On Friday, NBC News published <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/2010s-spelled-end-white-christian-america-ncna1106936?fbclid=IwAR1kJ4FmWYrgIVGbxOlwlGanexTNDxtylamsQKCl_pIFmBZlNk6M_88B3VQ">an opinion piece</a> that mocked white Christians in America, saying that their anxiety over losing dominance in America has “created a nostalgia for the past that has fueled support for Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ agenda.”
Robert P. Jones, the founder of PRRI (Public Religion Research Institute) and the author of “The End of White Christian America,” is about to launch his new book, titled, “White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity. He wrote on the NBC News website in a piece titled, “White Christian America ended in the 2010s,” “Of all the changes to identity and belonging, the century’s second decade has been particularly marked by a religious sea change. After more than two centuries of white Anglo-Saxon Protestant dominance, the United States has moved from being a majority-white Christian nation to one with no single racial and religious majority.”
Jones writes that between 2010 and 2014, the percentage of white Christians in the general population had plunged from 53% to 47%; claiming that in 2019, that figure has dropped to 42%. He continues, “White Christian America’s attraction to Trump has little to do with his personality or character … and everything to do with something more important: their belief that ‘making America great again’ necessarily entails restoring white Christian demographic and political dominance.”
Jones cites a survey by his own group that found majorities of white Christian groups think American culture and way of life has changed for the worse since the 1950’s. He posits, “From the perspective of a healthy democratic society, one of the most alarming developments is that these trends have been compounding the political polarization in the country.”
Jones pontificates, &#8220;This demographic and cultural sorting means that our partisan conflicts are increasingly driven not just by political disagreement but by entire worldviews that are rooted in religious, racial and generational values and identities. This arrangement leaves us ill-equipped to deal with a past that cannot be resurrected and to build a new, pluralistic future together.”
Jones concludes, “Here’s hoping that the upcoming decade may find us able to accept and even embrace a future that — while different from our past — is already and inevitably well on its way.”
Jones’ insistence that white Christians wax nostalgic for a bygone era because of their desire for racial dominance ignores a basic fact: it is not a racial concern that motivates Christians to long for the 1950s or vote for a president who defends the rights of religious people, but a fervent desire for the nation to return to Biblical principles undergirding the sanctity of the family and the innocence of children while blocking the concerted attempt by the Left to destroy those principles in the name of “progress.”
The question is not, as leftists would have one believe, simply one of moving backward or forward; it is a question of forward to what and backward to what. Simply to be new and different than what came before has no intrinsic merit of its own.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

Why Don&#8217;t We Perform On NBC&#8217;s &#8220;Today&#8221;

NBC News Opinion: White Christian Americans Panicked Over Losing Dominance

Christianity

NBC News

White Supremacy

In a revealing recent interview with Rolling Stone, Chuck Todd, host of NBC&#8217;s &#8220;Meet the Press,&#8221; discusses what led him to begin approaching Republicans and others on &#8220;the right&#8221; with more skepticism and reporting on their claims in a less &#8220;naive&#8221; way than he had in the past. In his comments, Todd indicates that he does not view Democrats and their claims in the same skeptical light.
The <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/how-disinformation-spreads-according-to-chuck-todd-interview-929912/">interview</a> was conducted as part of an upcoming &#8220;Meet the Press&#8221; special on the &#8220;weaponization of disinformation,&#8221; which, according to Todd&#8217;s comments to the Rolling Stone, appears to approach the topic from a glaringly one-sided angle.
Asked what made him decide to devote a show to the topic of &#8220;disinformation and fake news,&#8221; Todd said it began with an interest in the impact of social media on politics, which he said is ultimately really about &#8220;misinformation.&#8221;
&#8220;This is bigger than social media,&#8221; said Todd. &#8220;The Ukraine story for me really crystallized it. And for good or bad, our show has been at the forefront of this.&#8221;
Todd then traced the topic back to what he suggested was its source: the Trump administration&#8217;s claims about his inauguration.
&#8220;The first Sunday of the Trump administration is when the phrase, &#8216;alternative facts&#8217; was debuted,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It was on Meet the Press Rudy that Giuliani used the phrase &#8216;Truth isn’t truth.'&#8221;
&#8220;So look, whether we’d liked it or not, our platform has been used, or they’ve attempted to use our platform to essentially disseminate, or to sort of, what I would say, is lay the groundwork for this,&#8221; Todd explained.
After describing the dissemination of &#8220;misinformation&#8221; — for which he and the interviewer only give examples from the Trump administration and Republicans — as an &#8220;epidemic,&#8221; Todd addressed the issue of political advertising.
&#8220;I think our biggest problem going into 2020 is that we have two sets of standards simply on political advertising,&#8221; he said. &#8220;If you choose to advertise on cable or television, on linear television, there’s a certain set of standards on fact that you have to surpass in order to get your ad on television. Not the case on social media. And we have seen the Trump campaign literally use two different ads — one that allows them to say their misinformation about Biden in the areas that they can.&#8221;
Asked if he was &#8220;surprised by the consistency that the Trump administration was willing to spread disinformation&#8221; about the crowd size at the inauguration, Todd said yes.
&#8220;I fully admit, listening to you ask that question now, and me giving you the honest answer of, yeah, I guess I really believed they wouldn’t do this,&#8221; said Todd. &#8220;Just so absurdly naive in hindsight.&#8221;
Todd then presented his succinct summary of his view of Trump: &#8220;Donald Trump’s entire life has been spent using misinformation,&#8221; he said. &#8220;His entire life.&#8221;
But it&#8217;s not just Trump and his administration that Todd now views in what he described as a less &#8220;naive&#8221; way, it&#8217;s Republicans and everyone else on &#8220;the right.&#8221;
&#8220;The fact is, and by the way, this isn’t going to be easy to show, but I actually think when we outline this it will, the right has an incentive structure to utter the misinformation,&#8221; he said in response to a question about Republicans supposedly pushing &#8220;Russian talking points&#8221; about Ukraine. &#8220;&#8230; I do think one of the things that I want to explore on this is the incentive structure. One of the things we don’t fully appreciate in mainstream media on these attacks is that it’s become fun to attack the press, if that makes sense, on the right. It doesn’t matter if we’re right or wrong, attack them anyway.&#8221;
Throughout the interview, neither Todd nor the interviewer acknowledges even the possibility that Democrats and those on the left have spread &#8220;misinformation&#8221; and made overtly false claims on the airwaves; instead, the problem is presented as a purely Republican/right issue.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/feud-between-trump-and-christianity-today-results-in-resignation-from-another-publication">Feud Between Trump And Christianity Today Results In Resignation From Another Publication</a>

Chuck Todd

NBC’s Chuck Todd Explains Why He’s Changed How He Reports On Republicans

Donald Trump

Fake News

Media Bias

Republican Party

UPDATE: After this piece was published, Kelly posted a tease of the interview via Twitter:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The former ABC staffer who allegedly leaked the hot mic Amy Robach tape sits down with me in an exclusive — here’s a preview — we’ll be posting the full exchange shortly at <a href="https://t.co/A53IqETTDd">https://t.co/A53IqETTDd</a>. Stay tuned! <a href="https://t.co/WgvUFgCnBX">pic.twitter.com/WgvUFgCnBX</a>
&mdash; Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) <a href="https://twitter.com/megynkelly/status/1192885402396512257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 8, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Original post:
On Friday morning, journalist Megyn Kelly announced that she conducted an interview with the CBS employee who was recently fired for exposing that ABC <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bombshell-abc-news-killed-epstein-clinton-story-says-anchor-in-hot-mic-video">killed a bombshell story</a> three years ago on registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
This will be the first time Kelly has conducted an interview since exiting NBC News last year.
&#8220;Have you been following this story about the Amy Robach hot-mic moment at ABC?&#8221; the former &#8220;Megyn Kelly Today&#8221; host started. &#8220;She was caught talking about how she said she had the Epstein story three years ago and ABC wouldn’t air it. And then she amended to say, &#8216;Well, I didn’t have the corroboration,&#8217; after ABC had publicly had to deal w this hot-mic moment.&#8221;
&#8220;The employee who sort of marked that clip in the system and then moved on to CBS got fired this week because they suspected she leaked this thing to Project Veritas — which is the one that put it out there,&#8221; Kelly continued.
&#8220;Well, we just sat down with her in an exclusive interview,&#8221; she teased. &#8220;We got the full story and I think you’re gonna be fascinated by it.&#8221;
&#8220;Launching my Instagram with an exclusive interview of the woman just fired after the leak of a hot mic moment by ABC’s [Amy Robach],&#8221; Kelly caption the Instagram post, ominously adding, &#8220;But did ABC News target the right person?&#8221;
James O&#8217;Keefe&#8217;s Project Veritas dropped the bombshell clip of Robach on Tuesday. Here&#8217;s the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bombshell-abc-news-killed-epstein-clinton-story-says-anchor-in-hot-mic-video">partial transcript</a> of the ABC anchor discussing how her network killed the story:
<blockquote>I’ve had the story for three years. I’ve had this interview with Virginia Roberts. We would not put it on the air. First of all, I was told who’s Jeffrey Epstein, no one knows who that is, this is a stupid story. Then the Palace found out that we had her whole allegations about Prince Andrew and threatened us a million different ways. We were so afraid we wouldn’t be able to interview Kate and Will, that also quashed the story. And then Alan Dershowitz was also implicated in it because of the planes. She told me everything. She had pictures, she had everything. She was in hiding for 12 years. We convinced her to come out. We convinced her to talk to us. It was unbelievable what we had, Clinton, we had everything. [emphasis added]
I tried for three years to get it on to no avail and now it&#8217;s all coming out and it’s like these new relevant revelations and I freaking had all of it. I’m so pissed right now, like every day I get more and more pissed because I’m just like, oh my god, what we had was unreal. Other women backing it up. Brad Edwards the attorney three years ago saying like, &#8216;there will come a day for we will realize Jeffrey Epstein was the most prolific pedophile this country has ever known.&#8217; I had it all three years ago.</blockquote>
Kelly was canned at NBC last year for allegedly discussing people dressing up as famous black and brown people for Halloween and darkening their faces. But last month, Fox News host Tucker Carlson <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tucker-carlson-floats-real-reason-megyn-kelly-was-canned-from-nbc">suggested</a> she was actually fired because she called for an outside investigation into the network over internal claims of sexual misconduct and the suspect handling of allegations into Democratic mega-donor Harvey Weinstein.
WATCH:
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</a> 
 <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B4m0pYGHQAU/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">Launching my Instagram with an exclusive interview of the woman just fired after the leak of a hot mic moment by ABC’s @ajrobach. But did ABC News target the right person? ⠀ ⠀ Follow along with me here @MegynKelly, for current stories and my insight in real time.</a>
<p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/megynkelly/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;" target="_blank"> Megyn Kelly</a> (@megynkelly) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2019-11-08T13:45:49+00:00">Nov 8, 2019 at 5:45am PST</time>
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Megyn Kelly

