Fox News says none of its employees wrote jokes for Trump to tell at traditional campaign dinner

Fox News Channel on Friday denied Donald Trump 's assertion that any of its employees wrote jokes for him to deliver this week at a New York appearance.

The former president and current candidate said on “Fox & Friends” that “a couple of people from Fox” helped him prepare jokes for Thursday's Al Smith dinner, a traditional event in the last weeks of a presidential campaigns where candidates usually appear.

“I shouldn't say that,” Trump said. “But they wrote some jokes. For the most part, I didn't like any of them.”

Candidates often turn to professional comedians for material when needed for such appearances; it would be eye-opening and ethically suspect if a news organization contributed.

But Fox, in a statement, said none of its employees or freelancers did so. Instead, Trump is believed to have received material from a comic who occasionally tries to sell jokes to the Fox show “Gutfeld.”

Trump was at the dinner, while opponent Kamala Harris sent in a taped routine.