While some at Fox News have been criticised for unabashedly cheering on Donald Trump, Jacqui Heinrich, a senior White House correspondent for the network, has drawn MAGA-world attention for her blunt approach to reporting on the administration.
Over the last few months, Heinrich, 36, has made headlines for pushing back against the White House, Donald Trump, and Republicans – despite her employer’s right-wing leaning.
Heinrich called out the White House for trying to seize control of the White House Correspondents Association’s press pool. And she delivered a brutally honest take on Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying it felt “not good.”
Trump has even publicly criticized Heinrich because she questioned his choice to display Tesla vehicles in front of the White House.
“She is not afraid of pissing off the base,” an unnamed White House correspondent told the Washington Post. “Her job isn’t to make anyone happy. Her job is to report the news, and that’s what she does.”
Fox News has found success appealing to a conservative audience, making it less likely to launch harsh criticisms of the president and his administration than other network news.
While Fox News reporters do occasionally push back on the administration, Heinrich’s determination to challenge Republicans as she would Democratic politicians has drawn some criticisms.
In March, after questioning the legality of Trump’s deportation flights on Fox News Sunday, the president verbally attacked her.
“I watched Jacqui Heinrich from Fox over the weekend and I thought she was absolutely terrible. She should be working for CNN, not Fox,” Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time. “Not surprisingly, I later found out that she’s a fan of the White House Correspondents Association!”
Heinrich was elected to serve a three-year term on the White House Correspondents Association board.
Brit Hume, a Fox News chief political analyst, defended Heinrich on X, telling the president, “She plays it straight, covering both sides of a story and has certainly played fair with you. You may have a case against some White House reporters, but not [Jacqui].”
But any criticisms against Heinrich are nothing new.
Even internally, Heinrich faced some side-eye from colleagues at Fox News.
Before Fox News settled a $787 million lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for spreading lies, bolstered by Trump, about the integrity of voting machines after the 2020 election, discovery in the case showed several on-air hosts frustrated with Heinrich’s fact-checking.
Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson urged host Sean Hannity to “get her fired” after Heinrich tweeted at Trump correcting him about election interference, according to messages provided in the discovery
But any internal dissatisfaction with Heinrich’s unwillingness to agree with Trump has only elevated her reputation as a reporter.
“I’ve had nothing but support from this network,” Heinrich told Vanity Fair last year. “I’ve been promoted three times since the last election. I must be doing something right. My key card still works.”.
Andrew Bates, the former White House deputy press secretary under the Biden administration, told the Washington Post that he thought Heinrich was “honest and took her job seriously.”
“There were, of course, many moments where we disagreed with each other strongly, but it was always a respectful relationship, and I appreciated her sharpness, intellect, and her integrity,” Bates said.
