Reprinted with permission from MediaMatters
Fox News host Jeanine Pirro will headline two events in Florida for a group that’s dedicated to reelecting President Donald Trump. Fox News has falsely claimed in the past that it “does not condone any talent participating in campaign events.”
Pirro is the unabashedly pro-Trump host of the weekend Fox News program Justice with Judge Jeanine. She went on a brief hiatus earlier this year after launching a bigoted attack against Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN).
Trump Team 2020 Florida is a group that attempts “to help like minded Conservatives through education, discussions, lectures, voter registration and implementing strategies that will lead us to Victory in 2020!” The group is headed by Annie Marie Delgado, who was a paid Florida staffer for Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Despite its name, the organization is not actually affiliated with Trump’s reelection campaign. In 2018, the Trump campaign even accused the club of “falsely representing to the public that it is an affiliate and/or authorized agent of the campaign.” The group responded by adding a disclaimer that it’s not part of the president’s official efforts.
Pirro is scheduled to speak at a September 18 event in Pensacola, FL, for Trump Team 2020 Florida’s Escambia County chapter. Ticket prices for that event from $60 to $500, with attendees receiving a signed copy of Pirro’s book. Republican Florida state Rep. Mike Hill will also appear at the event. Pirro is also scheduled to speak alongside Hill in The Villages, FL, on September 22 at an event for the group’s Sumter County chapter. Tickets for the second event range from $30 to $50, with attendees receiving a signed copy of her book. Pirro previously did an event for the group in October 2018 at Trump’s Jupiter, FL, hotel.
Pirro has made more than $230,000 in recent years doing Republican speeches. In November, after Pirro and fellow Fox News host Sean Hannity appeared at a rally with Trump, the network claimed that it “does not condone any talent participating in campaign events.”
That policy was a sham both before and after Fox’s November statement. In addition to her pro-Trump Florida events, Pirro is also doing an October 25 fundraiser for the King County Republican Party in Bellevue, WA.