WATCH: Megyn Kelly Announces Bombshell First Interview Since NBC Exit

A leaked video from inside ABC News, exclusively obtained by James O&#8217;Keefe&#8217;s Project Veritas, shows anchor Amy Robach talking for several minutes on a hot mic claiming that the network had a bombshell story on convicted child sex predator Jeffrey Epstein several years ago, but that the network killed the story.
In the leaked footage, Robach was reportedly talking on set to her producer, who is not seen in the video, about how she had the story on Epstein for three years but was not able to run it at ABC News. Robach stated:
<blockquote>I&#8217;ve had the story for three years. I&#8217;ve had this interview with Virginia Roberts. We would not put it on the air. First of all, I was told who&#8217;s Jeffrey Epstein, no one knows who that is, this is a stupid story. Then the Palace found out that we had her whole allegations about Prince Andrew and threatened us a million different ways. We were so afraid we wouldn&#8217;t be able to interview Kate and Will, that also quashed the story. And then Alan Dershowitz was also implicated in it because of the planes. She told me everything. She had pictures, she had everything. She was in hiding for 12 years. We convinced her to come out. We convinced her to talk to us. It was unbelievable what we had, Clinton, we had everything. [emphasis added]
I tried for three years to get it on to no avail and now it&#8217;s all coming out and it&#8217;s like these new relevant revelations and I freaking had all of it. I&#8217;m so pissed right now, like every day I get more and more pissed because I&#8217;m just like, oh my god, what we had was unreal. Other women backing it up. Brad Edwards the attorney three years ago saying like, &#8216;there will come a day for we will realize Jeffrey Epstein was the most prolific pedophile this country has ever known.&#8217; I had it all three years ago.</blockquote>
It is not perfectly clear what exactly Robach meant when she said she had &#8220;Clinton&#8221; but it almost certainly is in reference to former President Bill Clinton&#8217;s connections to Epstein, which have long been documented.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
BREAKING: <a href="https://twitter.com/abcnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@abcnews</a> anchor <a href="https://twitter.com/arobach?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@arobach</a> caught on &#8216;hot mic&#8217; in August disgustedly exposing networks decision to strategically spike bombshell investigation into Jefferey Esptein over THREE YEARS AGO.
Says what she had was &#8220;unbelievable&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EpsteinCoverup?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EpsteinCoverup</a>: <a href="https://t.co/HagfLpwKDn">https://t.co/HagfLpwKDn</a> <a href="https://t.co/fPvJc3JCCQ">pic.twitter.com/fPvJc3JCCQ</a>
— James O&#8217;Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) <a href="https://twitter.com/JamesOKeefeIII/status/1191716801178034180?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 5, 2019</a></blockquote>
In July, investigative journalist Conchita Sarnoff told Fox News’ Shannon Bream that there were &#8220;underage girls&#8221; on Epstein’s plane when Clinton traveled on it, including times in which he allegedly traveled without his Secret Service detail.
&#8220;I have read too much information and I have spoken to too many people on the inside,&#8221; Sarnoff said. &#8220;I actually attempted to interview Clinton but he did not agree to do so and I know from the pilot logs and these are pilot logs that you know were written by different pilots and at different times, that Clinton went, he was a guest of Epstein’s 27 times.&#8221;
&#8220;Many of those times Clinton had his Secret Service with him and many times he did not,&#8221; Sarnoff continued. &#8220;Almost every time that Clinton’s name is on the pilot logs there are underage girls there are initials and there are names of many many girls on that private plane.&#8221;
&#8220;Are you saying the former president is not telling the truth?&#8221; Bream asked Sarnoff.
&#8220;Yes, I’m saying, sadly, that he is not telling the truth,&#8221; Sarnoff responded.

Jeffrey Epstein Bill Clinton

BOMBSHELL: ABC News Killed Epstein-Clinton Story, Says Anchor In Hot Mic Video

Bill Clinton

Jeffrey Epstein

On Monday, author Sil Lai Abrams explained how her rape accusation against music mogul Russell Simmons and sexual assault charge against then &#8211; “Extra” host A.J. Calloway were allegedly killed off by NBC in 2018.
Abrams says Simmons, who has since moved to Bali, raped her in 1994. Mr. Calloway, who no longer works at &#8220;Extra&#8221; — which &#8220;airs in major markets on NBC owned-and-operated stations,&#8221; according to <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/russell-simmons-an-extra-host-nbc-news-a-sexual-assault-accusers-story-1123824">The Hollywood Reporter</a> — allegedly sexually assaulted the author in 2006. Both Simmons and Calloway have denied the allegations.
According to Abrams, her #MeToo claims were set to be covered by MSNBC host Joy Reid before the interview was killed off by NBC higher-ups in the same fashion journalist Ronan Farrow&#8217;s reporting on Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was apparently buried.
&#8220;I have been struck by the company’s (NBC) insistence that Ronan didn’t have the Harvey Weinstein story in the bag,&#8221; Abrams writes at <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/its-not-just-ronan-farrow-nbc-news-killed-my-rape-allegation-story-too?ref=scroll">The Daily Beast</a>. &#8220;I don’t believe a word of what it says because in 2018, the network killed my #MeToo story that was being reported by MSNBC host Joy-Ann Reid. Incredibly, a year after NBC botched Farrow’s reporting on Harvey Weinstein, they had the audacity to do it again.&#8221;
Abrams says she was put through &#8220;a thorough vetting process” and an on-camera interview with Reid was taped on January 7, 2018, which was scheduled to air six days later. She assumed they would go forward with the taped interview and publish an accompanying #MeToo piece written by Reid for New York magazine. Neither, however, would hit the press. 
The day before the interview was set to air, Abrams was asked to contact Reid. 
&#8220;When we spoke a few hours later, she informed me that Russell Simmons&#8217; attorney had gone ballistic and NBC was not going to air the segment, and the New York magazine story was also on hold since they were paired,&#8221; Abrams said. &#8220;She assured me the story wasn’t dead, but that NBC simply needed more vetting done in order to feel comfortable with moving forward.&#8221;
&#8220;Over the next several months, NBC put me through an elaborate and bizarre vetting process,&#8221; Abrams continues. &#8220;I provided legal documentation, hospital bills, and over a dozen corroborating witnesses. Still, they stonewalled. I asked Joy repeatedly if NBC was going to do to her what it did to Ronan, and she said that she didn’t think so.&#8221;
In mid-February, Reid allegedly emailed Abrams:
<blockquote>“So basically the story got caught up in a couple of vices: the struggle to get comments from the principles (now mostly alleviated), threats from Russell’s lawyer that spooked NBC,” Joy told me via email. “So now NBC… is demanding that I do all of this additional reporting to meet a legal and standards review.”</blockquote>
“Still not clear why NBC is demanding more corroboration regarding A.J. [arrest] &#8230; his lawyer already confirmed the case, but I know this isn’t about you,” Abrams replied to the MSNBC host. 
“My team and I, my PA and senior producer helping me with the story met with the standards department rep today just to figure out what the heck’s going on,” Reid explained to Abrams in a phone call two weeks later. “I just have to get my company to have the guts to do the story. I’ve never done a story that has this much evidence before. I have more evidence than the LA Times and The New York Times stories combined. So the whole thing is, if my company will trust the evidence that I’ve shown them, which is substantial, they will do the story.”
When Abrams asked if the network was going to kill her story due to legal threats from Simmons&#8217; and Calloway’s attorneys, Reid allegedly told her: “We have enough that we have satisfied the standards side, but this is now in the hands of lawyers who have to determine the likelihood of a lawsuit by two people now, and what is the likelihood that we will prevail. … This has now gone up past the attorneys I deal with to the head of NBCUniversal’s lawyers. I’ve never been through anything like this.”
Abrams writes that the last time she spoke with Reid was on April 6, 2018, when Reid told her should take her story elsewhere. Senior management, Reid reportedly told her, had stopped responded to her inquiries about the story.
As reported last week by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tucker-carlson-floats-real-reason-megyn-kelly-was-canned-from-nbc">The Daily Wire</a>, Fox News host Tucker Carlson suggested that former NBC host Megyn Kelly was canned from the network because she called for an outside investigation into internal claims of sexual misconduct by former “Today” host Matt Lauer and the handling of Farrow’s reporting on Weinstein. 
“Last September, early September, you (Kelly) on your show, on the air on NBC, called for an independent investigation into these allegations,” Carlson said to Kelly, who appeared alongside the host on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” Wednesday night. 
Carlson ran a clip of Kelly from September 2, 2018. “There is a question about whether or not there should be an outside investigator to take a hard look at this,” she said. “To me, as a lawyer, it’s just always better to just send it outside, and then people can have more faith in it and if there’s nothing to hide, you have no worries about it,” Kelly added. 
“People’s jaws hung open when you said that,” Carlson told Kelly. “There have been a couple of published accounts that say you were fired from NBC, a little more than a month later, for saying that.”
Kelly was ostensibly canned from NBC in October for discussing whether it’s “racist” or not for people to darken their faces for Halloween costumes.  
Carlson then pointed out that MSNBC host Chris Hayes similarly questioned NBC’s handling of such allegations and reporting. “He (Hayes) is saying essentially what you said, which is he doesn’t trust the management at NBC News,” he said to Kelly. “Given your experience, do you think he’s in jeopardy of being fired?”
Tellingly, Kelly responded: “No comment to that.” 
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tucker-carlson-floats-real-reason-megyn-kelly-was-canned-from-nbc">Tucker Carlson Floats Real Reason Megyn Kelly Was Canned From NBC: Called For Independent Investigation</a>

