NBC News’ “Meet The Press” admitted late on Sunday that their segment earlier in the day on remarks made by Attorney General William Barr last week was false after host Chuck Todd was called out publicly by a spokesperson for the Department of Justice.
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 then said, “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 by transcripts from Todd’s segment and from Barr’s interview last week and wrote: “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.”
“Meet The Press” later responded to her tweet, writing, “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
The statement from “Meet The Press” was considered suspect by many online who noted that their claim that they “missed” Barr’s remarks was hard to believe given the fact that remarks they cut out were literally the very next words out of his mouth.
Daily Caller reporter Greg Price tweeted: “There was nothing inadvertent about it. Chuck Todd says Barr ‘didn’t make the case that he is upholding the rule of law’ when that was literally the next thing Barr does in the clip that you cut off. Your apology is meaningless unless you issue an on air retraction.”
There was nothing inadvertent about it. Chuck Todd says Barr "didn't make the case that he is upholding the rule of law" when that was literally the next thing Barr does in the clip that you cut off.
Your apology is meaningless unless you issue an on air retraction. https://t.co/dwMAg5n8oQ
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 11, 2020
Fox News Senior Political Analyst Brit Hume tweeted: “Interesting that Chuck Todd and his guests seemed unaware of what the full Barr quote actually contained. At least we can hope they were unaware. Otherwise….”
Interesting that Chuck Todd and his guests seemed unaware of what the full Barr quote actually contained. At least we can hope they were unaware. Otherwise…. https://t.co/dAu3xRmEpj
— Brit Hume (@brithume) May 11, 2020
Federalist co-founder Sean Davis tweeted: “It wasn’t ‘inadvertent.’ You did it on purpose to defame Barr. Your apologies are even fake news.”
It wasn’t “inadvertent.” You did it on purpose to defame Barr. Your apologies are even fake news. https://t.co/enGOgUeF64
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) May 11, 2020
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