Fox News bans ‘Lou Dobbs Tonight’ guest over George Soros comment

Fox Business Network has banned a guest who made inflammatory and unsubstantiated comments about Democratic Party donor George Soros during a Thursday edition of “Lou Dobbs Tonight.”

The guest, Chris Farrell, asserted on Dobbs’ program that a caravan of migrants currently traveling in southern Mexico was funded by Soros. Farrell is the director of Judicial Watch, a conservative activist group.

“A lot of these folks also have affiliates who are getting money from the Soros-occupied State Department, and that is of great, great concern,” Farrell said on the program. “If we’re going to start cutting money, start cutting money there.”

The program with the segment about Soros, who is Jewish, initially aired Thursday, and was repeated Saturday — a day when other cable news channels were covering the murders of 11 people attending services at a synagogue in Pittsburgh. The program was scheduled to re-air four times on Sunday before FBN pulled it.

Farrell was denounced in a statement on Sunday by Fox Business Network Senior Vice President of Programming Gary Schreier. “We condemn the rhetoric by the guest on ‘Lou Dobbs Tonight,’ ” he said. “This episode was a repeat which has now been pulled from all future airings.”

A Fox Business Network representative confirmed that Farrell will not appear on the FBN or Fox News Channel in the future.

Farrell’s comments are the second controversy involving Dobbs in the last week. The host posted two tweets peddling a conspiracy theory that the bombs mailed to Soros, Democratic Party leaders and CNN were a hoax perpetrated by the Democrats.

The tweets were pulled down after generating major blowback online.

On Friday, authorities arrested a suspect, Cesar Sayoc, 56, of Plantation, Fla., in connection with the pipe bomb deliveries. He has been an active supporter of President Trump.

Dobbs, 72, was once the leading anchor for business news on CNN. In recent years he has become a fiery populist commentator on Fox Business Network who has the ear of Trump. Dobbs was among the most vocal proponents of the false claim that former President Obama was not born in the U.S.

“Lou Dobbs Tonight” is the highest-rated program on Fox Business Network, but his polarizing views have limited his appeal to mainstream advertisers who have largely steered clear of the program.

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Twitter: @SteveBattaglio