Sil Lai Abrams

Author Says Her Rape Claim Set To Air With Joy Reid Was Killed By NBC

Matt Lauer

Sexual Assault

Tucker Carlson

Amid multiple reports based on new allegations detailed in Ronan Farrow&#8217;s upcoming book, former &#8220;Today&#8221; anchor Matt Lauer has come under fire again for alleged past sexual misconduct. While NBC News has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/horrific-nbc-news-nukes-former-anchor-after-explosive-new-allegations">made clear</a> that it stands with Lauer&#8217;s accusers, the embattled former host has felt compelled to write a lengthy open letter expressing his regret for having chosen to stay silent and denouncing the allegations of his accusers.
&#8220;Over the past two years people have asked why I have not spoken out to defend myself more vigorously against some of the false and salacious allegations leveled at me,&#8221; Lauer wrote in an open letter released by his lawyers and published Wednesday by <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/matt-lauer-pens-open-letter-ronan-farrow-book-allegations-1246419">The Hollywood Reporter</a> (full letter below). &#8220;It is a fair question and the answer is deeply personal. Despite my desire to set the record straight and confront the individuals making false allegations, I wanted nothing less than to create more headlines my kids would read and a new gathering of photographers at the end of our driveway. So I decided to just stay quiet and work on repairing my relationship with the people I love. It has been the most important full-time job I have ever had.&#8221;
&#8220;But my silence has been a mistake,&#8221; Lauer continues. &#8220;Today, nearly two years after I was fired by NBC, old stories are being recycled, titillating details are being added, and a dangerous and defamatory new allegation is being made. All are being spread as part of a promotional effort to sell a book. It’s outrageous. So, after not speaking out to protect my children, it is now with their full support I say &#8216;enough.'&#8221;
Lauer was fired by NBC in late November of 2017 after a series of allegations of sexual misconduct came to light. Ahead of the release of Farrow&#8217;s big book, &#8220;Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators&#8221; (Oct. 15), multiple outlets have reported on some of the book&#8217;s key claims. In a report Wednesday, <a href="https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/matt-lauer-rape-nbc-ronan-farrow-book-catch-kill-1203364485/">Variety</a> detailed the allegations of former NBC News employee Brooke Nevils:
<blockquote>In Sochi, Nevils was tasked with working with former “Today” co-anchor Meredith Vieira, who’d been brought back to the show to do Olympics coverage. In Nevils’ account, one night over drinks with Vieira at the hotel bar where the NBC News team was staying, they ran into Lauer, who joined them. At the end of the night, Nevils, who’d had six shots of vodka, ended up going to Lauer’s hotel room twice — once to retrieve her press credential, which Lauer had taken as a joke, and the second time because he invited her back. Nevils, Farrow writes, “had no reason to suspect Lauer would be anything but friendly based on prior experience.”
Once she was in his hotel room, Nevils alleges, Lauer — who was wearing a T-shirt and boxers — pushed her against the door and kissed her. He then pushed her onto the bed, “flipping her over, asking if she liked anal sex,” Farrow writes. “She said that she declined several times.”
According to Nevils, she “was in the midst of telling him she wasn’t interested again when he ‘just did it,’” Farrow writes. “Lauer, she said, didn’t use lubricant. The encounter was excruciatingly painful. ‘It hurt so bad. I remember thinking, Is this normal?’ She told me she stopped saying no, but wept silently into a pillow.” Lauer then asked her if she liked it. She tells him yes.</blockquote>
Nevils told Farrow that the incident &#8220;was nonconsensual in the sense that I was too drunk to consent&#8221; and that she allegedly told him &#8220;multiple times&#8221; she did not want to perform the act.
In his open letter, Lauer blasted Nevils&#8217; claims, suggesting that she is willfully lying about the nature of their relationship and that specific encounter.
&#8220;The story Brooke tells is filled with false details intended only to create the impression this was an abusive encounter,&#8221; he writes. &#8220;Nothing could be further from the truth. There was absolutely nothing aggressive about that encounter. Brooke did not do or say anything to object. She certainly did not cry. She was a fully enthusiastic and willing partner. At no time did she behave in a way that made it appear she was incapable of consent. She seemed to know exactly what she wanted to do. The only concern she expressed was that someone might see her leaving my room. She embraced me at the door as she left.&#8221;
&#8220;This encounter, which she now falsely claims was an assault, was the beginning of our affair,&#8221; Lauer continues. &#8220;It was the first of many sexual encounters between us over the next several months. After we returned to New York, we both communicated by text and by phone. We met for drinks, and she met me at my apartment on multiple occasions to continue our affair. Our meetings were arranged mutually. At no time, during or after her multiple visits to my apartment, did she express in words or actions any discomfort with being there, or with our affair. She also went out of her way to see me several times in my dressing room at work, and on one of those occasions we had a sexual encounter. It showed terrible judgment on my part, but it was completely mutual and consensual.&#8221;
He goes on to suggest that she is lying about the incident for profit.
&#8220;It was not until I was called in to speak to an NBC attorney on November 28, 2017 that I first learned Brooke had any complaint. I answered all questions openly and honestly for more than an hour. At that meeting I was never told that Brooke claimed our encounter in Sochi was non-consensual. Had I been, I would have defended myself immediately,&#8221; he states. &#8220;After Brooke filed her complaint in late 2017, her attorney publicly insisted she wanted to remain anonymous. He said she just wanted NBC to “do the right thing.” But within a year she was reportedly out trying to sell a book. And it appears that she also sought a monetary payment from NBC. Now she is making outrageous and false accusations to help sell a different book and stepping into the spotlight to cause as much damage as she can.
Below is the full text of the letter:
<blockquote>Over the past two years people have asked why I have not spoken out to defend myself more vigorously against some of the false and salacious allegations leveled at me. It is a fair question and the answer is deeply personal. Despite my desire to set the record straight and confront the individuals making false allegations, I wanted nothing less than to create more headlines my kids would read and a new gathering of photographers at the end of our driveway. So I decided to just stay quiet and work on repairing my relationship with the people I love. It has been the most important full-time job I have ever had.
But my silence has been a mistake.
Today, nearly two years after I was fired by NBC, old stories are being recycled, titillating details are being added, and a dangerous and defamatory new allegation is being made. All are being spread as part of a promotional effort to sell a book. It’s outrageous. So, after not speaking out to protect my children, it is now with their full support I say “enough.”
In a new book, it is alleged that an extramarital, but consensual, sexual encounter I have previously admitted having, was in fact an assault. It is categorically false, ignores the facts, and defies common sense.
I had an extramarital affair with Brooke Nevils in 2014. It began when she came to my hotel room very late one night in Sochi, Russia. We engaged in a variety of sexual acts. We performed oral sex on each other, we had vaginal sex, and we had anal sex. Each act was mutual and completely consensual.
The story Brooke tells is filled with false details intended only to create the impression this was an abusive encounter. Nothing could be further from the truth. There was absolutely nothing aggressive about that encounter. Brooke did not do or say anything to object. She certainly did not cry. She was a fully enthusiastic and willing partner. At no time did she behave in a way that made it appear she was incapable of consent. She seemed to know exactly what she wanted to do. The only concern she expressed was that someone might see her leaving my room. She embraced me at the door as she left.
This encounter, which she now falsely claims was an assault, was the beginning of our affair. It was the first of many sexual encounters between us over the next several months. After we returned to New York, we both communicated by text and by phone. We met for drinks, and she met me at my apartment on multiple occasions to continue our affair. Our meetings were arranged mutually. At no time, during or after her multiple visits to my apartment, did she express in words or actions any discomfort with being there, or with our affair.
She also went out of her way to see me several times in my dressing room at work, and on one of those occasions we had a sexual encounter. It showed terrible judgment on my part, but it was completely mutual and consensual.
Brooke now says that she was terrified about the control I had over her career and felt pressure to agree to our encounters after Sochi. But at no time during our relationship did Brooke work for me, the Today Show, or NBC News. She worked for Meredith Vieira (who had not worked for the Today Show in several years) in a completely different part of the network, and I had no role in reviewing Brooke’s work.
I admit, I ended the affair poorly. I simply stopped communicating with her. Brooke continued to reach out. She admitted to NBC at the time she filed her complaint that she called me late at night while I was home with my family in an effort to rekindle the affair. But I attempted to go back to my life and pretend as if nothing had happened. I understand how that must have made her feel. However, being upset or having second thoughts does not give anyone the right to make false accusations years later about an affair in which they fully and willingly participated.
Between February 2014 and November 2017, Brooke and I saw each other more than a dozen times at professional gatherings, both large and small. Despite the fact that our affair was over, she always went out of her way to greet me warmly and engage in conversation. It was not until I was called in to speak to an NBC attorney on November 28, 2017 that I first learned Brooke had any complaint. I answered all questions openly and honestly for more than an hour. At that meeting I was never told that Brooke claimed our encounter in Sochi was non-consensual. Had I been, I would have defended myself immediately.
After Brooke filed her complaint in late 2017, her attorney publicly insisted she wanted to remain anonymous. He said she just wanted NBC to “do the right thing.” But within a year she was reportedly out trying to sell a book. And it appears that she also sought a monetary payment from NBC. Now she is making outrageous and false accusations to help sell a different book and stepping into the spotlight to cause as much damage as she can.
But Brooke’s story is filled with contradictions. Which Brooke is to be believed?
• She claims our first encounter was an assault, yet she actively participated in arranging future meetings and met me at my apartment on multiple occasions to continue the affair.
• She says I was the one pursuing the relationship, yet once it was over, she was the one calling me asking to rekindle it.
• She says she felt pressure to continue the affair because I had control over her career, but she did not work for me, the Today Show, or NBC News.
• She said she wanted to remain anonymous, yet she was reportedly trying to sell a book within year after filing her complaint.
• She said she just wanted NBC to “do the right thing,” yet she sought a monetary payment, and two years after I was fired, she is stepping forward to do more damage.
There are people who fully understand the actual dynamic that existed between Brooke and me. They have reluctantly and quietly reached out in the past two years and shared what they know. They have accurately described Brooke and her role in this affair. I hope those people will understand that these allegations cross a serious line, and what they can share is a vital truth, even if it may seem unpopular.
Because of my infidelity, I have brought more pain and embarrassment to my family than most people can ever begin to understand. They’ve been through hell. I have asked for their forgiveness, taken responsibility for what I did do wrong, and accepted the consequences. But by not speaking out I also emboldened those who continue to do me harm with false stories.
One such story I should have confronted a long time ago is an example of why I believe my silence was a mistake. Despite numerous erroneous reports in the past, there was not a button in my office that could lock the door from the inside. There was no such locking mechanism. It didn’t exist. NBC confirmed this fact publicly following my termination.
It would have been impossible to confine anyone in my office, for any purpose, and I have never attempted to make anyone feel as if they were confined in my office. I have never assaulted anyone or forced anyone to have sex. Period.
Anyone who knows me will tell you I am a very private person. I had no desire to write this, but I had no choice. The details I have written about here open deep wounds for my family. But they also lead to the truth. For two years, the women with whom I had extramarital relationships have abandoned shared responsibility, and instead, shielded themselves from blame behind false allegations. They have avoided having to look a boyfriend, husband, or a child in the eye and say, “I cheated.” They have done enormous damage in the process. And I will no longer provide them the shelter of my silence.
Matt Lauer</blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/horrific-nbc-news-nukes-former-anchor-after-explosive-new-allegations">‘Horrific’: NBC News Shreds Former Anchor After Explosive New Allegations</a>

READ IT: Matt Lauer’s Open Letter Slams Accusers: ‘My Silence Has Been A Mistake’

New allegations leveled against NBC News and its former anchor Matt Lauer have been met with multiple vehement denials and one particularly harsh rebuke.
On Wednesday, multiple reports based on previews of former NBC reporter Ronan Farrow&#8217;s new book, “Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators” (available October 15), detailed explosive claims about Lauer and the network, which Farrow says protected the &#8220;Today&#8221; anchor amid alleged sexual misconduct.
Among the claims leveled by Farrow — who left NBC after the network refused to run his bombshell Harvey Weinstein exposé — is that the network was cowed by Weinstein and quashed Farrow&#8217;s story after the mega-producer &#8220;made it known to the network that he was aware of Lauer’s behavior and capable of revealing it.&#8221;
Farrow&#8217;s book also lays out new allegations against Lauer, including from former NBC News employee Brooke Nevils. <a href="https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/matt-lauer-rape-nbc-ronan-farrow-book-catch-kill-1203364485/">Variety</a>, one of the outlets which obtained an advance copy of the book, reports:
<blockquote>In Sochi, Nevils was tasked with working with former “Today” co-anchor Meredith Vieira, who’d been brought back to the show to do Olympics coverage. In Nevils’ account, one night over drinks with Vieira at the hotel bar where the NBC News team was staying, they ran into Lauer, who joined them. At the end of the night, Nevils, who’d had six shots of vodka, ended up going to Lauer’s hotel room twice — once to retrieve her press credential, which Lauer had taken as a joke, and the second time because he invited her back. Nevils, Farrow writes, “had no reason to suspect Lauer would be anything but friendly based on prior experience.”
Once she was in his hotel room, Nevils alleges, Lauer — who was wearing a T-shirt and boxers — pushed her against the door and kissed her. He then pushed her onto the bed, “flipping her over, asking if she liked anal sex,” Farrow writes. “She said that she declined several times.”
According to Nevils, she “was in the midst of telling him she wasn’t interested again when he ‘just did it,’” Farrow writes. “Lauer, she said, didn’t use lubricant. The encounter was excruciatingly painful. ‘It hurt so bad. I remember thinking, Is this normal?’ She told me she stopped saying no, but wept silently into a pillow.” Lauer then asked her if she liked it. She tells him yes.</blockquote>
&#8220;It was nonconsensual in the sense that I was too drunk to consent,&#8221; Nevils told Farrow. &#8220;It was nonconsensual in that I said, multiple times, that I didn’t want to have anal sex.&#8221;
In response, Lauer released a statement denouncing Nevils&#8217; claims as &#8220;categorically false.&#8221;
&#8220;In a new book, it is alleged that an extramarital, but consensual, sexual encounter I have previously admitted having, was in fact an assault,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It is categorically false, ignores the facts, and defies common sense.&#8221;
NBC News, which fired Lauer in November 2017 shortly after initial allegations against him hit the papers, made clear that it does not stand behind its former anchor.
&#8220;Matt Lauer&#8217;s conduct was appalling, horrific and reprehensible, as we said at the time,&#8221; NBC News said in a statement reported by Variety. &#8220;That’s why he was fired within 24 hours of us first learning of the complaint. Our hearts break again for our colleague.&#8221;
While the network is not pushing back on the book&#8217;s claims about Lauer&#8217;s alleged sexual misconduct, it is adamantly refuting Farrow&#8217;s claims that the network caved to Weinstein&#8217;s pressure, which Farrow says was aided by American Media Inc (AMI), the publisher of Enquirer, digging up &#8220;dirt&#8221; on Lauer.
&#8220;Citing anonymous sources at NBC and AMI, Farrow, 31, claims that Weinstein was using the Enquirer‘s accumulated dirt on the Today show star’s alleged workplace misconduct to pressure NBC executives to kill Farrow’s long-gestating Weinstein exposé,&#8221; <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/ronan-farrow-book-how-harvey-weinstein-may-have-leveraged-matt-lauer-1246149">The Hollywood Reporter</a> explained in its own &#8220;Catch and Kill&#8221;-based report Wednesday.
But NBC says that&#8217;s &#8220;preposterous.&#8221;
&#8220;NBC News was never contacted by AMI, or made aware in any way of any threats from them, or from anyone else, for that matter,&#8221; a network spokesperson told the outlet. &#8220;And the idea of NBC News taking a threat seriously from a tabloid company about Matt Lauer is especially preposterous, since they already covered him with great regularity.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/read-it-matt-lauers-open-letter-slams-accusers-my-silence-was-a-mistake">READ IT: Matt Lauer’s Open Letter Slams Accusers: ‘My Silence Was A Mistake’</a>

