A Celebration of Corruption: Elon Musk and Eric Adams Two Crooks in a Pod

A condensed overview of 18 hours of Fox News for the week ending 2/16/25

Feb 19, 2025

Last week the folks on Fox created fables about Elon Musk the selfless tech warrior who was lowering tax bills for everyday Americans. The network promoted the idea that DOGE was only destroying wasteful woke programs meant to push deranged ideology.

The network also completely glossed over how Elon Musk appears to be in full command of President Donald J. Trump. Miranda Devine and others downplayed Musk’s press conference in the White House where Trump sat silently while the billionaire towered over him in a t-shirt and baseball cap as he bragged about his perceived accomplishments with DOGE.

Laura Ingraham singled out the first federal judge who issued a ruling to force the Trump administration to unfreeze billions in federal spending. Steve Doocy seemed to spill the beans on a deal New York City Mayor Eric Adams made with Trump to escape criminal corruption charges.

Trump’s border czar also joked with Adams on the set of “Fox & Friends,” that he would make sure the New York City Mayor didn’t forget the agreement he made with the president.

As ICE raids spread out over a city with a large foreign born population Mayor Adams can sleep comfortably knowing he is less likely to go to prison for allegedly taking bribes and laundering illegal foreign campaign contributions.

Anyone watching Fox News exclusively last week might have missed out on Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center, changes to a program that would have helped female college athletes and a settlement for victims of the wildfires in Maui.

Shows I covered on Fox News last week:

Special Report by Bret Baier - Monday - to catch interview with President Trump
Fox & Friends - All three hours on Friday to capture Adams interview with Homan
The Five
The Ingraham Angle

Miranda Devine Tells a Fairy Tale About Elon Musk

On Wednesday on “Fox & Friends,” Miranda Devine of the NY Post promoted the false narrative that Elon Musk was acting selflessly for the American taxpayer in his role at DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency).

“I think it's so refreshing to see, you know, just that moment yesterday when you had Elon Musk and his cute little son, in the Oval Office and Donald Trump sitting at the resolute desk just watching on as his kind of protege. Tells the entire world what he's been up to, that nobody else, no other president. There have been other presidents that have tried to do this. And only Elon Musk and his little team of whiz kids, you know, very high IQ. These kids have been able to actually figure out what the government's spends its money on and how it spends it and how it wastes it. The corruption, the abuse of the taxpayer money and the fact that he's saying that he could save $1 trillion is truly amazing.
And this is something that we are seeing open up in real time. And, you know, Elon has just discovered this stuff. He's obviously come in to tell the president about it. He's in there. He was in there last Friday. He's obviously in there quite a lot. And Donald Trump really enjoys it. Finds it, very interesting and also very important. And Elon Musk has told him that this is the most important thing he thinks he will do. And he's basically neglected all his companies, to come and spend 24 over seven, for, for no money. Not that he needs it being the richest man in the world. But to do, the business for the American people.”

Other Fox Folks Also Promoted Elon Musk as a Selfless Billionaire

On “The Ingraham Angle,” the same day Laura Ingraham defended Elon Musk over accusations of conflicts of interest.

“Now we're supposed to believe that the richest man in America only volunteered for this thankless job. Because what? He wanted to skim some off the top. Are they kidding me?” said Ingraham.

Lawrence Jones used the same defense earlier on “Fox & Friends.”

“What is Elon gaining from this? He doesn't need the money. He doesn't need the PR. He doesn't need the power. It doesn't need any of that. I think he’s a guy that loves projects.”

Jones also promoted a “ticker” that Fox News producers placed the lower lefthand side of the chyron that allegedly showed the amount of tax savings DOGE was generating.

“And we got to tracking it because I know it's hard to keep up with this. You can see at the bottom of your screen there's a little ticker right there. It's telling you the initiatives that are being cut and it’s showing you per taxpayer how much money you’re going to be saving. So every time, and it's going to go up throughout the day because they're going to uncover more as they go - department to department. Every single day there is a protest. This is what they're preventing from you, the taxpayer, how much more money you would have in your pocket,” said Jones.

Jones completely misrepresented how income taxes work in the United States.

