Newsmax is distancing itself from comments made by Steve Malzberg on Friday in which the host suggested Chelsea Clinton’s pregnancy was a campaign ploy for a widely expected Hillary Clinton presidential run in 2016.
“Steve Malzberg’s comments were intended to be humorous not hurtful,” Ken Chandler, executive editor of the conservative outlet, said in a statement. “They were clearly inappropriate and do not reflect the views of Newsmax.”
“Oh I can see Media Matters, I can see everybody going crazy on me now. Malzberg thinks this was a staged, planned pregnancy?” Malzberg said on Friday.
“Well, now I’m not saying, when I say staged I have to believe she’s pregnant, if she says she’s pregnant,” he continued. “I don’t mean that they’re making up she’s pregnant. But what great timing! I mean purely accidental, purely an act of nature, purely just left up to God.”
“And God answered Hillary Clinton’s prayers and she’s going to have the prop of being a new grandma while she runs for president,” he added. “It just warms the heart, it brings a tear to my eye. It really does.”
Politico notes that Newsmax’s CEO, Christopher Ruddy, is friendly with former President Bill Clinton.