(The day in the first paragraph is fixed as Thursday instead of Friday)
By Kanishka Singh
Lou Dobbs, a former Fox Business Network and CNN host who was a vocal supporter of former Republican President Donald Trump, has died at the age of 78, according to friends and a statement posted on his social media account on Thursday.
Republican presidential candidate Trump said on his Truth Social platform that “the great Lou Dobbs just passed away,” adding: “Lou was one of a kind in so many ways, and he loved our country.”
The data did not disclose the cause or place of death.
The Emmy and Peabody Award-winning journalist joined CNN when it was created in 1980 and has held a variety of positions at the cable network, including anchor of “Lou Dobbs Moneyline” and “Lou Dobbs Tonight.”
In a statement after his death, Fox News Media described him as “an incredible business mind with a talent for broadcasting, (who) helped transform cable news into a successful and influential industry.”
Harvard-educated Dobbs became one of the most divisive figures in U.S. radio and television journalism, and over the years he drew the ire of Latino leaders and civil rights groups with his frequent on-air remarks about U.S. border control and immigration that critics saw as demonizing undocumented immigrants.
It was also seen as lending credence to the “born-in-the-USA” conspiracy theory, where adherents believe that former President Barack Obama’s Hawaiian birth certificate was forged to hide his place of birth in Kenya, which would have made the first black US president ineligible for office.
Dobbs acknowledged that his comments also caused friction with CNN executives.
He joined Fox Business Network in 2010 after leaving CNN in 2009.
A show he hosted on Fox Business was canceled in 2021 after the vocal Trump supporter was named as a defendant in a defamation lawsuit filed by voting machine maker Smartmatic, which alleged that three Fox hosts, including Dobbs, falsely accused the company of helping rig the 2020 election against Trump.
Trump, who lost in 2020 to Democratic President Joe Biden, who is set to face him in a rematch in 2024, has falsely claimed that the 2020 election was rigged.