Individual taxpayers do not pay a lower tax rate if the government spends less.

Income taxes are based on several factors:

Number of dependents
Mortgage interest deduction if applicable
Sale of property or assets such as stock
Interest income
Any additional income outside a W2 form
Business losses
Charitable donations
Deposits in traditional Independent Retirement Accounts (IRAs)
(The list is quite long I couldn’t even begin to write them all out)

Things that do NOT change the amount of taxes any individual owes

The amount of money the government spends in a given year.
- Even $2 trillion dollars in government spending would not change the tax code.

What would lower taxes?

Only Congress can cut or raise federal income taxes by passing a bill that makes changes in the tax code.

The United States government has spent more money than it’s taken in for over two decades. The last time the U.S. had a government surplus was in 2001.

How PBS Explained How Elon Musk Benefits From DOGE

On Wednesday White House correspondent Laura Barrón-López broke down the many ways Musk stands to benefit from DOGE.

“How much do Elon Musk's companies make from his federal government contracts?” asked Geoff Bennett, co-anchor PBS News Hour.

Barrón-López responded.

“Elon Musk owns six companies, including the social media site X, as well as Neuralink, the brain implant company. But the two that benefit the most from government contracts are the rocket ship company, SpaceX and Tesla, the electric car company. And in all, Musk companies have been awarded more than $13 billion in government contracts over the last five years. That includes $3.8 billion in government contracts awarded in 2024. And a lot of those contracts are with the Defense Department and NASA. And Musk's defense to apartment contracts are estimated to be in the billions. We don't have that full number. Given that some of that, those details are classified.”

“More recently, Elon Musk and his DOGE allies have targeted the FAA and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How does his work there present a conflict of interest?” asked Bennett.

“President Trump has said that Musk has free rein to slash spending as well as the workforce. So first, with the FAA, they regulate SpaceX. And last fall, they proposed that SpaceX should be fined with and more than $600,000 for licensing violations. The FAA is also currently investigating SpaceX for some safety violations. So, again, potentially damaging some of Musk's businesses. Now with a consumer watchdog, CFPB. Musk has called for its elimination entirely, posting on XL rip to CFPB, and Musk and his team are leading the efforts to dismantle that consumer watchdog. The white House recently ordered for all work to stop there. So, why is this a possible conflict for Musk's personal interests? Well, for years, Musk has been trying to turn X into an everything app that includes a digital wallet for people to send money to each other. And that digital wallet, known as X money, is expected to launch later this year. CFPB is the main federal financial regulator of digital payment systems like that. And so Musk's money business would stand to potentially benefit from a weakened CFPB.” said Barrón-López.

Eric Adams Quid Pro Quo

Last week the Department of Justice filed a motion to dismiss corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

Acting U.S. Attorney for Manhattan Danielle Sassoon wrote a scathing letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi repeatedly urging Bondi to reverse course on dropping the criminal corruption case against Adams.

The motion to drop the charges against Adams was signed by Deputy Attorney General Bove, Edward Sullivan, a veteran public corruption prosecutor; and Toni Bacon, acting chief of the Justice Department’s criminal division, after seven other Justice Department lawyers had refused and resigned in protest.

In the letter, Sassoon repeatedly suggested DOJ leadership, including acting Deputy Attorney General Bove, were explicitly aware of a quid pro quo suggested by Adams' attorneys, saying Adams' vocal support of Trump's immigration policies would be boosted by dismissing the indictment against him.

What is a quid pro quo?

A favor or advantage granted or expected in return for something.

Steve Doocy Gave Away the Game

On Friday on “Fox & Friends,” Steve Doocy presented the case as a quid pro quo between President Donald J. Trump and Mayor Adams.

