Geraldo's Mic Cut on Fox News for Defending Obama? 'Not One Time,' Says Rivera
Geraldo's mic was cut by Fox News President Roger Ailes during a lively debate in which Rivera seemed to be defending President Obama, a reporter alleged. Rivera, who said that the debate was over the terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya only a few days before the November 2012 election, denied the reports.
Geraldo's mic being cut while on air during a live segment of "Fox & Friends" was alleged by Bloomberg columnist and Fox contributor Jonathan Alter in his new book "The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies." During the Nov. 2 session, pundits were clashing over whether or not the Obama administration purposefully denied assistance to Americans in Benghazi. Rivera called the idea false and unfair, and then the segment ended.
Alter claimed that Ailes purposefully had Rivera's microphone silenced to prevent him from defending President Obama and his administration's actions overseas. However, Rivera claimed that no such thing happened.
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"When my friend and colleague Eric Bolling made the allegation of willful inaction by the Obama administration on 'Fox & Friends' that morning, I pounced … a false narrative was being used unfairly to attack the president on the eve of the election just five days away," Rivera wrote for Fox News.
Rivera said he had reliable military sources to let him know that U.S. forces were not in the area of the Benghazi attacks. Bolling disagreed, which led to an argument that was more friendly public debate.
"This confrontation was unusual for its incivility. I was so angry, Steve Doocy, the host sitting alongside me on the curvy couch, had to restrain me physically from leaping to my feet," Rivera continued.
At that point, Bill Shine, executive producer for the show, told the commentators to move on to a different topic. But that's far from a microphone being muted, Rivera said.
"At no time then or ever has my boss, Roger Ailes, or anyone at Fox News cut my microphone to prevent me from speaking. Not one time, ever," Rivera wrote. Alter apparently "says he called [Rivera's] office and nobody denied the allegation," but Rivera says that's not enough.
"He never spoke to me and never asked me to respond to the specific allegation he later published," the reporter wrote.
