Fox News temporarily suspended two paid contributors last month who are considering running for the GOP nomination for president. Now, Howard Kurtz reports, the network is putting pressure on Mike Huckabee, who hosts a weekend show on the network, to decide on whether he’s going to run. Writes Kurtz:
Bill Shine, the network’s executive vice president for programming, told The Daily Beast that “like we did with [Newt] Gingrich and [Rick] Santorum, we are continuing to monitor the situation and will take action if and when we think it is necessary.” Fox has planned a meeting with Huckabee in the near future to discuss the matter, said Shine.
Huckabee said the notion that Fox is pressuring him over the situation is “total nonsense. Your source is full of it,” he told me by email. “No pressure at all. Fox has been very understanding and they know and I know that if I take steps to be a candidate (ask for money, support, or set up a committee), then I will step aside. That’s been understood from the beginning.”
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