“The cover of the ‘New York Post,’ though, is the big story that everybody is talking about regarding Mr. Adams. And that is, you see feds drop weaponize case against Adams so he could fight migrant crime. We need him alive. But down in the corner, you see that? Plus, prosecutor resigns in protest. That is an image of Danielle Sassoon. And she's the interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. She did not think that she should be ordered by the Department of Justice to drop the charges. So, she resigned and essentially said they dropped the charges for quid pro quo. We'll drop your charges, but you've got to help us with the migrant crime in New York City. She quit, and then two people in the public integrity unit at the DOJ quit three others after that. So that the whole suggestion is this was a deal that Adams struck with the Trump administration. Okay. We're going to get you off the hook, but you've got to help us. And that's why it would be interesting to have been the fly on the wall yesterday, at that meeting with Tom Homan. You know, we can refile those charges any time we want. So, you better help us,” said Doocy.

Tom Homan Openly Talked About His Deal with Adams.

In the second hour of “Fox & Friends,” on Friday Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar sat next to Mayor Adams on the curvy couch as they discussed his case and Homan’s plans for mass deportations in New York City.

At the very end of the nearly 22-minute interview Homan mentioned a deal he had with Adams.

“You are talking about the new alliance between ICE and Adams. So thank you very much for coming,” said Doocy.

“Thank you. Alliance was never severed,” said Adams.

“If he doesn’t come through. I’ll be back in New York City, and we won't be sitting on the couch. I'll be in his office up, up his butt saying, where the hell is the agreement, we came to?” said Homan while Adams laughed.

“I want ICE to deliver. We are going to deliver for the safety of the people of this city. Let's focus on every American in New Yorkers should have the right to have an opportunity and survive in this city,” said Adams.

How PBS Explained the Adams Case

On Friday the PBS News Hour invited Jessica Roth of Cardozo School of Law to talk about the decision to drop the charges against Eric Adams.

“Let me ask you about another part of that letter Danielle Sassoon sent to the Attorney general, Pam Bondi, in which she's saying Mayor Adams lawyers are essentially asking the DOJ for what amounted to a quid pro quo, arguing his case should be dropped so he can carry out President Trump's immigration agenda. Is that what it looked like to you here? A quid pro quo? I mean, where is the legal bar or burden of proof there?” asked co-anchor Amna Nawaz.

“Well, at a minimum, it looked like an extraordinary abuse of prosecutorial power. Whether it was exactly a quid pro quo or not, what's very clear in the initial memo from Mr. Bove directing the dismissal is that the reason for the dismissal had nothing to do with the merits of the case, and was intent instead intended to leave Mayor Adams unfettered to pursue the president's immigration agenda. And it said that the charges could be reinstated at a future date, very clearly leaving hanging over Mayor Adams head the threat of re-indictment if in fact, he did not comply with the president's immigration agenda and fell out of favor with the administration. So, at a minimum, it's clearly improper and an abuse of the prosecutorial function.” said Roth.

Laura Ingraham Seemed to Target Judges Who Have Ruled Against Trump

The Trump administration has been hit with several lawsuits over its attempts to make sweeping changes to various government agencies.

On Monday on “The Ingraham Angle,” Laura Ingraham called out one of the judges who have ruled against Trump.

Her producers created a graphic that included a portrait of Judge John J. McConnell Jr. along with a bulleted list that included information about his background.

“If one judge, one is going to have the power to stop the Trump cleanup crew in its tracks, don't you think we should know a little bit more about him? And yeah, it's as bad as you would imagine. McConnell once served as treasurer of the Rhode Island Democratic State Committee, and he donated more than $100,000 to liberal Democrats, including to Biden, to Hillary, to the DNC and a really hefty chunk of cash to the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee. The list goes on and on. So again, this is an unbiased jurist. This is someone who has the power, he has the power to do what? To issue a nationwide injunction and stop a duly elected president from doing what the voters elected him to do. It is a scandal,” said Ingraham.

She never mentioned the U.S. Constitution.

According to reporting by The New York Times on February 10, 2025, earlier that day, Judge John J. McConnell Jr. said that the White House had defied his order to release billions of dollars in federal grants, marking the first time a judge has expressly declared that the Trump administration is disobeying a judicial mandate.

The ruling by McConnell in a Rhode Island federal court ordered the Trump administration to comply with “the plain text” of a ruling he issued on Jan. 29th included a restraining order which was meant to halt the administration’s freeze of congressionally approved federal funds.

Judge McConnell ordered Trump to unfreeze billions in federal funding and issued a directive demanding that the government “immediately restore frozen funding”.

