Political commentator Lou Dobbs has died at the age of 78.
Former President Donald Trump, whom Dobbs publicly supported, announced the passing on his Truth Social account.
“The Great Lou Dobbs has just passed away — A friend, and truly incredible Journalist, Reporter, and Talent,” Trump wrote. “He understood the World, and what was ‘happening,’ better than others. Lou was unique in so many ways, and loved our Country. Our warmest condolences to his wonderful wife, Debi, and family. He will be greatly missed!”
The former CNN and Fox Business reporter and executive made headlines in recent years for his support of conservative causes.
He famously questioned if former President Barack Obama was born in the U.S. and prominently supported Trump and his policies during Trump’s term in the White House.
Dobbs was also sued by Smartmatic, the voting technology company, after he cast doubt on the 2020 election results.
In a 2023 column about the lawsuit, Jacob Sullum of the Chicago Sun-Times noted that Dobbs publicly agreed with and boosted the view of Trump’s attorney Sidney Powell that “the 2020 Election is a cyber Pearl Harbor.”
Allegations of voting fraud have in the 2020 election have been disproven, and those who espouse them reached lawsuit settlements that required them to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in some cases.
Before the controversy, however, Dobbs was a mainstream figure in American politics and the press.
He was the chief economics correspondent for CNN and hosted “Moneyline” when the cable network launched in 1980.
Though Dobbs left briefly to start Space.com in 1999, he returned in 2001, only to leave again in 2009 when he focused on the unfounded claims that Obama was born outside of the country.
Dobbs then hosted “Lou Dobbs Tonight” on the Fox Business Channel from 2010 until its cancellation in 2021.