‘Horrific’: NBC News Shreds Former Anchor After Explosive New Allegations

Ronan Farrow

On Wednesday morning, a rape allegation against former NBC daytime news star Matt Lauer hit the press. Brooke Nevils, a former NBC News employee, claimed she was anally raped by Lauer in 2014 while covering the Sochi Olympics. 
The accusation was detailed in journalist Ronan Farrow’s book &#8220;Catch and Kill” and picked up by Variety. 
Lauer has since flatly denied the accusation of rape, adding that it “defies common sense.” 
Nevils told Farrow that she, then &#8212; &#8220;Today&#8221; anchor Meredith Vieira, and Lauer had drinks at the hotel bar the NBC team was staying at during the Olympics. After socializing, Nevils said she went to Lauer’s hotel room to get back her press credentials, which she said were taken by Lauer as a joke. She then returned to his room a second time upon invite, when the alleged rape took place. 
“Once she was in his hotel room, Nevils alleges, Lauer — who was wearing a T-shirt and boxers — pushed her against the door and kissed her. He then pushed her onto the bed, ‘flipping her over, asking if she liked anal sex,’ Farrow writes. ‘She said that she declined several times,’” the <a href="https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/matt-lauer-rape-nbc-ronan-farrow-book-catch-kill-1203364485/">Variety</a> report said. 
Nevils claims she “was in the midst of telling him she wasn’t interested again when he ‘just did it,’” Farrow wrote in the book. “Lauer, she said, didn’t use lubricant. The encounter was excruciatingly painful. ‘It hurt so bad. I remember thinking, Is this normal?’ She told me she stopped saying no, but wept silently into a pillow.” 
“It was nonconsensual in the sense that I was too drunk to consent,” the former NBC employee told Farrow. “It was nonconsensual in that I said, multiple times, that I didn’t want to have anal sex.”
Nevils admitted that she had consensual, though she described them as “transactional,” sexual encounters with Lauer, some of which she initiated, after the alleged rape. 
The allegation was an open secret at NBC for years, Nevils claimed. 
“She told colleagues and superiors at NBC,” Farrow said in the book, adding, “This was no secret.”
In 2017, however, Nevils was encouraged by Vieira to go to NBC Universal human resources with a lawyer and make the complaint. Lauer was soon fired, though he denied any accusations of coercion. 
Lauer’s lawyer sent an open letter to Variety soon after the rape allegation hit the media on Wednesday, wherein Lauer denies all coercion claims by Nevils. 
“In a new book, it is alleged that an extramarital, but consensual, sexual encounter I have previously admitted having, was in fact an assault,” Lauer said. “It is categorically false, ignores the facts, and defies common sense.”
“I had an extramarital affair with Brooke Nevils in 2014,” the 61-year-old continued. “It began when she came to my hotel room very late one night in Sochi, Russia. We engaged in a variety of sexual acts. We performed oral sex on each other, we had vaginal sex, and we had anal sex. Each act was mutual and completely consensual.”
Mere hours after the allegation hit the media, “Today” show hosts Savanah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb reacted to the “shocking” claim. 
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Overnight, troubling new allegations about former TODAY anchor Matt Lauer were revealed from journalist Ronan Farrow’s soon-to-be-released book “Catch and Kill.” <a href="https://twitter.com/MorganRadford?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MorganRadford</a> reports the details. <a href="https://t.co/7ooO3oAJ5X">pic.twitter.com/7ooO3oAJ5X</a>
&mdash; TODAY (@TODAYshow) <a href="https://twitter.com/TODAYshow/status/1181893809564770305?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 9, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/former-nbc-reporter-levels-new-explosive-accusations-of-network-cover-up-nbc-fires-back">Former NBC Reporter Levels New Explosive Accusations Of Network Cover-Up; NBC Fires Back</a>

Matt Lauer Accused Of Rape By Former Colleague; Lauer Responds

On Wednesday, NBC News trumpeted the announcement that it had created a new website where people could anonymously confess their climate change sins. NBC News tweeted, &#8220;Blast the AC? Cook a steak once a week? Where do you fall short in preventing climate change? Tell us with Climate Confessions.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Blast the AC? Cook a steak once a week? Where do you fall short in preventing climate change? Tell us with Climate Confessions: <a href="https://t.co/WoifEE8gHj">https://t.co/WoifEE8gHj</a> <a href="https://t.co/nhCE0UOiuA">pic.twitter.com/nhCE0UOiuA</a>
— NBC News Graphics (@NBCNewsGraphics) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCNewsGraphics/status/1174298230793887750?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 18, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
In case you might feel alone in confessing your grave sin, NBC News added, &#8220;Click a category to get started and read other people’s confessions.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Click a category to get started &#8230; <a href="https://t.co/WoifEE8gHj">https://t.co/WoifEE8gHj</a> <a href="https://t.co/dcSYPfhAKG">pic.twitter.com/dcSYPfhAKG</a>
— NBC News Graphics (@NBCNewsGraphics) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCNewsGraphics/status/1174298671082610689?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 18, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">And read other people&#8217;s confessions <a href="https://t.co/WoifEE8gHj">https://t.co/WoifEE8gHj</a> <a href="https://t.co/aQHp27wz8l">pic.twitter.com/aQHp27wz8l</a>
— NBC News Graphics (@NBCNewsGraphics) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCNewsGraphics/status/1174299586992726018?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 18, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Some sample confessions NBC offered to help confessors along included:
<blockquote>I sleep with the air conditioner on year-round and justify it to myself by recycling
I do not believe in man-made climate change and do absolutely nothing to &#8216;prevent&#8217; it in any way, shape or form.
I fly too much.. partially due to work, but on the flip side I do not own a car.
I will use the easiest method of transportation for the distance I am travelling.
I travel often to conferences (flying). I think about the emissions + try to justify it with, &#8220;the plane is going there anyway.&#8221;
I think the climate has always been changing, and I&#8217;m not going to stop eating meat because of cult-like manipulation by the left.
I use way too many products packaged in ridiculous amounts of plastic. Looking for alternatives.
I like the temperature low in my home so I blast the AC in the summer. Using so little heat in the winter justifies it somehow.
I use enough Q-tips for a family of 8. I have an addiction to them in hygiene purposes, makeup application, even cleaning.</blockquote>
NBC News was mocked on Twitter:
Fox News Contributor Katie Pavlich: “This &#8216;confession&#8217; page by NBC News about how you supposedly contribute to climate change is insane. Eat meat? You must confess! Use plastic? Confess! Drive a car? Congress! There&#8217;s a list of &#8216;sins.&#8217; Climate change is a religion.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">This &#8220;confession&#8221; page by NBC News about how you supposedly contribute to climate change is insane. Eat meat? You must confess! Use plastic? Confess! Drive a car? Congress! There&#8217;s a list of &#8220;sins.&#8221; Climate change is a religion. <a href="https://t.co/YIJp61cFVT">https://t.co/YIJp61cFVT</a>
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) <a href="https://twitter.com/KatiePavlich/status/1174365410931675136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 18, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
New York Magazine contributor Yashar Ali: &#8220;Wait&#8230;did I do this right?&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Wait&#8230;did I do this right? <a href="https://t.co/e3vOMAuGZg">https://t.co/e3vOMAuGZg</a> <a href="https://t.co/rdTGeZLeyh">pic.twitter.com/rdTGeZLeyh</a>
— Yashar Ali (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1174427643275616256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 18, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Psychology professor Geoffrey Miller: &#8220;Climate confession: I haven&#8217;t done all I could to promote nuclear power.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Climate confession: I haven&#8217;t done all I could to promote nuclear power. <a href="https://t.co/RUu0Fl7tF6">https://t.co/RUu0Fl7tF6</a>
— Geoffrey Miller (@primalpoly) <a href="https://twitter.com/primalpoly/status/1174329639369490432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 18, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Neontaster: &#8220;As I keep saying again and again &#8211; the problem ALWAYS seems to be regular people doing regular people things rather than ostentatious wealthy people flying in private jets and maintaining 4 houses that are air-conditioned 24/7/365. But plebs shouldn&#8217;t eat steak anymore. F*** off.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">As I keep saying again and again &#8211; the problem ALWAYS seems to be regular people doing regular people things rather than ostentatious wealthy people flying in private jets and maintaining 4 houses that are air-conditioned 24/7/365. But plebs shouldn&#8217;t eat steak anymore. Fuck off. <a href="https://t.co/apSAIKBbdI">https://t.co/apSAIKBbdI</a>
— neontaster (@neontaster) <a href="https://twitter.com/neontaster/status/1174319180381900800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 18, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Election reporter for DecisionDeskHQ Varad Mehta: &#8220;Don&#8217;t you dare suggest that climate change is a cult!&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Don&#8217;t you dare suggest that climate change is a cult! <a href="https://t.co/CpawwMdreM">https://t.co/CpawwMdreM</a>
— Varad Mehta (@varadmehta) <a href="https://twitter.com/varadmehta/status/1174323709378727936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 18, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
But climate change is apparently a religion of sorts for NBC News; on September 9 the network announced it would be hosting a week of climate-focused topics. <a href="https://theweek.com/speedreads/866068/after-criticizing-california-over-homeless-numbers-trump-wont-give-state-money-fight-crisis">The Week</a> reported:
<blockquote>It will feature correspondents reporting environmental and climate stories from around the world, full hours of coverage on MSNBC opinion shows, and its previously promised two-night forum on climate change with 2020 presidential candidates … NBC News&#8217; flagship reporters Al Roker and Lester Holt will report on how climate change is affecting Greenland and Alaska … MSNBC&#8217;s Chris Hayes and Ali Velshi will meanwhile moderate the two-day town hall … which will put &#8220;2020 presidential candidates in conversation with young voters on climate issues.&#8221;</blockquote>

Sunset

NBC News Turns Climate Change Into Real Religion: Offers Site Where You Anonymously Confess Your Sins

