paid by a Trump PAC. I have seen no indication those payments were made in connection with Mr. Bobulisnki’s legal fees and he denies that they were.”
Users on social media reacted to the retraction from Tarlov, claiming it was a brief and weak retraction. “@JessicaTarlov just issued a weak retraction on “The Five” for lying on yesterday’s show, claiming Trump’s Super PAC is funding Tony Bobulinski’s legal fees. Bobulinski’s lawyers demanded an immediate retraction from Fox News and Tarlov or face a defamation lawsuit. Compare the forcefulness with which Tarlov lies yesterday to her halfhearted retraction today. Is it good enough?” one user asked, sharing a clip of Tarlov’s remarks.
Another person questioned the sincerity of Tarlov’s clarifying comments, pointing out how brief and rusehd they appeared to be. “She was 1000% insincere, arrogant and snide as she rushed through the statement like it was beneath her to admit wrong and apologize. Trigger the lawsuit immediately,” they wrote in the comments section.
“Nope, she holds the Dem line no matter what your eyes and ears tell you…. That was not a retraction…. That was kind like a justification that she rushed through and showed have said something about doing better as a journalist…. Obviously she’s not!!!” another person wrote, echoing a similar sentiment. “Absolutely NOT good enough – if you watched the whole show – Jessie said something and then apologized and pointed out that, looking at Jessica, that there were 2 apologies in 1 show and Jessica said “I retracted I didn’t apologize”” one user added.
Watch Tarlov below:
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And watch the now-viral clip of Tarlov painfully reading off a script while issuing her apology:
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.