Tragic Details About Bret Baier

Bret Baier is one of the most recognizable faces in the news world. He's been a mainstay at Fox News since joining the network in 1998, and today, he hosts the "Special Report with Bret Baier" for the outlet. As chief political anchor, Baier has conducted interviews with sitting presidents, world leaders, and celebrities over his two-decade-plus career. This has earned him praise and criticism from both sides of the aisle, though he is generally considered to have a reputation for being fair and balanced in his coverage. But despite his success, he has gone through some heartbreaking moments in his personal and professional life.

Baier's ascension at Fox came on the heels of one of the most tragic days in American history. At the time, he was working in Atlanta, Georgia, as Fox's bureau chief in the city. On September 11, 2001, he drove to Arlington, Virginia, to provide live, on-the-ground coverage of the attack on the Pentagon. The shock and tragic nature of the events would be enough for anyone, but it didn't stop there. He was then made the network's Pentagon correspondent, which saw him take numerous trips to Afghanistan and Iraq, where he saw the aftermath of the war that began with the 9/11 attacks.

Bret Baier and the rest of his family took a vacation to Montana to go skiing in 2019. While driving to the airport at the end of their trip, the Baier family slid on an icy road and collided with a truck, eventually ending up upside down in a ditch. According to the Fox News host, a passing motorist stopped to help and all four of them were able to get out of the vehicle. The Baier family was whisked away to the hospital.

Baier released a statement to People, praising first responders and the man who stopped to help for their swift assistance, saying the family was "banged up but alive." He would later tweet out, "Don't take anything for granted — every day is a blessing — and family is everything. It's always good to remind yourself of that — before something does it for you." The crash was certainly a tragic and sobering moment of what could have been.

Bret Baier and his wife, Amy, welcomed their son, Paul, into the world in 2007. But before they could take him home, a nurse noticed the baby boy was slightly pale. After running some tests, the medical team discovered that Paul had five congenital heart defects. It was a tragic and terrifying moment for the Baier family, as it meant their son needed open heart surgery within days and might not be able to go home with them. Baier details the story of his son's struggles and surgeries in his memoir "Special Heart: A Journey of Faith, Hope, Courage, and Love," giving readers a look into his thoughts throughout the entire process.

Paul Baier went on to have several open-heart surgeries and 10 angioplasties over the years. For the most part, he's able to lead a normal life, playing sports and getting close to graduating high school. The Baier family became major members of the Children's Hospital Foundation and regularly participates in events benefiting children. In fact, all proceeds from "Special Heart" go toward research into congenital heart disease.

The aftermath of the 2020 presidential election was pure chaos. Many Republicans accused the Democrats of fraud, with some GOP politicians still believing the election wasn't legitimate because votes were changed by officials at stations or by tampering with electronic voting machines. Dominion Voting Systems was behind the software and hardware of the latter, and the company became the target of fraud allegations. Notably, Fox News routinely pushed statements that the company's equipment had switched votes for Donald Trump to Joe Biden during the election.

Dominion accused Fox News of damaging its reputation with its claims. A $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit ensued, and Bret Baier was questioned and investigated as part of the proceedings. In the end, Fox agreed to a $787.5 million settlement and released a statement acknowledging the lies its anchors promoted. "We acknowledge the Court's rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false," the network said, per Reuters. 

For Baier, the real tragedy was that he seemed to be alone in his workplace as the network pushed farther right, leaving him more center. Baier actually attempted to pitch a special on his show that debunked election fraud claims, but he never received an answer. It was meant to show the network taking concerns over the election seriously but still putting out facts. A moment of journalistic integrity that was mostly swept aside.

While Bret Baier may select stories based on center-right politics, he still tends to present them from a journalistic standpoint, correcting misinformation along the way. Nevertheless, a report from The Daily Beast damaged his reputation. According to text messages obtained by the outlet, Baier and Tucker Carlson had a conversation about Fox News delaying the network's call of the 2020 election because of the backlash they were getting from Trump supporters. They discussed that their core audience didn't like the fact that Biden was winning and needed reassurance, with Baier saying he was pressing the network to slow down calling the election.

Fox News did end up being the last network to call the election in favor of President Biden. Baier had, thanks to his reputation and reporting, mainly been able to avoid speculation about his motivations during the 2020 race. But the release of these texts was a huge blow to his image of a fair-minded reporter, punishing both the network and Baier with moderate viewers.

In 2020, Bret Baier took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to announce the death of his father from cancer. He had discussed his relationship with his father in an interview with MarketWatch three years prior. In it, Baier detailed how his work ethic was shaped by his father's, from his teenage landscaping business to the way he approaches his job as a news anchor. "I learned from watching him that hard work really did open a lot of doors," he said.

For the most part, Baier received an outpouring of support from the online community, with most messages offering encouragement and love. The Fox News anchor himself expressed gratitude that his father didn't suffer and that his entire family was there for his passing. The loss was one that stuck with Baier, as his father had been such an integral part of his life from an early age.