Since its inception in 2013, OAN has been a sympathetic voice to Trump, regularly broadcasting his rallies and speeches without interruption. When Trump took office in 2017, Herring Sr. directed OAN to not only push Trump’s candidacy but also steer away from his early troubles in office. Herring Sr. also urged the network to scuttle stories about police shootings, encourage antiabortion stories and minimize coverage of Russian aggression, according to more than a dozen current and former producers, writers and anchors who spoke to The Washington Post in 2017, as well as internal emails from Herring Sr. and his top news executives.