Climate Change

On Wednesday&#8217;s episode of &#8220;The Andrew Klavan Show,&#8221; Klavan discusses the mainstream media&#8217;s egregious claim that President Trump has called for &#8220;exterminating Latinos.&#8221;
[Trump] is talking in the way you want him to talk. He&#8217;s saying, I don&#8217;t blame the Dayton shooting on Elizabeth Warren (even though the guy was an Elizabeth Warren fan). [He’s saying,] I blame the people who do these things.
Meanwhile, the press and the Left has gone nuts. Joaquin Castro, [the brother of] one of the Democrat candidates, he doxxed Trump supporters — and what can that lead to, what’s the point of doing that, except putting a target on their backs, what is the point of doing that except having them harassed? People are outside Mitch McConnell&#8217;s house screaming incredibly violent, incredibly disgusting things. And, you know, the way the press is talking, it’s irresponsible. It is irresponsible.
Nicolle Wallace, who is on MSNBC &#8230; she got in this conversation, I want you to listen to this. Not only does she say that Trump has called for the &#8220;extermination&#8221; of Latinos — this is what she says, extermination of Latinos — but then her [guest] commentator goes on to basically negate anything Trump says. This is a strategy they are now using. Trump comes out and denounces hate, denounces bigotry, denounces racism — as he has done repeatedly throughout his administration — but no, no, no. [The media is] reporting on what he really feels in his heart. Listen to this conversation, it really is awful.
<blockquote>WALLACE: President Obama used the power of the presidency to try to pass comprehensive immigration reform with the Latino community [with] Latino leaders at the table. You now have a president, as you said, talking about exterminating Latinos.
REYES: &#8230;to me, it&#8217;s not even a question of what this president could do — and it brings me no pleasure saying this. I just think [that] with this administration, it is too late&#8230; this goes, to me, it&#8217;s not even a political question because Obama, George W. Bush, [George] H. W. — all of the presidents in modern history have made sincere outreach to Latinos. Whether or not their views happen to align with mainstream Latinos, [modern presidents] wanted them in their party, they wanted their support. This president — it&#8217;s beyond like the slightest minimum, modicum of respect — but really, [he] virtually has no regard for our communities. And we see the way he&#8217;s treated some of the most prominent people, some of the Latino achievers in this nation. So when I watch his speech, and I hear these words, they strike me as utterly insincere, completely inauthentic. If you paid five minutes worth of attention over to Trump over the last few years, that&#8217;s not who he is.</blockquote>
[They’re] reporting on who he is, not what he says, not what he does, and not the effects of his policies, which have been good for everybody. Nicolle Wallace issued a non-apology apology. She said, &#8220;I misspoke about Trump calling for an extermination of Latinos. My mistake was unintentional and I&#8217;m sorry. Trump&#8217;s constant assault on people of color and his use of the word invasion to describe the flow of immigrants is intentional and constant.&#8221;
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JkA6tqN56nY?start=1170" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>
Scott Adams, you know the cartoonist, the Dilbert guy, joked that he also was apologizing to anyone he accidentally accused of genocide, which is a very good joke because &#8230; why would you say that about somebody? It is a terrible thing to say, but it&#8217;s only the beginning.
I&#8217;ve got to just play some of these so you see how nutty it is, so you just see that I&#8217;m not just going off on people. Here is Frank Figliuzzi, who is a former assistant director for counterintelligence at the FBI. If you didn&#8217;t already feel bad about the FBI, here is the security analyst for NBC. You know I don&#8217;t like to play MSNBC because I think it&#8217;s fair for them to be left-wing. Although they do go over the top, like with that Nicolle Wallace thing. But this is the NBC analyst talking about the fact that Donald Trump is going to put the flag at half-mast and raise it on August 8th.
<blockquote>FIGLIUZZI: We have to understand the adversary and the threat we&#8217;re dealing with, and if we don&#8217;t understand how they think, we&#8217;ll never understand how to counter them. So it&#8217;s [the] little things and language and messaging that matters. The president said that we will fly our flags at half-mast until August 8th — that&#8217;s 8/8. Now I&#8217;m not going to imply that he did this deliberately, but I am using it as an example of the ignorance of the adversary that&#8217;s being demonstrated by the White House. The numbers eight [and] eight are very significant in the neo-Nazi and white supremacy movement. Why? Because the letter H is the eighth letter of the alphabet and to them the numbers eight [and] eight together stand for Heil Hitler. So we&#8217;re going to be raising the flag back up at dusk on 8/8. No one&#8217;s thinking about this. [Either] no one&#8217;s giving him the advice, or he&#8217;s rejecting the advice.</blockquote>
I can’t imagine why no one’s thinking about this. Frank, back away from the microphone. Back slowly away from the microphone. I got a bunch of these I&#8217;m running out of time, but let me just play one more because it is hilarious. I guess let&#8217;s play the one of NBC. They’re trying to find how Trump is inspiring haters. They have to go to Germany, first of all, to find enough of these neo-Nazis — and if you&#8217;re going to look for Neo-Nazis, where [else] do you go? They can’t find them here, so they go to Germany, and I love this Nazi’s response to their reporting. Listen to this.
<blockquote>NARRATOR: We found the ideology that can inspire some to mass murder is taking inspiration from the president. We went to a neo-Nazi festival in Germany a few weeks ago. But what surprised us most is what organizers were handing out at the door.
REPORTER: So they&#8217;re giving out hats — MGHA — Make Germany hate again.
NARRATOR: We found the man who made the hats.
REPORTER: So people are using his hats as inspiration? Do people here like [Trump]? Do you like him?
NEO-NAZI: I like his style.</blockquote>
So they travel to Germany, they&#8217;ve got to travel to Germany to find the Nazis, right? That&#8217;s the first thing. Then they find a hat based on the MAGA hat and then they say, well do you like Trump? &#8220;Well, I like his style!&#8221; You know, he doesn&#8217;t like his policies. He doesn&#8217;t like what he&#8217;s actually saying, what he&#8217;s doing. But he likes the shouting! &#8220;You know, I like shouting. Shouting is good when I hate people. I like to shout, so I like that Trump talks loud!&#8221;
C’mon! This is NBC, again, this is not MSNBC. Again, they said, oh yes, Trump is inspiring the kind of extremism that leads to hatred around the world. That&#8217;s what they&#8217;re saying about the President of the United States on NBC News. And they find this clown, this neo-Nazi clown, out in Germany who doesn’t even attribute— It&#8217;s not about [Trump’s] philosophy, he just likes the style. &#8220;I like red, red is good. I like a red hat. When I put on a hat, a red hat, I feel like a Nazi!&#8221;
You know, what kind of nuttiness is that? I mean, it’s dangerous. It really is dangerous, and it&#8217;s a textbook case of radicalization. They&#8217;re sacred ideas. [The press is] secluding themselves among themselves. The press needs to be reformed, it really does need [it]. It needs to reform itself because the First Amendment protects it from us reforming it, which is a good thing, but they really, all they have to do is hire people in positions of editorial power who voted for Donald Trump. Not [just] one of them. They need to hire 30 percent at least of their staff — of their editorial staff — should be people who voted for Donald Trump, so they can turn to them and say this story — where you went to Germany and accused the president of inspiring mass murder because some clown is wearing a red hat — this is a stupid story. Do not put it on the air. Unfortunately, that&#8217;s not going to happen because the corporations who employ them want it this way.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/show/andrew-klavan-show">Watch more of The Andrew Klavan Show here.</a>
<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-andrew-klavan-show/id1045171376?mt=2">Listen to more of The Andrew Klavan Show on iTunes here.</a>

Today &#8211; Season 64

KLAVAN: Media, Democrats Go Nuts Again In New Attacks On Trump

Andrew Klavan

Nicolle Wallace

If there were a country called Clueless, where the chief religion was Cluelessness, and where the most clueless person was named the High Priest of Cluelessness, and if once a year, on the most holy of Clueless holy days, the Most Clueless High Priest of Cluelessness entered into the Clueless Holy of Holies where a pure spirit of Utter and Endless Cluelessness dwelt in the most perfect state of perfect cluelessness imaginable, then when the High Priest of Cluelessness entered the Clueless Holy of Holies and stood before that perfectly clueless spirit of Utter Cluelessness, he would find himself in the presence of NBC’s Chuck Todd.
Here’s why I say so.
This week, we witnessed a delightfully comic demonstration of why it’s not such a good thing for the Democratic Party to own at least 90 percent of the communication apparatus in America. The mainstream news media is nearly all Democrat. Hollywood blacklists you if you’re not Democrat. The universities, publishing companies and most of the music industry are populated by Democrats. So Democrats, wrapped in a smothering blanket of mirrors, their own ideas reflected back to them endlessly, begin to develop the wholly ridiculous idea that their absurd version of reality is reality in fact.
As a result, when Robert Mueller released a report revealing that Donald Trump had not colluded with the Russians to steal the election, and that, by any normal legal standard, he had to be considered not guilty of attempting to obstruct justice, the Democrats felt justified in thinking the report provided them with grounds for impeachment. After all, the news media agreed. The late-night comics all agreed. The experts wrote op-eds and they agreed. Even search engines and social media highlighted all the agreement.
So why wasn’t the public demanding impeachment too? Weren’t they watching the news? Weren’t they listening to the late-night comedians? Weren’t they reading the articles by professors? How could they be so blind as to think that a report clearing Trump had cleared Trump?
The Democrats’ answer: it must be because reading the report was too hard for ordinary folks. Maybe if Mueller testified to what was in the report, then the public would see what the Democrats saw all around them: in the news, on the comedy shows, in the academic op-eds and online.
So Mueller testified.
&#8220;We found insufficient evidence of the president’s culpability,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;At any time during your investigation was your investigation curtailed or stopped or hindered?&#8221; he was asked.
&#8220;No,&#8221; he said.
In the eloquent phraseology of Donald Trump: &#8220;No collusion, no obstruction.&#8221;
Only a Democratic Party swathed and smothered in media mirrors could have been shocked to hear Mueller declare that what was in the Mueller report was in the Mueller report.
Which brings me back to Chuck Todd, the pure spirit of Cluelessness in the Clueless Holy of Holies in the land of Clueless. Todd diagnosed the Democrats’ problem thusly: &#8220;The fact is we are living in this 21st century new type of asymmetrical media warfare that we’re in. And you have a propaganda machine on the right. And that’s what it is. It’s a full-fledged propaganda machine on the right that the Democrats haven’t figured out how to combat very well yet.&#8221;
I would feel better about the news media if I thought Todd was just a liar, but, no, I think he is actually clueless. Because as an American journalist he is, just like the Democrats, surrounded by people who reflect and echo his ideas. There&#8217;s no one near him to ask: What propaganda machine, Chuck? Aside from one cable station — Fox News — what network, what newspaper, what university, what comedian or movie-maker or search engine or social media does anything but spew left-wing propaganda all day every day? There’s no one to demand he produce his evidence. There’s no one to require him to show his work.
So Chuck lives in the Holy of Clueless Holies being clueless beyond the imagination of the most clueless Priest of Cluelessness in the land of Clueless. Just like the Democrats, who live there too.
Every once in a while, they ought to visit the rest of us, here in Reality. It might keep them from making such utter fools of themselves.

KLAVAN: Clueless Chuck Todd And The Democrats

Robert Mueller

For what Politico has styled &#8220;Trump&#8217;s takeover of the Fourth of July celebration,&#8221; the U.S. Military brought a couple of M1 Bradley Armored Personnel Carriers into the heart of Washington, D.C. Tuesday night, a moment HuffPost described as a &#8220;surreal scene&#8221; and footage of which has been posted online. The tanks are among the half-dozen or so military vehicles that will be included in the &#8220;Salute to America&#8221; event around the Lincoln Memorial, which will also feature the standard fireworks and flyover — and for which Trump has been decried by the Left for his &#8220;authoritarian&#8221; display of military power.
&#8220;In a surreal scene, tanks rolled into Washington D.C. on Tuesday to participate in President Donald Trump’s Independence Day event,&#8221; <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tanks-in-washington-dc_n_5d1c3ce5e4b082e55371d8b1">HuffPost</a> reported Tuesday in a piece highlighting some of the footage as well as comments by Army Col. Sunset Belinsky to a Washington-based CBS affiliate reassuring the public that there&#8217;s no need to &#8220;panic.&#8221;
&#8220;Residents of the Capitol City will see the vehicles move through their neighborhoods, but should not panic,” said Col. Belinsky. HuffPost also quotes D.C. Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton denouncing Trump for &#8220;robbing&#8221; the people of the nonpartisan celebration. &#8220;This robs us of the one holiday where everybody comes together and doesn’t even look at you to find out what your political party is,&#8221; she said.
Some of the footage of &#8220;Trump&#8217;s tanks&#8221; that&#8217;s made the rounds online:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Just left the Nats game, and we were greeted by Trump&#8217;s tanks rolling through just outside the ballpark <a href="https://twitter.com/fox5dc?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@fox5dc</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/nbcwashington?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nbcwashington</a> <a href="https://t.co/O9VmDGFoMY">pic.twitter.com/O9VmDGFoMY</a>
— Cole (@eloc8) <a href="https://twitter.com/eloc8/status/1146238374203863040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">NEW — <a href="https://twitter.com/USArmy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@USArmy</a> says armored vehicles WILL move through WASHINGTON TONIGHT.
Specifically: 
Two M1 Bradley Armored Personnel Carriers.
Army spokesperson says, “you’ll see them moving through your neighborhood, but DON’T PANIC.”<a href="https://twitter.com/wusa9?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WUSA9</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SaluteToAmerica?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SaluteToAmerica</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FourthofJuly?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FourthofJuly</a> <a href="https://t.co/c9IockpNMv">pic.twitter.com/c9IockpNMv</a>
— Mike Valerio (@MikevWUSA) <a href="https://twitter.com/MikevWUSA/status/1146207474220961794?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
And as is the case with so many Trump-led events, the mainstream media is uncertain about how to cover his &#8220;takeover&#8221; of the Fourth. <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/02/trump-july-4-event-tv-1395474">Politico</a> provides a rundown of how the networks plan to approach it, most notably MSNBC, which is considering effectively blacking it out.
&#8220;President Donald Trump’s takeover of the Fourth of July celebration at the National Mall won’t completely take over the cable airwaves,&#8221; Politico reports. &#8220;MSNBC, for one, doesn’t plan to carry his “Salute to America” live, though the network will assess in real time whether to air clips of the event, a spokesperson told POLITICO.&#8221;
While MSNBC appears to be leaning toward acting like the event isn&#8217;t happening, Fox News is planning to dedicate a couple of hours to the event in a two-hour edition of &#8220;Special Report,&#8221; Politico notes.
The other cable news outlet, CNN, meanwhile, just happens to be airing a special on the rise of white nationalism starting at 7 p.m., in what some might consider a curious choice for July 4th programming.
ABC News will air the &#8220;Salute to America&#8221; on its streaming channel ABC News Live, as will CBS on CBSN and NBC on NBC News NOW. CSPAN will likewise be streaming the event.
<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/everything-you-wanted-know-about-trump-s-july-fourth-celebration-n1025606">NBC News</a>, which has covered the event with a little less slant online, provides a summary of what to expect: &#8220;Tanks. Troops. The president. The Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps, the U.S. Army Band, the Armed Forces Chorus, the U.S. Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon, and the U.S. Navy Blue Angels are all part of the program.&#8221;
NBC quotes Trump about the need to be &#8220;pretty careful&#8221; with the tanks, but not because of a fear of &#8220;panic&#8221;: &#8220;We gotta be pretty careful with the tanks because the roads have a tendency not to like to carry heavy tanks, so we have to put them in certain areas,&#8221; he said.
Unlike Norton and her fellow Democrats, Trump is amped up about the event. &#8220;Big 4th of July in D.C. &#8216;Salute to America.'&#8221; he tweeted Tuesday. &#8220;The Pentagon &amp; our great Military Leaders are thrilled to be doing this &amp; showing to the American people, among other things, the strongest and most advanced Military anywhere in the World. Incredible Flyovers &amp; biggest ever Fireworks!&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Big 4th of July in D.C. “Salute to America.” The Pentagon &amp; our great Military Leaders are thrilled to be doing this &amp; showing to the American people, among other things, the strongest and most advanced Military anywhere in the World. Incredible Flyovers &amp; biggest ever Fireworks!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1146062242388959238?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 2, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>

