On his show this afternoon, Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto apologized for the frequent guest booking of Wayne Simmons who was arrested yesterday for fraud.
Federal authorities took Simmons into custody for lying about having worked for the CIA for nearly 30 years and then using that lie to get government security clearances.
Over the years, Simmons made appearances on Your World as well as on Fox & Friends and was introduced as a former CIA operative. Here are Cavuto’s comments:
As some of you might know, in the last 24 hours, it’s come to our attention that a frequent guest on this show might not have been who he purported to be. Federal prosecutors now claim Wayne Simmons was not a former CIA operative, or that he ever worked at the CIA, at all.
If it’s true that all our due diligence and vetting on Mr. Simmons missed this, that’s on me, and only me. And 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. I anchor it, I’m in charge of it, and I decide who comes on it. If, in so doing, I wasn’t thorough enough, or followed up enough, I apologize. You have a right to expect guests who appear here are who they say they are.
It’s a rare slip-up, but it’s a very big slip-up. And I will make doubly sure something like this never happens again. I value your trust, and I promise to work very hard to regain it.
On his show last night, Bret Baier reported the arrest, saying Simmons “was never employed by the channel and was never paid by Fox.”