Fox News “terror expert” Wayne Simmons was arrested by federal authorities for falsely claiming that he was once a CIA agent. The network started to ignore the incident and sweep it under the rug. Unable to hide from the controversy, host Neil Cavuto appeared on air and apologized for airing the fraudulent host.
Federal prosecutors now claim Wayne Simmons was not a former CIA operative or, for that matter, ever worked at the CIA at all. Now, if it’s true that all our due diligence and vetting on Mr. Simmons missed this, that’s big and that’s on me. And only me.
You as viewers have little reason to be comforted by the excuse that Mr. Simmons might—and I stress might—have fooled many others, including no less than former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
But the responsibility to check out who comes on this show ultimately lies with me. After all, it’s my Italian name on it. I’m in charge of it. I decide who comes on it. If, in so doing, I wasn’t thorough enough or followed up enough, it’s on me, and I apologize.
You have a right to expect guests who appear here to be who they say they are here. Now, it’s a very rare slip up, but it’s a very big slip up, and I will make doubly sure something like this never ever happens again. I value your trust and I promise, I promise, to work very hard to regain it.
Fox News has a serious pattern of delivering misinformation and lies and having to apologize for it after creating controversy.
For more on this story, visit Crooks & Liars “Neil Cavuto Righteously Apologizes For Hosting Fraudulent CIA Agent, Wayne Simmons”
