Radio host Hugh Hewitt stormed out of a Washington Post livestream event on Friday after two fellow columnists at the Post made false claims about former President Donald Trump and the 2024 election. He subsequently quit as a columnist at the newspaper.
The incident happened when Hewitt was participating in the Post’s “First Look” with left-wing columnists Jonathan Capehart and Ruth Marcus on its “Washington Post Live” platform.
During the discussion about election integrity, Capehart claimed that Trump was “laying the groundwork for contesting the election by complaining that cheating was taking place in Pennsylvania, by suing Bucks County for alleged irregularities.”
Marcus agreed, claiming that Trump has been doing this for “months” and that his complaints in court were “far fetched.”
Hewitt noted that the Trump campaign successfully sued election officials in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, for improperly turning away voters while they were waiting in line to apply for a mail-in ballot.
“I just gotta say we’re news people, even though we’re at the opinion section,” Hewitt fired back. “It’s gotta be reported, Bucks County was reversed by the court and instructed to open up extra days because they violated the law and told people to go home. So that lawsuit was brought by the Republican National Committee, and it was successful.”
MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+
“The Supreme Court ruled that Glenn Youngkin was successful,” he added, referencing Virginia’s lawsuit to stop the Biden-Harris administration from preventing the state from removing non-citizens from its voter rolls.
“We are news people, even though we have opinions and we have to report the whole story if we bring up part of the story,” he added. “So yes, he’s upset about Bucks County, but he was right, and he won in court. That’s the story.”
Capehart lashed out that he didn’t “appreciate being lectured about” his false claims and he then tried to point the finger at remarks Hewitt has made while coming on the show.
“I won’t come back, Jonathan. I’m done,” Hewitt said. “This is the most unfair election ad I have ever been a part of. You guys are working. That’s fine. I’m done.”
Clips of Hewitt went viral instantly online, garnering millions of views within a matter of minutes.
Another bad day for @WashingtonPost. Upset with @CapehartJ and @RuthMarcus for inaccurate attacks on Trump, @hughhewitt rips off his headset and leaves lives #PostLive show. “I’m done. This is the most unfair election ad I have ever been a part of.” Show falls apart, ends early. pic.twitter.com/fsGC1GhIrx
— Brent Baker 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@BrentHBaker) November 1, 2024
Hewitt told Fox News after the incident that he quit his columnist position at the newspaper.
“I have in fact quit the Post,” he said, noting that he had already started to cut back how much writing he was doing for the paper.
The incident happened after Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos recently ordered the newspaper to hire more conservative columnists and acknowledged that bias was a serious credibility issue for the media.
Hewitt was widely praised online for not putting up with the false claims from Marcus and Capehart.
X owner Elon Musk responded to the video: “Hugh Hewitt is right: there was election interference by the Democrats in Bucks County that was so serious that a judge ordered early voting to be extended several more days!”
Hugh Hewitt is right: there was election interference by the Democrats in Bucks County that was so serious that a judge ordered early voting to be extended several more days! https://t.co/jTH4Zqf9WB
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2024