WATCH: ‘Trump’s Tanks’ Arrive In Washington For July 4th; MSNBC Considers Blackout

ABC News

Fox News

Huffington Post

Military

MSNBC

Politico

Trump Administration

In a fiery <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/our-response-to-nbc-news-inappropriate-questions_2971493.html">open letter</a> addressed to his readers and dealing with NBC News, Stephen Gregory, the publisher of The Epoch Times, accused two NBC News reporters of asking questions that he deemed wildly out of bounds. Gregory stated, &#8220;The NBC reporters questioned the religious beliefs of some of our staff members, sought to discredit their beliefs, attacked our journalism based on personal opinion rather than objective analysis, and even sought out information on the personal lives of our staff.&#8221;
After noting that he was defending &#8220;journalism itself,&#8221; Gregory stated that the founders of The Epoch Times &#8220;personally experienced the horrors of communism in China.&#8221; He added, &#8220;Ten of our staff members were arrested in China and given prison terms ranging from three to 10 years.&#8221;
Gregory continued, &#8220;NBC&#8217;s questions seek to dig out what they assume is our agenda by asking about our coverage of President Donald Trump and our relationship with the spiritual practice of Falun Gong.&#8221;
Gregory noted that NBC News has been hostile to President Trump, noting, &#8220;A <a href="https://shorensteincenter.org/news-coverage-donald-trumps-first-100-days/">study</a> by Harvard Kennedy School&#8217;s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy found that NBC&#8217;s coverage of Trump&#8217;s first 100 days in office was 93 percent negative.&#8221;
Then Gregory segued to the questions NBC had allegedly been firing at ex-staff members of The Epoch Times, including, &#8220;Is the Epoch Times predominantly staffed by volunteers? Do some Epoch Times interns, volunteers, or employees live in a shared home?&#8221; He commented, &#8220;What bearing do individuals&#8217; living arrangements have on the journalism of The Epoch Times? Would NBC ask New York Times journalists if they share an apartment? This digging into private lives can have only one motivation: to find something that can be used to discredit The Epoch Times.&#8221;
One alleged question ran like this: &#8220;It seems that all or most of the Epoch Times reporters and editors and executives are also Falun Gong practitioners. How does the practice of Falun Gong inform or influence the Epoch Times&#8217; coverage?&#8221; NBC allegedly doubled down with this question:
<blockquote>
One former Epoch Times executive and practitioner claims that Falun Gong practitioners believe that the world will soon see a &#8220;weeding out process&#8221; that will pit those who are sympathetic to Falun Dafa against those who are sympathetic to the Chinese government. Is this a fair characterization? And does the Epoch Times editorial staff believe this?
</blockquote>
Gregory asserted:
<blockquote>
The Epoch Times is not funded by Falun Gong practitioners, nor does it speak for Falun Gong practitioners. That said, The Epoch Times sees the Chinese Communist Party&#8217;s <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/report/china-religious-freedom/falun-gong">persecution</a> of Falun Gong practitioners, and the remarkable and heroic ways in which practitioners have responded to that persecution, as one of the most underreported stories of the last 20 years. Our founders included Falun Gong practitioners, and our values of &#8220;Truth and Tradition&#8221; reflect their moral principles.
</blockquote>
Gregory concluded:
<blockquote>
Our free press has special privileges in our society, as suggested by the term &#8220;The Fourth Estate.&#8221; In order to defend those privileges, the press must show it is acting in a responsible manner. In responding to NBC, The Epoch Times seeks to vindicate our media and, in doing so, the role the press should play in our society.
</blockquote>
Former Canadian MP David Kilgour <a href="http://www.david-kilgour.com/2015/speech_04212015.pdf">noted in April 2015</a> in a report to the European Parliament Workshop on Organ Harvesting In China:
<blockquote>
In May 2006 the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China (CIPFG) asked David Matas and me as volunteers to investigate the claims of organ pillaging/trafficking from Falun Gong practitioners. We released two reports and one book and have continued to investigate this issue &#8230; We concluded that for 41,500 transplants done in the years 2000-2005 alone in China, the only plausible explanation for sourcing was Falun Gong.
Our main conclusion reads that there &#8220;continues today to be large-scale organ seizures from unwilling Falun Gong practitioners (&#8230;) Their vital organs, including kidneys, livers, corneas and hearts, were seized involuntarily for sale at high prices, sometimes to foreigners, who normally face long waits for voluntary donations of such organs in their home countries.&#8221;
</blockquote>
Kilgour continued:
<blockquote>
The seminal 2014 book, The Slaughter (Prometheus), by Ethan Gutmann places the persecution of the Falun Gong, Tibetan, Uyghur, and House Christian communities in context. It focuses mostly on Falun Gong, the group most viciously and continuously targeted since 1999.
Gutmann explains how he arrives at his &#8220;best estimate&#8221; that organs of 65,000 Falun Gong and &#8220;two to four thousand&#8221; Uyghurs, Tibetans and House Christians were &#8220;harvested&#8221; in the 2000-2008 period alone. No &#8220;donors&#8221; survive pillaging because all vital organs are removed to be trafficked for high prices to wealthy Chinese nationals and &#8220;organ tourists.&#8221;
</blockquote>
H/T <a href="https://twitchy.com/samj-3930/2019/06/20/it-is-so-on-the-epoch-times-tears-nbc-apart-in-brutal-thread-for-asking-highly-inappropriate-questions-about-their-staff/">Twitchy</a>

Epoch Times Publisher Pens Fiery Letter Accusing NBC News Reporters Of Asking Inappropiate Questions

