Fox News anchor and executive editor of The Story with Martha MacCallum, which she has anchored since 2017. She joined the network in 2004, co-anchors its election coverage, has co-moderated presidential primary debates and town halls, hosts the Untold Story podcast and wrote the Second World War history Unknown Valor.
Case
Hasan Piker told Axios the US has caused more terrorism than al-Qaeda "pound for pound." The full episode added more contested claims -- on Iran's nuclear programme, Mao Zedong, China and Zionism -- and drew condemnation from both parties.
Role at the time: Fox News anchor, hosting The Five
Statement summary
Opening The Five's discussion of the Axios Show interview, MacCallum said President Trump was “exactly right” that Piker had become an unwanted distraction, then took up Piker's answer on Iran and set his qualifier — that Iran has a right to defend itself regardless of its domestic policies — against an itemised list of the Iranian government's conduct.
“When he talked about Iran, he said they have a right to defend themselves regardless of their domestic policies, which I would point out include slaughtering tens of thousands of their own people in the streets, squalor, no economy to speak of, killing gay people, zero rights for women in Iran, and chanting death to Israel with the intention of annihilation and elimination of Israel and the United States. But he says regardless of their domestic policies, they should have a weapon.”
Relative to the case's fixed reference point — the claims Piker made in the Axios Show interview — MacCallum condemns. She does not merely play the Iran answer back; she sets Piker's stated qualifier against an itemised account of the Iranian government's conduct, which evaluates the claim rather than describing it, and she endorses the President's assessment of Piker as a distraction. The closest competing label is challenges_characterization, which loses because she does not dispute how Piker's position has been described — she accepts his description of it and rejects the position.
Statement dates: September 18, 2026
Statement dates: September 18, 2026
Statement dates: September 18, 2026
Statement dates: September 18, 2026
