Departing Analyst Rips Fox News As 'Propaganda Machine'

Retired Lt. Col. Ralph Peters, a longtime analyst for Fox News, told colleagues he is done with the network he says has become "a propaganda machine" for President Trump.

Peters said in an email first reported Tuesday by BuzzFeed that he chose not to renew his contract as a paid contributor with Fox News on March 1 because he was "ashamed" of the network.

He said the 21st Century Fox-owned cable channel has gone from being a valuable conservative voice to "assaulting our constitutional order and the rule of law, while fostering corrosive and unjustified paranoia among viewers."

The LA Times reports Peters' comments directly targeted the network's opinions hosts — which include Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham — for their consistent attacks on special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's investigation into Russia's interference with the 2016 presidential election. Mueller is also looking into whether Trump obstructed justice when he fired James B. Comey from his post as FBI director.

But Peters' remarks are noteworthy because as a Fox News national security analyst for 10 years, he has been a foreign policy hawk who frequently criticized the Obama administration. He was once suspended from the network for a week in 2015 after an appearance on the Fox Business Network in which he used a vulgar term to describe former President Obama's fortitude in combating terrorism by Islamic extremists.

Peters' email notes that his condemnation of Fox News does not include the hard news reporters at the operation whom he called "talented professionals in a poisoned environment." He also excluded the Fox Business Network, "where numerous hosts retain a respect for facts and maintain a measure of integrity."