Investigative reporter Yashar Ali revealed on Friday that the managing political editor for NBC News and MSNBC bullied him on behalf of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) into holding a scoop that he broke yesterday.
&#8220;Yesterday, I received a call from @DafnaLinzer who serves as managing editor of NBC/MSNBC politics,&#8221; Ali tweeted. &#8220;Dafna&#8217;s conduct during the call was highly inappropriate and unethical. So what was the purpose of her call? She called me to bully me on behalf of the DNC.&#8221;
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1. Yesterday, I received a call from <a href="https://twitter.com/DafnaLinzer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DafnaLinzer</a> who serves as managing editor of NBC/MSNBC politics. Dafna&#8217;s conduct during the call was highly inappropriate and unethical. So what was the purpose of her call?
She called me to bully me on behalf of the DNC.
&#8212; Yashar Ali (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1111678823072854016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Dafna, who oversees the political coverage for NBC and MSNBC, was calling to bully me into delaying the publication of an innocuous scoop and at no point did she advocate for her network, it was only about the DNC,&#8221; Ali continued. &#8220;Yesterday morning I received a tip from a trusted source. The source told me the DNC would be announcing the dates of the first 2020 primary debates later that day. The source gave me the dates they would be announcing: June 26 and 27.&#8221;
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3. Yesterday morning I received a tip from a trusted source. The source told me the DNC would be announcing the dates of the first 2020 primary debates later that day. The source gave me the dates they would be announcing: June 26 and 27.
&#8212; Yashar Ali (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1111678824020758528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;At first I thought it was just a fun tidbit that I could tweet out. But after I called several presidential campaign staffers I learn that all the Dem campaigns were desperate to learn what the dates were going to be,&#8221; Ali continued. &#8220;I decided to post the scoop as an item in my newsletter. This wasn&#8217;t a huge scoop but it was a decent one so I quickly called the DNC to fact-check the tip as I was running out of time: the dates would be announced on MSNBC in the 4:00 PM hour. It&#8217;s important to note that almost of all of my communication with the DNC was off record.&#8221;
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5. This wasn&#8217;t a huge scoop but it was a decent one so I quickly called the DNC to fact-check the tip as I was running out of time: the dates would be announced on MSNBC in the 4:00 PM hour. It&#8217;s important to note that almost of all of my communication with the DNC was off record
&#8212; Yashar Ali (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1111678825295810560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;So I won&#8217;t share most of what was said but can tell you it&#8217;s pretty run-of-the mill stuff. I asked the DNC if my tip was accurate and they asked if they could call me back in 10 minutes,&#8221; Ali continued. &#8220;A few minutes later they called back and asked if I could delay posting my scoop. For another hour so they could go through their important notification calls to the state parties. I told them I couldn&#8217;t wait as the news would leak and leave me without a story. That&#8217;s all I can say about the call. Two minutes later I received a call from Dafna.&#8221;
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7. For another hour so they could go through their important notification calls to the state parties. I told them I couldn&#8217;t wait as the news would leak and leave me without a story. That&#8217;s all I can say about the call. Two minutes later I received a call from Dafna.
&#8212; Yashar Ali (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1111678826310823937?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;I&#8217;ve never spoken to Dafna by phone. A couple years ago she reached out to me to see if I wanted to have coffee and talk about working at NBC News but I declined as I was actively investigating NBC matters and thought it would be strange if I discussed a job,&#8221; Ali continued. &#8220;So when I saw Dafna calling I assumed she would ask me to consider delaying my post so that MSNBC could announce it first. Given that this was an innocuous scoop and not some investigative story I wouldn&#8217;t have lost sleep if I had delayed. But that&#8217;s not why she was calling.&#8221;
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9. So when I saw Dafna calling I assumed she would ask me to consider delaying my post so that MSNBC could announce it first. Given that this was an innocuous scoop and not some investigative story I wouldn&#8217;t have lost sleep if I had delayed. But that&#8217;s not why she was calling.
&#8212; Yashar Ali (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1111678827426533379?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;After exchanging pleasantries, Dafna told me that she received a call from the DNC and was told I had a story,&#8221; Ali continued. &#8220;Now it&#8217;s not strange that the DNC called her, they were coordinating an announcement. What was strange was that she was calling me and taking a menacing tone. She asked if I could hold the story and I said I couldn&#8217;t. She was agitated, &#8216;why not?&#8217; I said I&#8217;m not going to lose a scoop. Then she got angrier and said &#8216;Why not? It&#8217;s not a big deal, let them make a few phone calls.&#8217; My jaw dropped.&#8221;
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11. She asked if I could hold the story and I said I couldn&#8217;t. She was agitated, &#8220;why not?&#8221; I said I&#8217;m not going to lose a scoop. Then she got angrier and said &#8220;Why not? It&#8217;s not a big deal, let them make a few phone calls.&#8221;
My jaw dropped.
&#8212; Yashar Ali (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1111678828428972032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;I realized that @DafnaLinzer, the head of all political coverage for NBC News and MSNBC wasn&#8217;t calling to advocate for her network, she was calling to advocate the DNC&#8217;s position,&#8221; Ali continued. She wanted me to wait so they could call state party leaders. I thought to myself &#8216;this is how people think it works.&#8217; It&#8217;s not. But Dafna was doing it. She kept pressing me. Now I acknowledged, for stuff that isn&#8217;t about serious investigative reporting, there is no problem holding something. But I knew once others got the call.&#8221;
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13. I thought to myself &#8220;this is how people think it works.&#8221; It&#8217;s not. But Dafna was doing it. She kept pressing me. Now I acknowledged, for stuff that isn&#8217;t about serious investigative reporting, there is no problem holding something. But I knew once others got the call
&#8212; Yashar Ali (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1111678829355921408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;I would lose a scoop. Dafna reminded me she was a nat sec reporter at WAPO for ten years and they would hold stuff all the time (note: so people wouldn&#8217;t get killed). &#8216;Why can&#8217;t you just wait, let them make their calls, then you&#8217;ll be the first to put it into print,&#8217; she said,&#8221; Yashar continued. &#8220;I couldn&#8217;t believe what she was saying. Again, it was fine for me to print the story an hour later, beat her own network by three hours, she just wanted me to let the DNC inform state party leaders. Why the hell did she care?&#8221;
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15. I couldn&#8217;t believe what she was saying. Again, it was fine for me to print the story an hour later, beat her own network by three hours, she just wanted me to let the DNC inform state party leaders. Why the hell did she care?
&#8212; Yashar Ali (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1111678830442274816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;I kept telling Dafna no, that I wasn&#8217;t waiting. And she kept getting more frustrated. She was exasperated&#8230;she didn&#8217;t understand why I couldn&#8217;t wait for the DNC to make their state notification calls,&#8221; Yashar continued. &#8220;I was so surprised me that she was talking this way with a total stranger. The head of the political division was trying to bully me at the behest of the DNC over a dumb scoop (even though they may not have asked her to).&#8221;
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17. I was so surprised me that she was talking this way with a total stranger. The head of the political division was trying to bully me at the behest of the DNC over a dumb scoop (even though they may not have asked her to)
&#8212; Yashar Ali (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1111678831436292096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;2/3 of the way into the conversation Dafna started a sentence with &#8216;this is off the record.&#8217; She hadn&#8217;t said it at the beginning of our conversation and most important at no point did I agree when she said &#8216;off record&#8217; to keep it off record,&#8221; Ali continued. &#8220;I&#8217;m not one of those gotcha reporters, I think it&#8217;s bad for sourcing relationships to make people like they constantly feel like they have to say &#8216;off record.&#8217; But Dafna isn&#8217;t a source and she was calling to intimidate me, so she doesn&#8217;t get the benefit.&#8221;
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19. I&#8217;m not one of those gotcha reporters, I think it&#8217;s bad for sourcing relationships to make people like they constantly feel like they have to say &#8220;off record.&#8221; But Dafna isn&#8217;t a source and she was calling to intimidate me, so she doesn&#8217;t get the benefit.
&#8212; Yashar Ali (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1111678832535179265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;She said &#8216;off record&#8217; one more time later in the call and again I just let her keep talking, I did not agree to anything. I then told her I had to go talk to my editor and she got even more frustrated and said &#8216;No. I want to talk to you about this,'&#8221; Ali continued. &#8220;I said &#8216;no, I want to go talk to my editor.&#8217; Then she sent me over the edge and said &#8216;What&#8217;s your editors name, I want to talk to them.&#8217; She was trying to intimidate me..on behalf of the DNC. I ended the call.&#8221;
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21. I said &#8220;no, I want to go talk to my editor.&#8221; Then she sent me over the edge and said &#8220;What&#8217;s your editors name, I want to talk to them.&#8221; She was trying to intimidate me..on behalf of the DNC. I ended the call.
&#8212; Yashar Ali (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1111678833512443905?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;After the call with Dafna I published the stupid scoop. Then I did a gut check and over the next two hours I called 10 experienced prominent reporters and told them the story,&#8221; Ali continued. &#8220;They were all stunned by what Dafna did and encouraged me to share it publicly. I&#8217;m not naive to the fact that this incident is going to be twisted by some with an agenda to discredit the media and say they collude with political parties. But I think its more important to expose bad behavior then keep it under wraps. What Dafna did was unethical.&#8221;
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23. I&#8217;m not naive to the fact that this incident is going to be twisted by some with an agenda to discredit the media and say they collude with political parties. But I think its more important to expose bad behavior then keep it under wraps. What Dafna did was unethical
&#8212; Yashar Ali (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1111678834586185729?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;There are plenty of times reporters will introduce people in politics to other reporters or TV people. I have done it many times, that is advocating for more coverage, not less,&#8221; Ali concluded. &#8220;Dafna was advocating for me to not do something on behalf of a political party. What I can&#8217;t figure out is (and no one else I spoke to could understand), why open yourself up to this for a stupid story? How was this worth it?&#8221;
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25. What I can&#8217;t figure out is (and no one else I spoke to could understand), why open yourself up to this for a stupid story? How was this worth it?
END
&#8212; Yashar Ali (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1111678835626434561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
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CNN&#8217;s Brian Stelter reported that NBC PR and Linzer have &#8220;no comment&#8221; on Ali&#8217;s thread.
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NBC PR just got back to me&#8230; they and Linzer have no comment on this: <a href="https://t.co/sWrfqBUlQT">https://t.co/sWrfqBUlQT</a>
&#8212; Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) <a href="https://twitter.com/brianstelter/status/1111695866958614528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
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This is a breaking news story, refresh the page for updates.

COLLUSION: NBC Politics Managing Editor Bullies Reporter On Behalf Of DNC, Report Says

Democratic National Committee

Democratic Party

In yet another glaring example of the Trump-era iteration of &#8220;news&#8221; reporting, NBC News host Chuck Todd provided his analysis of President Trump&#8217;s State of the Union Address before he actually gave it, blasting the president&#8217;s attempt to &#8220;heal&#8221; and &#8220;unite&#8221; as the &#8220;theater of the absurd.&#8221;
The heavily cynical, textbook definition of &#8220;bad faith&#8221; &#8220;reporting&#8221; was caught by the folks over at <a href="https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-fondacaro/2019/02/05/chuck-todd-blasts-trumps-sotu-theater-absurd">NewsBusters</a>.
With the shamelessly mocking chyron &#8220;&#8216;COMITY&#8217; CENTRAL: SOTU THEATER OF THE ABSURD?&#8221; screaming at viewers below him, the &#8220;Meet the Press&#8221; host slammed Trump&#8217;s speech before he had the chance to give it, saying it was &#8220;shaping up to be a night of absurdist theater.&#8221; It is &#8220;absurd&#8221; because of his attempt to promote &#8220;bipartisanship, unity and compromise,&#8221; Todd explained.
&#8220;&#8216;Absurd&#8217; because the White House says the President&#8217;s address is going to be about bipartisanship, unity, compromise,&#8221; said the partisan host (partial transcript via NewsBusters). &#8220;They say it&#8217;s going to be a night of &#8216;comity,&#8217; with a T. They really used that word. &#8216;Absurd&#8217; because literally, as the White House is telling reporters about how the President is going to rise above partisanship tonight, the President is tweeting about a &#8216;human wall.&#8217; Then, he mocks Chuck Schumer. And, of course, Festivus begins and he airs grievances about the midterms.&#8221;
And Todd wasn&#8217;t done, not even close. Some other reasons Trump&#8217;s speech is/will be &#8220;absurd&#8221;: because Trump supposedly engineered &#8220;himself&#8221; the 35-day government shutdown, the Democrats apparently having nothing to do with it, according to Todd&#8217;s &#8220;reporting.&#8221;
It&#8217;s &#8220;absurd&#8221; because Trump is considering declaring a national emergency over the border since the Democrat-led Congress refuses to take action to address the humanitarian crisis (about which an overwhleming percentage of SOTU viewers <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43113/americans-overwhelmingly-approve-trumps-speech-james-barrett">agreed with Trump</a>, by the way).
&#8220;Absurd&#8221; because &#8220;Nancy will be seated behind tonight,&#8221; said Todd, in perhaps the most revealing of his comments about why the idea of bipartisanship was &#8220;absurdist theater.&#8221; Rather than hitting Pelosi for her own overtly partisan behavior, however, Todd, like the shutdown, put it all on Trump: &#8220;A constant reminder of his failed midterm message that Pelosi party of crime abetting arsonists,&#8221; he said.
What also made Trump&#8217;s bipartisan and uniting speech he hadn&#8217;t given yet &#8220;absurd,&#8221; said Todd, was Trump&#8217;s &#8220;ongoing feud with the intel community, countless investigations into him, his staff, his campaign, his business, and even now his inauguration.&#8221;
NewsBusters&#8217; Nicholas Fondacaro also points out that Todd was so proud of his &#8220;theater of the absurd&#8221; theme that he brought it up a few hours later when talking to his likewise partisan colleague Lester Holt.
While Todd clearly hated Trump&#8217;s SOTU preemptively, a vast majority of those who actually waited to watch it before forming an opinion approved. Both CNN and CBS News found that over three-quarters of viewers approved of Trump&#8217;s SOTU, with CNN finding that nearly 60% viewed it &#8220;very positively&#8221; while another 17% viewed it &#8220;somewhat positively.&#8221; CBS found that a strong majority of viewers also agreed on Trump&#8217;s big agenda items, including 72% of viewers agreeing with him on the need to reform immigration, 71% agreeing that there&#8217;s a crisis at the border, and 74% agreeing with his handling of troops in the Middle East.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43113/americans-overwhelmingly-approve-trumps-speech-james-barrett">Americans Overwhelmingly Approve Of Trump&#8217;s Speech. Check Out How The Big Networks Report It.</a>

NBC&#8217;s Chuck Todd Ridicules Trump&#8217;s &#8216;Absurd&#8217; SOTU&#8230;Before He Gives It

According to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5695327-19020-NBCWSJ-January-Poll-1.html">survey</a> of 900 adults conducted between January 20-23, approximately 63% of Americans believe the nation is &#8220;on the wrong track.&#8221;
In an NBC News report, journalist Mark Murray <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna963051">writes</a>:
<blockquote>
After the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history, six-in-10 Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, and nearly 70 percent of them have negative opinions on the state of the nation today &#8230;
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The survey also asks voters if they &#8220;approve or disapprove of the job Donald Trump is doing as president.&#8221; While 43% either &#8220;strongly&#8221; or &#8220;somewhat&#8221; approve, 54% &#8220;strongly&#8221; or &#8220;somewhat&#8221; disapprove.
When it comes to how the president is &#8220;handling the economy,&#8221; 51% approve, while 45% disapprove.
34% of voters view the Republican Party &#8220;very&#8221; or &#8220;somewhat&#8221; positively, while 35% feel the same way about the Democratic Party.
How do these numbers stack up against past surveys conducted by NBC/WSJ? Even though the survey was conducted before the end of the partial government shutdown, President Trump&#8217;s approval to disapproval ratio is <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5695327-19020-NBCWSJ-January-Poll-1.html">roughly the same</a> as it was throughout much of 2017/2018.
The president&#8217;s average approval rating from February 2017 to December 2018, according to prior NBC/WSJ surveys, stood at 42.4%, while his disapproval rating stood at 53.4%.
Trump&#8217;s economic numbers have actually gone up. From April 2017 to July 2018 (the most recent time this question was asked aside from the latest survey), Trump&#8217;s economic approval averaged 44.2% &#8212; more than six percentage points lower than this latest survey indicates.
When asked to use a word or phrase to describe &#8220;where America is headed in the next year,&#8221; 31% of respondents used positive descriptors, while 57% used negative descriptors. However, in January 2013 and January 2014, 58% and 62% of respondents, respectively, used negative descriptors.
While President Trump&#8217;s approval rating appears static despite the shutdown, former President Obama experienced a minor drop followed by a brief rebound during the partial government shutdown of October 2013.
According to <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/166727/obama-job-approval-declined-steadily-throughout-2013.aspx">Gallup</a>:
<blockquote>
After weeks of failed efforts at a compromise budget bill in Congress, the federal government was forced into a partial shutdown on Oct. 1, and, similar to what happened in March with sequestration, Obama&#8217;s approval rating immediately fell four points &#8212; from 45% in the last three days of September to 41% in the first three days of October.
</blockquote>
Throughout October 2013, Obama&#8217;s approval rating rebounded to highs of 44% and 46% and fell to lows of 41% and 42%, reports Gallup.
The RealClearPolitics <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_trump_job_approval-6179.html">average</a> has President Trump at 41.2% approval and 55.5% disapproval as of publication, a 14.3% spread, which is roughly on par with his May to December ratings.
The RealClearPolitics <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_trump_job_approval_economy-6182.html">average</a> for President Trump&#8217;s economic job approval stands at 49%, while an average 46% disapprove of his handling of the economy.
As for where the country is headed, the view among Americans is a bit more <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/direction_of_country-902.html">bleak</a>, with 58.3% saying we&#8217;re on the &#8220;wrong track,&#8221; and 34.3% saying we&#8217;re on the &#8220;right track.&#8221; That said, the &#8220;wrong track&#8221; number hasn&#8217;t dipped below 50% in any poll featured on RealClearPolitics since August.

