Fox drew 1.33 million viewers for substitute host Brian Kilmeade in the 8 p.m. Eastern hour on Wednesday night, putting the network second to MSNBCs Chris Hayes in a competition Carlson used to dominate, the Nielsen company said.

Thats down 56% from the 3.05 million viewers Carlson reached last Wednesday, Nielsen said. For all of 2022, Carlson averaged 3.03 million viewers, second only to Foxs The Five as the most popular program on cable television.

Carlson offered his own alternative to Kilmeade on Wednesday, posting a two-minute monologue on Twitter at 8 p.m. By Thursday afternoon, that video had been viewed 62.7 million times, according to Twitter.

Kilmeade had 1.7 million viewers on Tuesday and 2.59 million on Monday, when he told people who hadnt already heard the news that Carlson would no longer be there.

Carlson had 2.65 million viewers on Friday for what he didnt know at the time would be his last show on Fox. He was fired on Monday with no explanation given publicly, although there are no shortage of theories including a former employees lawsuit that cited a toxic work atmosphere at his show, offensive statements by Carlson that came out as part of the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit against Fox and his embrace of political conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The ratings slump echoes what happened at Fox following the 2020 election, when many viewers angered by the networks crucial election night declaration that Joe Biden had won Arizona followed then-President Donald Trumps advice to seek alternatives. That caused tremendous angst behind the scenes at Fox, which was illustrated in documents released as part of the Dominion case.

Asked for comment, Fox responded with a statement noting that Fox has been cable news most-watched network for 21 years with its team trusted more by viewers than any other news source.

In the wake of Carlsons firing, viewing at the conservative network Newsmax has shot up for Eric Bolling, who hosts a show in the same 8 p.m. Eastern slot.

For example, Bolling had 510,000 viewers Wednesday night, compared to 168,000 on Wednesday a week ago, Nielsen said. On Tuesday, Bolling had 562,000 viewers, up from 122,000 the same day a week earlier.

The challenge for Newsmax will be making it last. Fox surged again following Bidens inauguration as president, and Newsmax couldnt keep up the momentum.

The person requested anonymity to discuss the private appearance before the grand jury.

Pences appearance before a grand jury in Washington scrutinizing the president he once loyally served is a milestone in the Justice Departments investigation and likely gives prosecutors a key first-person account about certain conversations and events in the weeks preceding the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. It also carries significant political implications, coming as Pence hints at entering the 2024 presidential race and a potential run against Trump, the Republican front-runner.

The testimony came hours after a federal appeals court in a sealed order rejected a bid by Trumps lawyers to block Pences appearance.

Pence was subpoenaed to testify earlier this year, but Trumps lawyers objected, citing executive privilege concerns. A judge in March refused to block Pences appearance, though he did side with the former vice presidents constitutional claims that he could not be forced to answer questions about anything related to his role as presiding over the Senates certification of votes on Jan. 6.

Well obey the law, well tell the truth, Pence said in an interview with CBS News Face the Nation that aired Sunday. And the story that Ive been telling the American people all across the country, the story that I wrote in the pages of my memoir, thatll be the story I tell in that setting.

Pence has spoken extensively about Trumps pressure campaign urging him to reject Democrat Joe Bidens presidential election victory in the days leading up to Jan. 6, including in his book, So Help Me God. Pence, as vice president, had a ceremonial role overseeing Congress counting of the Electoral College vote but did not have the power to affect the results, despite Trumps contention otherwise.

Pence, a former Indiana governor and congressman, has said that Trump endangered his family and everyone else who was at the Capitol that day and history will hold him accountable.

For four years, we had a close working relationship. It did not end well, Pence wrote, summing up their time in the White House.

Lawyers for Pence had raised their own, more narrow challenge to the subpoena. They argued that because Pence was serving in his capacity as president of the Senate as electoral votes were being counted in Congress on Jan. 6, he was protected from being forced to testify about that process under the Constitutions speech or debate clause, which is intended to protect members of Congress from being questioned about official legislative acts.

A judge agreed with that argument, effectively narrowing the scope of his expected testimony.

The Justice Department special counsel leading the investigation, Jack Smith, has cast a broad net in interviews and has sought the testimony of a long list of former Trump aides, including ex-White House counsel Pat Cipollone and former adviser Stephen Miller.

Smith is separately investigating Trump over the potential mishandling of hundreds of classified documents at his Palm Beach, Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, as well as possible efforts to obstruct that probe. On Wednesday, Trumps lawyers in that investigation called the Department of Justice investigation severely botched and politically infected and urged the House Intelligence Committee to step in by holding hearings and introducing legislation to correct classified document handling procedures in the White House and to standardize procedures for presidents and vice presidents for when they leave office.

DOJ should be ordered to stand down, and the intelligence community should instead conduct an appropriate investigation and provide a full report to this Committee, as well as your counterparts in the Senate, the lawyers wrote.

It is unclear when either of the special counsels investigations will end or who, if anyone, will be charged.

Meta shares rose 14% after the earnings report, lifting Zuckerbergs fortune to $87.3 billion and boosting him up a notch on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index to 12th place. Its the highest the Meta chief executive officers wealth has been in more than a year. 

Thursdays move reversed the wealth destruction Zuckerberg experienced in 2022, when his net worth fell 57% or $71 billion after a costly pivot to the metaverse and an industry-wide slump stirred concern over the companys growth prospects. 

The billionaire used Thursdays results to burnish his case for pressing on with investments in areas like artificial intelligence and virtual reality. 

The Menlo Park, California-based company has also focused on paring costs through lower spending and layoffs, in what Zuckerberg has described as the year of efficiency. 

Zuckerbergs biggest one-day increases in net worth are $12.5 billion on Feb. 2, and $11 billion about a year ago.