The ruling was a response to the Trump’s administration’s office of management and budget which issued a memo halting federal grants and loans. The freeze was meant to give the Trump administration time to evaluate each program to make sure it aligned with the president’s agenda and policies.

Nearly two dozen states filed a lawsuit against this action. The restraint order meant to release the funding was filed on January 31, 2025.

Later during the same program Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) also criticized judges for ruling against President Trump.

“Because these judges are out of line. They don't have the authority to go in and commandeer the presidency and undo the election of November 2024,” said Lee.

“So, you have a Seattle judge. You have a D.C. district judge, Carl Nichols, who clerked for our former boss, Justice Thomas. You have a Boston judge, Rhode Island judge. You have a couple of old Reagan appointees. You have a judge who came up for transgender inmates. You have another ruling on, for that was filed on behalf of pregnant illegals, on birthright citizenship. So, these are coming fast and furious,” said Ingraham.

It’s interesting to note that Ingraham listed what sounded like a lot of conservative judges - former clerks for Justice Thomas, and Reagan appointees.

How PBS Reported on the Cases Against the Trump Admin.

On Friday on the PBS News Hour Laura Barrón-López brought up the many lawsuits filed against the Trump administration.

“One federal judge extended a restraining order against DOGE. That's that Department of Government Efficiency led by Elon Musk. Barring them from accessing Treasury payment system. So that restraining order is extended. There was another lawsuit where the Consumer Financial Bureau, essentially was, told that they don't have to delete it was trying to prevent their full on dismantling, which is being done by Elon Musk and other Trump administration officials. And the judge said that no CFPB employees could be fired. And, another case brought by eight fired inspectors general, the judge said that they would not issue any emergency action to reinstate those inspectors general, and that that case is going to be ongoing. Then in a case challenging Elon Musk and DOGE’s entire operation, another federal judge asked for more specifics and said that they would rule at a later date. All of that is happening, Geoff, as DOGE is growing, its numbers, I was told by a source familiar with the situation that billionaire, Joseph Gebbia, the Airbnb co-founder, is joining the efforts at Doge with Elon Musk, and he was at the Office of Personnel Management today, being onboarded,” said Laura Barrón-López.

“And the administration is still moving forward with these, these firings across different government agencies. How expansive is this?” asked co-anchor Geoff Bennett.

“They're incredibly expansive. Last night into today, we saw an increase in the number of firings that are coming in, targeting primarily probationary employees, people working in government for less than 1 to 2 years. We're estimating that more than 200,000 employees could be impacted. So, when you look at it by the numbers, that's more than 5000 at the National Institutes of Health and the Center for Disease Control, more than a thousand at the Veterans Affairs, more than 1,200 at the Energy Department, and more than 3,000 at the U.S. Forest Service. And, when it comes to those being terminated at the CDC, one of our sources told News Hour’s Murray Jacobson that at least 100 members, of that epidemic intelligence service are expected to be terminated very shortly. Those are disease detectives. If you watch “Contagion,” Geoff, Kate Winslet's character was a member of that EIS service (Epidemic Intelligence Service). And then when it comes to the Energy Department, cuts some of those cuts are within the Nuclear Security Administration's,” said Laura Barrón-López.

Stories Fox News Ignored

Every week I compare the hours I’ve watched on Fox News to five hours of the PBS News Hour. The following list are stories that PBS covered that Fox News did not. (Source - PBS transcripts)

