Thread by @MattGertz

Tommy Fisher made 10 appearances on Fox News and Fox Business since January 2018 in an effort to get President Trump to support his company's bid for a federal contract to build a border wall.

Trump was listening. mediamatters.org/blog/2019/05/2…

The Army Corps of Engineers determined that Fisher’s design “did not meet its requirements and lacked regulatory approvals” and that the firm’s previous work on a barrier project “came in late and over budget.” But Trump is pushing for Fisher's company anyway. Why?

The Washington Post reported yesterday that according to Fisher's home-state senator, it's because of the company's Fox-centric PR strategy.

Programs the president regularly watches, including Fox & Friends and The Ingraham Angle, have repeatedly granted Fisher an uncritical platform to shill for his company.

Fisher has honed his pitch to appeal to the president in particular, as you can see in this March Fox & Friends segment, where he's asked, “why should the president, or why should his administration, choose your company?”

In addition to claiming that his company would get the work done faster and cheaper, Fisher invoked the president's own experience with the Wollman Rink in Central Park in the 1980s.

And it's not just the "opinion side." Check out this segment Special Report did on Fisher in May. It's basically an infomercial for his company, treating everything he says as entirely credible.

All of this laudatory coverage has had Fisher’s desired effect, with the president reportedly promoting the company’s bid in meetings with senior military and DHS officials.

Fisher harnessed the incredible power of Fox’s hold on the president to get much closer than he should have to taxpayer dollars. He won’t be the last to try to do so.