Just days before the midterms, Lara Trump presented Fox News viewers with what the network billed as a bipartisan panel of Michigan voters.
So the president’s daughter-in-law gathered five people at a waterfront restaurant in Detroit for a discussion about the race between Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed.
They talked about socialism, immigration, the economy and why some traditional Democratic voters were turning away from their party.
Fox News identified each participant with a simple description: “MICHIGAN VOTER.”
During the segment, the network even displayed a chyron declaring: “BIPARTISAN VOTER PANEL SHARES UNIFYING MESSAGE.”
There was just one rather glaring omission.
Four of the five panelists had appeared at official Mike Rogers campaign events, where they publicly endorsed the Republican and urged voters to support him. Their endorsements were published on Rogers’ own campaign website.
A fifth had previously expressed support for Rogers on national television.
And one of the supposed ordinary voters had an even more significant connection: She was the treasurer of a super PAC that had raised more than $5.7 million and spent millions supporting Rogers and opposing El-Sayed.
Fox did not disclose that four panelists had already appeared at Rogers campaign events, nor did it identify Whitsett's leadership role in a multimillion-dollar pro-Rogers super PAC.
The findings by MeidasTouch reveal a significant gap between how Fox presented the panel and the participants’ documented political activities.
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The panel’s political connections were first flagged by MeidasTouch senior digital editor Acyn Torabi, who noticed that Fox had identified outgoing Michigan state Rep. Karen Whitsett simply as a “Michigan Voter.” His findings prompted a closer examination of the other panelists, revealing that four of the five had been featured in Rogers’ own campaign materials.
The group was not simply composed of Michigan residents who happened to hold opinions about the candidates. Four of the five had already appeared at official Rogers campaign events and were featured in his campaign’s promotional materials. One also held a formal leadership position in a multimillion-dollar political spending operation supporting his election.
Lara Trump, who is married to Eric Trump, President Donald Trump’s son, and served as co-chair of the Republican National Committee during the 2024 presidential campaign, began her program by warning viewers that Democrats were willing to resort to new tactics to confuse the electorate.
Then came the voter panel.