MRC founder and president Brent Bozell appeared on Fox News at Night with Shannon Bream on Thursday to discuss how protesting "media partners" forced the James Foley Foundation to reverse its plans to give Secretary of State Mike Pompeo its "Freedom Award." The foundation even rescinded Pompeo's invitation to the awards dinner. As the Washington Examiner reported:
Knowledgeable sources said the group’s “media partners” promised to boycott the event if Pompeo got the award, apparently distressed over giving the administration any credit.
Those sources added that keynote speaker Christiane Amanpour was concerned about Pompeo getting the award.
CNN referred questions about the deliberations over Pompeo to the foundation, which refused to discuss them.
Bream noted former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen wrote a column headlined "This Is How Bad Trump Derangement Syndrome Has Gotten In Washington." He wrote "By any objective criteria, Pompeo deserved the award. In just over two years in office, President Trump has secured the release 20 people. That's more captives freed in two years than President Barack Obama got released in eight."
As for "media partners," Thiessen added other “partners” listed on the website include Facebook, Atlantic Media, Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists, among others. "None has fessed up." To Bozell:
BRENT BOZELL: Don't you find it amazing for you yanked away the award to give to the Secretary of State and don't give a reason for it? I mean, to me, it is utter cowardice on the part of the people who did this. That they would buckle to some pressure from somebody and some people but the secretary himself knows what it is because he was the one who proffered proper the explanation when he said it was the media, look organizations were threatening to disrupt this! Which is why they had to do it [withdraw the award, and his invitation to attend].
Liberal Fox regular Richard Goodstein tried to explain that the Foley Foundation withdrew the award "because the administration was gutless by not pressing for accountability around the murder of Jamal Khashoggi." To which Bream shot back: "Well then, why give him the award in the first place?"
