Wes Moore slams Baltimore Sun as ‘right-wing’ ahead of exposé story

Before The Baltimore Sun printed a phrase of its reported investigation into Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s document, the Democrat state chief and his staff had been already blasting the paper’s new possession as “right-wing” and comfortable with President Donald Trump.

The Baltimore Sun, which was bought by Sinclair government chairman David D. Smith in 2024, is reportedly analyzing Moore’s navy document, scholastic sports activities tenure and different components of his background, Semafor reported earlier this week, citing the Sun has introduced on investigative reporters from sister retailers beneath the Sinclair umbrella.

“It’s actually a very sad day because the Baltimore Sun used to be our paper of record. It’s now become the paper of the right wing,” Moore instructed former Biden consultant Jen Psaki in a latest interview, after Psaki famous the Sun was bought in 2024 by Smith.

Moore, who has downplayed talks of a 2028 presidential bid, has beforehand confronted scrutiny for itemizing a Bronze Star on a Bush-era White House fellowship utility earlier than he acquired the award, as effectively as questions concerning the depth of his Baltimore roots throughout his 2022 race towards then-Gov. Larry Hogan. Moore in the end acquired the Bronze Star in 2024.

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“[Y]ou’ve had a MAGA billionaire who is now currying favor for [President Donald Trump] and utilizing what used to be a prized paper for our region and now turning it to something that is not much more than right-wing drivel,” Moore stated.

The governor added that Army members have served with do not query his integrity in the identical means and that Smith is the “canary in the coalmine” for rich conservatives making an attempt to make use of their assets to please Trump, together with utilizing the media.

The interview elicited a prolonged rebuttal from the managing editor of the Smith-linked outlet investigating Moore: Spotlight on Maryland. The outlet is a collaboration between the Sinclair-owned FOX affiliate in Baltimore, ABC affiliate in Washington and the Sun.

“Democrats sure are putting in a lot of work to discredit a series before it’s even started running. That alone should raise a question: why?,” Spotlight on Maryland managing editor Candy Woodall tweetedcaptioning Moore’s interview.

Woodall claimed Moore’s workplace threatened to disseminate recordsdata to “every media reporter” to attempt to discredit her investigation.

“We saw the same playbook in 2022 when a FOX-45 reporter asked why Moore allowed claims that he had received a Bronze Star that he didn’t have at the time. His team accused the reporter and media outlet of bias and a smear campaign,” she wrote.

“Two years later, after the New York Times wrote about the Bronze Star Moore hadn’t received, the narrative changed, and the governor said it was ‘an honest mistake’. In an August 2024 statement on his military record, Moore acknowledged he knew before leaving Afghanistan that he had not received the award.”

In that assertion, Moore stated his deputy brigade commander inspired him to use for a White House fellowship and concurrently really helpful him for a Bronze Star and instructed him to incorporate that on his utility.

Wes Moore, governor of Maryland, throughout an announcement within the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg)

He added that in his officer analysis, his superiors ranked him within the high 1% of Operation Enduring Freedom officers and known as him “the best lieutenant I’ve encountered…” earlier than later noting he “sincerely wish[ed he] “had gone again to appropriate the word on my utility.”

Woodall pushed back again in her tweet, saying that her journalists’ loyalties aren’t to officials but to Marylanders and that her team sent “lots of” of inquiries to Moore and his workers to scant responses.

She claimed a Moore official admitted Spotlight doesn’t deserve to be handled like a information outlet and “nothing that comes out of Sinclair ought to be taken critically.”

“If you need to know extra, maintain studying The Baltimore Sun, a 200-year-old newspaper that has survived many governors,” she quipped.

When requested for a response, Moore press secretary Ammar Moussa instructed Fox News Digital that “in mild of revelations that Sinclair proprietor and Trump-donor David Smith is personally concerned in Spotlight on Maryland’s reporting, what’s the extent of Sinclair proprietor and Donald Trump ally David Smith’s affect within the FOX-45 and Baltimore Sun newsrooms?”

He also said Spotlight reporter Gary Collins is “not a journalist,” directing Fox News Digital to an X response to Collins, criticizing him as a former Maryland Republican Party official “working on the course of your Trump-supporting boss.”

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“I’ll proceed to report details, similar to my colleagues do,” Collins said.

Collins had also published a March 26 report on a roundtable Moore participated in near a Washington County warehouse rumored to be destined as an ICE facility.

Collins’ piece noted Moore’s complaint about the feds’ “lack of transparency” and contrasted it with what he said was a similar dynamic in Annapolis.

“[Moore’s] administration has but to launch full documentation tied to his navy document, tutorial historical past, and prior credentials — data Spotlight On Maryland has requested for months,” Collins wrote, going on to scribe that Sun co-owner and Moore friend Armstrong Williams penned a column calling on the governor to “inform the reality and launch the details.”

Moussa also took aim at Woodall, asking her if Smith was behind her lengthy tweet.

“Did your Trump-supporting boss write this? Or does he solely monitor your emails?” Moussa said.

Smith previously ruffled feathers on the left when Sinclair pulled “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” from its lineup following the controversial comedian’s response to Charlie Kirk’s homicide. Sinclair is reportedly the most important proprietor of associates of ABC – the community that employs Kimmel.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Sinclair and Smith for added touch upon Friday.