President Trump pardoned former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. The president already commuted his 14-year sentence for corruption during his first term. Politico reports that he's under consideration to be ambassador to Serbia. (PBS News Hour)
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis says he will resign after months of pressure as he was set to face an impeachment vote. Johannes is term limited, but after Romania's top court controversially scrapped an election back in December, it also kept him in office until a new presidential election in May. In the face of protests and a growing number of lawmakers who've said his extended term was illegal, Yohannes said an impeachment process would have only caused more pain. (PBS News Hour)
Opening statements started last Monday in the trial of the man accused of stabbing author Salman Rushdie on stage at a lecture back in 2022. Twenty-seven-year old Hadi Matar had pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault. Rushdie was stabbed more than a dozen times, leaving him blind in one eye and paralyzed in one hand. The Indian born British-American novelist had been a target of death threats for years after publishing his 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses.” (PBS News Hour)
In Hawaii, a $4 billion settlement for victims of the 2023 Maui wildfire can finally move forward. After months of legal delays. The state's Supreme Court ruled today that insurance companies may not take their own legal action against those blamed for the fires, including Hawaiian Electric Company. Insurers insisted they had the right to do so in order to recoup money paid out to policy holders. (PBS News Hour)
Twenty-seven religious groups are suing the Trump administration over a policy that makes it easier for immigration agents to carry out arrests at places of worship. Plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit range from the Mennonite Church to the Central Conference of American Rabbis to unitary and Universalists, and more. The groups say their congregations are experiencing decreases in worship attendance due to fear of immigration enforcement action. They argue that violates their religious freedom, including the ability to minister to migrants. The Trump administration has not yet responded. (PBS News Hour)
Longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon pleaded guilty today to defrauding donors in a private effort to build a wall along the U.S. southern border. Bannon called the case political persecution as he left the courthouse as part of his plea agreement. Bannon will avoid jail time, but he is barred from holding leadership roles in any nonprofits or charitable organizations in New York. (PBS News Hour)
Eight government watchdogs are suing President Trump for abruptly firing them last month. The federal lawsuit argues the inspectors general, who all served during Mr. Trump's first term, should get their jobs back. It states, “President Trump's attempt to eliminate a crucial and long standing source of impartial, nonpartisan oversight of his administration is contrary to the rule of law.” (PBS News Hour)
In Washington, D.C., the newly installed board of trustees at the Kennedy Center voted today to make President Trump its chairman. It comes days after Mr. Trump announced plans to overhaul the institution. And after he replaced the board with his own appointees, the board also voted to fire the institution's president, Deborah Rutter. She had initially planned to leave at the end of the year. (PBS News Hour)
The Trump administration is scrapping a Biden policy that aim to regulate name, image and likeness payments to college athletes under Title IX rules. The guidance required that universities treat those funds the same as athletic scholarships, and that would have meant paying out the money proportionately to male and female athletes. The Trump official called that guidance overly burdensome. (PBS News Hour)
Federal health agencies are restoring websites and data sets that had been forced offline due to a presidential order. That comes after a judge in Washington, D.C., ordered the content returned, saying their loss threatened the work of doctors and public health at large. The scrubbed material included information on HIV monitoring, contraception, and the enrollment of women in clinical trials, among other things. The site removals were apparently in keeping with an executive order from President Trump directing agencies to remove any indication of alleged gender ideology. (PBS News Hour)
A federal judge paused President Trump's executive order restricting gender affirming care for transgender youth. A lawsuit was filed earlier this month for families with trans and non-binary children, saying their health care has been compromised by the order. Judge Brendan Hudson granted the hold while that case proceeds. He says Trump's action, “seemed to deny that this population even exists or deserves to exist.” (PBS News Hour)
Minnesota Senator Tina Smith announced that this term will be her last.
Smith said her decision was not political, but entirely personal. Her open seat deal is a blow to her fellow Democrats, who already faced an uphill battle to retake the majority in 2026. (PBS News Hour)
A new study suggests that bird flu has silently spread from animals to some veterinarians. The centers for Disease Control tested 150 dairy veterinarians across 46 states for antibodies to the virus. Three of them were positive. None of the vets reported working with infected cows or having symptoms. The results echo two smaller studies that found evidence of past infections in farm workers that went undiagnosed. (PBS News Hour)
In Missouri, an 86-year-old white man pleaded guilty today in the nonfatal shooting of a young Black man who had rung his doorbell by mistake. Andrew Lester had been due to stand trial next week on charges of first degree assault and armed criminal action. Instead, he pleaded guilty to second degree assault and faces up to seven years in prison. Ralph Yarl was in court today to hear the plea. He was 16 years old when he mistakenly ended up at Lester's house after mixing up the streets where he was due to pick up his twin siblings. (PBS News Hour)