Fox News ends Benghazi interview after Thomas Ricks criticizes network (VIDEO)

During an interview with Fox News on Monday, veteran defense reporter Thomas Ricks said  the network "is operating as a wing of the Republican Party."

The interview ended abruptly after about 90 seconds, despite the fact that it was slated to last for three minutes, according to The New York Times.

Ricks' criticism came after Fox anchor Jon Scott asked the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author, a former military reporter of author of new book "The Generals," about the Sept. 11 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

In the wake of the attack, Sen. John McCain and other Republican senators have been highly critical of the Obama administration's — and particularly, UN Ambassador Susan Rice's — handling of the attacks.

According to the Washington Post and Media Matters, Fox News has devoted a disproportionate amount of time to the Sept. 11 Benghazi attacks and suggestions there was a cover-up by the Obama adminstration, compared with the other mainstream TV networks.

"I think Benghazi was generally hyped by this network especially," Ricks told Fox News.

"When you have four people dead for the first time in more than 30 years, how do you call that hype?" Scott argued.

Ricks, who characterized the Libya attack as a "small fire-fight" compared with the war in Iraq, concluded, "I think the emphasis on Benghazi has been extremely political, partly because Fox is operating as the wing of the Republican Party."