On Sunday night, after NBC’s “Meet The Press” host Chuck Todd had played a deceptively-edited clip of Attorney General William Barr on Sunday morning followed by Todd using the clip as a launching pad for an attack on Barr, President Trump called for NBC to fire Todd, tweeting, “Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd should be FIRED by ‘Concast’ (NBC) for this fraud. He knew exactly what he was doing. Public Airwaves = Fake News!’”
Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd should be FIRED by “Concast” (NBC) for this fraud. He knew exactly what he was doing. Public Airwaves = Fake News! @AjitPaiFCC @FCC https://t.co/fLTDhjMXo4
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 11, 2020
As The Daily Wire reported on Sunday:
The remarks that “Meet The Press” deceptively edited came from the following exchange from an interview that Barr had with CBS News reporter Catherine Herridge:
HERRIDGE: In closing, this was a big decision in the Flynn case, to say the least. When history looks back on this decision, how do you think it will be written? What will it say about your decision making
BARR: Well, history is written by the winner. So it largely depends on who’s writing the history. But I think a fair history would say that it was a good decision because it upheld the rule of law. It helped, it upheld the standards of the Department of Justice, and it undid what was an injustice.
Todd’s segment only aired the first two sentences from Barr’s answer and cut off the rest.
Todd followed the clip by snapping, “I was struck … by the cynicism of the answer. It’s a correct answer. But he’s the attorney general. He didn’t make the case that he was upholding the rule of law. He was almost admitting that, yeah, this is a political job.”
Barr spokeswoman Kerri Kupec responded to the segment on Twitter, writing, “Very disappointed by the deceptive editing/commentary by @ChuckTodd on @MeetThePress on AG Barr’s CBS interview. Compare the two transcripts below. Not only did the AG make the case in the VERY answer Chuck says he didn’t, he also did so multiple times throughout the interview.”
Very disappointed by the deceptive editing/commentary by @ChuckTodd on @MeetThePress on AG Barr’s CBS interview.
Compare the two transcripts below. Not only did the AG make the case in the VERY answer Chuck says he didn’t, he also did so multiple times throughout the interview. pic.twitter.com/PR1ciceMmE
— KerriKupecDOJ (@KerriKupecDOJ) May 10, 2020
Kupec continued, “Also, no mention by Todd that the AG spent a large portion of the CBS interview explaining the legal reasoning supporting the request for dismissal. The full transcript has been available on CBS’ website since Thursday night, including the answer NBC aired in its edited form.”
Also, no mention by Todd that the AG spent a large portion of the CBS interview explaining the legal reasoning supporting the request for dismissal. The full transcript has been available on CBS’ website since Thursday night, including the answer NBC aired in its edited form. https://t.co/R1c4HEcZi9
— KerriKupecDOJ (@KerriKupecDOJ) May 10, 2020
It took “Meet The Press” four hours to offer an apology, finally writing on Twitter, “You’re correct. Earlier today, we inadvertently and inaccurately cut short a video clip of an interview with AG Barr before offering commentary and analysis. The remaining clip included important remarks from the attorney general that we missed, and we regret the error.”
You’re correct. Earlier today, we inadvertently and inaccurately cut short a video clip of an interview with AG Barr before offering commentary and analysis. The remaining clip included important remarks from the attorney general that we missed, and we regret the error.
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) May 10, 2020
In Mid-April, Todd expressed his surprise that an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed Trump’s approval rating to be roughly the same as the year before, saying, “Now think about what’s happened, guys,” as reported by Newsbusters. “We had an impeachment and a pandemic. So, an impeachment and a pandemic has happened between April of 2019 and April of 2020 and the President’s job ratings are 46 percent approve, 51 percent disapprove.”
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