Man In The Middle

CHRIS WALLACE was born into journalism royalty, but that hasn’t stopped Fox News’s resident wildcard from blazing a surprising path all his own.

- Andrew Goldman

Given the praise Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump have slathered on each other, it wasn’t a surprise that, last July, after the pair met in Helsinki, Putin granted his sole post-summit American interview to Fox News, the only network permitted on the screens of Air Force One and one of the few outlets the president has never accused of being “fake news.” But judging from the pained look on Putin’s face, he hadn’t anticipated that sitting down with Fox News would mean an interrogation by the channel’s Chris Wallace. When Wallace asked him why so many of the Russian president’s political enemies “end up dead,” the normally imperturbable Putin began to flail, and at the interview’s end he couldn’t remove his lapel mic fast enough. It’s worth remembering that the late Roger Ailes, Wallace’s former Fox News boss, once toasted Wallace by saying, “You’re a great questioner, and, frankly, every guest who comes on hates you.”

Making subjects squirm isn’t a goal for Wallace, who, in the 14 years he has hosted Fox News Sunday, has become the top news anchor on the most successful cable news channel. “I view my job as being the cop on the beat, walking around with a nightstick and trying to keep people honest—both Republicans and Democrats,” he says.