Fox News didn’t report Kamala Harris could be 'oldest elected female president'

What is the claim?

Social media users across X (formerly Twitter), Threads, Reddit, and Bluesky are sharing a screenshot of a purported Fox News broadcast with a ticker that reads, "Kamala could be the oldest elected female president."

One X user shared this purported screenshot and criticized Fox News for publishing this headline. At the time of writing this story, this post has amassed over three million views and more than 106,000 likes.

The archives of this and other posts can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Screenshot of posts making this claim on social media. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, we found that the viral screenshot does not show a genuine Fox News broadcast, and the ticker has been digitally altered.

What are the facts?

We found that the screenshot was taken from an episode of the Fox News show Fox & Friends that aired on August 28, 2018. Fox News uploaded a 3:16-minute video clip from this broadcast with the headline, "Davis admits to being a Trump tower story source." 

Screenshot from the original Fox News clip (Source: Fox News/Modified by Logically Facts)

In the short clip, the co-hosts discussed Lanny Davis, an American political lawyer and commentator who acknowledged to BuzzFeed News in 2018 that he was an anonymous source for the controversial CNN report on the infamous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and Russians.

According to a report published by CNN on July 27, 2018, Michael Cohen, a former attorney for then-President Donald Trump, had claimed Trump had advance notice about the June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower in which Russians were expected to provide his campaign incriminating information on Hillary Clinton. The report noted that according to sources, Cohen claimed that Trump had approved going ahead with this meeting.

We were able to find the exact moment in the Fox News clip at which the viral screenshot has been taken. At the 0:11 timestamp of this video, the original clip and the viral screenshot match exactly, featuring the same three anchors from Fox and Friends seated in the same order and wearing the same outfit on the same set. 

Comparison between the original clip from Fox and Friends and the viral photo. (Source: Fox News/X/Composite by Logically Facts)

We also found a video (archived here) posted on YouTube titled, "Fox & Friends 8/28/18 I Fox News Today August 28, 2018," that featured a recorded version of the aired broadcast, from which the viral screenshot was taken. We found the same moment in the broadcast using the timestamp seen in the viral image (5:08 CT) and noted that it showed a different headline — "Davis admits being Trump tower story source."

A comparison of the viral image and the original video shows Fox & Friends hosts Stephen Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt, and Brian Kilmeade in the same positions and wearing the same clothes.

However, the ticker seen at this moment reads, "Davis admits being Trump tower story source," and does not mention Kamala Harris. This indicates that the viral image has been digitally altered.

Furthermore, the viral photo exhibits ticker text in a bolder and shorter font, unlike the original Fox News typography, which is narrower and taller.

 A screenshot from the video on YouTube. (Source: Screenshot/YouTube)

A spokesperson for Fox News told Logically Facts, "I can confirm this screenshot has been digitally altered and did not air on FOX News Channel."

The verdict

The viral screenshot circulating on social media claiming that Fox News aired a segment stating that Kamala Harris could be the "oldest elected female president" is fake. Fox News has never aired such a segment, and the viral image has been digitally altered.