Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy defended his $1 million donation to the Clinton Foundation, declaring that he is “proud” of what former President Bill Clinton is doing and does not care what Fox News thinks of the former president.
Ruddy, who runs the right-of-center publication and used to be a fierce Clinton opponent in the 1990s, compared Clinton to Teddy Roosevelt and told the Washington Post that Clinton is “not Jimmy Carter” because Clinton “became essentially a goodwill ambassador for America.”
“I really like what he does,” he told the Post, telling the publication that he called Clinton last week and told him, “I’m proud of what you’re doing, and I don’t care what they say on Fox News.”
Ruddy said it was “incredibly ironic” that James Murdoch, the “co-chief operating officer of 21st Century Fox,” has also donated to the Clinton Foundation.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Ruddy had pledged $1 million to the Clinton Foundation, and Ruddy told the outlet that the donation was not an endorsement of Hillary Clinton, who he said would “make a great presidential candidate.”
Ruddy, as detailed in a Bloomberg News profile, last year launched “NewsmaxTV, a 24-hour cable news channel that will be, he says, a kinder, gentler Fox.”
“Our goal is to be a little more boomer-oriented, more information-based rather than being vituperative and polarizing,” Ruddy said before the launch.
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