POLL: Trump Approval Remains Static During Shutdown

Barack Obama

Poll

Wall Street Journal

It wasn&#8217;t enough that the New York Daily News <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/42485/walsh-smear-merchants-now-claim-covington-catholic-matt-walsh">tried to portray</a> Covington Catholic kids at a &#8220;blackout&#8221; basketball game as being racist. And it wasn&#8217;t enough that people posted additional videos claiming, without evidence, that the Covington students demeaned women prior to the video that sparked national outrage due to bad and biased reporting.
Now, even as media outlets <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/an-apology/">apologize for the initial reporting</a> or <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/01/22/viral-story-spread-mainstream-media-rushed-keep-up-trump-internet-pounced/">try to cover their tracks</a> by pretending they were merely rushing &#8220;to keep up&#8221; with a developing story, some are doubling and tripling down, trying to prove their rush to judgement was justified because those kids and that school really are that terrible.
Enter NBC.
In a tweet sent Tuesday night, the left-leaning outlet insinuated that a gay student was banned from speaking at the school&#8217;s graduation because he was gay.
&#8220;A gay student who was barred by the Covington diocese from speaking at his 2018 graduation, is &#8216;not surprised&#8217; by the Covington Catholic High School video,&#8221; NBC News tweeted.
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A gay student who was barred by the Covington diocese from speaking at his 2018 graduation, is &#8220;not surprised&#8221; by the Covington Catholic High School video. &#8211; <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCOUT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NBCOUT</a> <a href="https://t.co/udpQBbyjGh">https://t.co/udpQBbyjGh</a>
&#8212; NBC News (@NBCNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1087964665479614465?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 23, 2019</a></blockquote>
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The headline for the article, clearly meant to suggest the school is anti-gay, reads: &#8220;Gay valedictorian banned from speaking at Covington graduation &#8216;not surprised&#8217; by D.C. controversy.&#8221; This headline actually makes the tweet look more accurate.
Others, including Federalist contributor Chad Felix Greene (who also happens to be gay), quickly noted how misleading the story was, as the student was not banned for speaking because he was gay. &#8220;He submitted the speech too late and it was too political for the venue,&#8221; Greene wrote.
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He was not &#8216;banned&#8217; for speaking because he was gay. He submitted the speech too late and it was too political for the venue. <a href="https://t.co/3vNyeNN78n">https://t.co/3vNyeNN78n</a>
&#8212; Chad Felix Greene (@chadfelixg) <a href="https://twitter.com/chadfelixg/status/1088124117025460224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 23, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Also, the student did not even graduate from Covington Catholic &#8211; he was the valedictorian from Holy Cross High School. The only thing tying the two schools together is that they are overseen by the Diocese of Covington in Kentucky.
So, basically, NBC found a student from another school to trash Covington Catholic, and insinuated that somehow Covington is anti-gay.
In the second paragraph of the NBC article, they note the student is from a different school, but go on to refer to Holy Cross as &#8220;the Covington school.&#8221;
In the fourth paragraph, NBC mentions that the student, Christian Bales, &#8220;said at the time that he was unsure whether his sexual orientation played a role&#8221; in the decision not to allow his speech. The Diocese also barred a speech from the student council president, who doesn&#8217;t appear to be gay.
&#8220;I honestly have no idea, because what I&#8217;ve been taught about the Catholic faith is that it&#8217;s about love and tolerance and acceptance of all people,&#8221; Bales said at the time.
A spokesperson for the Diocese of Covington said at the time of the incident that the students&#8217; speeches were submitted too late and &#8220;were political and inconsistent with the teaching of the Catholic Church.&#8221; Bales denies these claims.
But who cares, right? NBC then allows Bales to trash a school he didn&#8217;t go to, saying he was &#8220;not surprised at all&#8221; at the viral video which has since been countered with more evidence.
&#8220;It was only a matter of time that something this school community did would blow up to this degree, and I think they need to be held accountable,&#8221; he added.
He also said the school is &#8220;notorious for being a not-well-disciplined school,&#8221; whatever that means.
The media is doing to these teenagers and their school what it did to Brett Kavanaugh and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/39627/heres-everything-thats-wrong-vanity-fair-hit-job-ashe-schow">his high school</a>, where they try to find anything they can to prove their biases against people they have deemed villains.

NBC Tries To Smear Covington Catholic Again. There&#8217;s Just One Big Problem. Well, Two.

Covington Catholic High School

LGBT

On Wednesday, Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to a series of charges, including campaign finance violations that he said he committed at the direction of his former top client, then-candidate Donald Trump. Federal prosecutors say that in addition to the evidence presented by Cohen, they have reached a non-prosecution agreement with America Media Inc., parent company of the National Enquirer, who says that they worked &#8220;in concert&#8221; with the Trump campaign to squash stories featuring alleged Trump paramour former Playmate Karen McDougal.
On Thursday, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/trump-was-room-during-hush-money-discussions-nbc-news-confirms-n947536">NBC News</a> reported that it has &#8220;confirmed&#8221; that Trump was the mysterious &#8220;third person&#8221; in the room during an August 2015 discussion between Cohen and National Enquirer publisher David Pecker about countering negative stories about Trump.
Prosecutors revealed Wednesday that AMI has admitted that Pecker &#8220;offered to help deal with negative stories about that presidential candidate&#8217;s relationships with women by, among other things, assisting the campaign in identifying such stories so they could be purchased and their publication avoided.&#8221; The company admitted to making a $150,000 payment to McDougal &#8220;in concert with the [Trump] campaign&#8221; to &#8220;catch-and-kill&#8221; her stories during the 2016 campaign. The company also noted that &#8220;at least one other member of the campaign&#8221; was at the meeting.
An NBC source says that Trump was that unnamed &#8220;other member,&#8221; a claim also made in a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-played-central-role-in-hush-payoffs-to-stormy-daniels-and-karen-mcdougal-1541786601?mod=article_inline">Wall Street Journal</a> report in November.
NBC quotes NBC analyst and former assistant U.S. attorney Daniel Goldman as asserting that if it&#8217;s true that Trump was in the room at the meeting, combined with his apparent awareness of the deal with Pecker in a secretly taped call, you could now &#8220;squarely place Trump in the middle of a conspiracy to commit campaign finance fraud.&#8221;
Trump and his legal team have countered the claim by arguing that the hush money deals were &#8220;personal transactions&#8221; intended to spare him and his family of public embarrassment, rather than expressly for the purpose of protecting his presidential campaign.
Trump took to Twitter Thursday to refute Cohen&#8217;s claims. &#8220;I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law,&#8221; he wrote in a series of tweets. &#8220;He was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law. It is called &#8216;advice of counsel,&#8217; and a lawyer has great liability if a mistake is made. That is why they get paid.&#8221;
The campaign finance angle, he argued, was flawed. &#8220;Despite that many campaign finance lawyers have strongly stated that I did nothing wrong with respect to campaign finance laws, if they even apply, because this was not campaign finance,&#8221; he wrote. 
Cohen, who was convicted of tax evasion and fraud in addition to the campaign finance violations, was only trying to reduce his sentence, Trump asserted. &#8220;Cohen was guilty on many charges unrelated to me, but he plead to two campaign charges which were not criminal and of which he probably was not guilty even on a civil basis,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;Those charges were just agreed to by him in order to embarrass the president and get a much reduced prison sentence, which he did-including the fact that his family was temporarily let off the hook. As a lawyer, Michael has great liability to me!&#8221;
Cohen responded to Trump&#8217;s statements in an interview with ABC News that aired Friday morning. &#8220;I knew what I was doing was wrong. I stood up before the world and I accepted the responsibility for my actions,&#8221; he said, referencing his sentencing plea Wednesday. Trump, he said, &#8220;of course&#8221; knew that the &#8220;hush money&#8221; payments were &#8220;wrong.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/39351/cohen-responds-trump-refuting-his-hush-money-james-barrett">Cohen Responds To Trump Refuting His &#8216;Hush Money&#8217; Claims In First Interview Since Sentencing</a>

NBC: Trump Was In Room With Cohen During &#8216;Hush Money&#8217; Deal Talk

Michael Cohen

The negotiations between Megyn Kelly and NBC News are all but in the books, according to multiple reports, and it&#8217;s working out quite nicely for the soon-to-be-former NBC host. Inside sources say that Kelly will be walking away with the full value of her original $69 million contract, which means she will receive the full $30 million left on her three-year deal.
Citing sources &#8220;familiar with the matter,&#8221; <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/megyn-kelly-nears-deal-to-leave-nbc-news-with-entirety-of-69-million-contract-1542751002">The Wall Street Journal</a> reports that Kelly, a little less than halfway through her deal, is expected to part ways with Comcast Corp.&#8217;s NBC News &#8220;with more than $30 million &#8212; the full value left on the three-year, $69 million contract with the network.&#8221;
One of the Journal&#8217;s sources says her official exit may come as early as next week. The two sides have been reportedly haggling over largely &#8220;nonfinancial&#8221; issues, the source says, including her deal&#8217;s noncompete and nondisclosure clauses.
<a href="http://pagesix.com/2018/11/20/megyn-kelly-finalizing-30m-exit-from-nbc/">Page Six</a>&#8216;s sources have confirmed that Kelly will be receiving the full $30 million payout, one source stressing that it won&#8217;t be official until next week, at the earliest. &#8220;It&#8217;s taking slightly longer than expected, the paperwork is going back and forth,&#8221; the source told Page Six.
Another source told the outlet that both sides want the whole ordeal behind them. &#8220;Everyone wants this to be over &#8212; both Megyn and NBC &#8212; and Comcast has the money to pay off Megyn,&#8221; the source said. &#8220;We thought this would be a done deal a few weeks ago.&#8221;
A &#8220;senior TV source&#8221; told Page Six that NBC simply did not want to prolong the process by haggling, so has agreed to pay her the full amount of her contract.
&#8220;NBC decided rather than fight and face a lawsuit from her, they &#8212; and more importantly, Comcast with all its money &#8212; decided to draw a line under the entire debacle and pay Megyn the full amount owed in her contract to go away,&#8221; said the source.
The source went on to predict that this won&#8217;t be the end of Kelly&#8217;s career, saying, &#8220;in the Trump era, there are few broadcasters like her,&#8221; and suggesting she&#8217;ll likely take a break then make a comeback ahead of the next election.
The abrupt breakup between Kelly and NBC was spurred by her comments about what is or isn&#8217;t appropriate to wear for Halloween ahead of the holiday. Kelly pushed back on the idea that changing one&#8217;s skin tone to portray a famous figure of a different race was necessarily racist, comments made in the context of paying tribute to the figure. Citing criticism of &#8220;Real Housewives of New York&#8221; star Luann de Lesseps for darkening her skin to dress as Diana Ross, Kelly said, &#8220;And people said that that was racist. And I don&#8217;t know! I thought like, who doesn&#8217;t love Diana Ross? She wants to look like Diana Ross for one day, and I don&#8217;t know how that got racist on Halloween.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Megyn Kelly wonders what the big deal is about blackface <a href="https://t.co/07yvYDuAYe">pic.twitter.com/07yvYDuAYe</a>
&#8212; Tommy Xtophurkey (@tommyxtopher) <a href="https://twitter.com/tommyxtopher/status/1054725740476973057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
Critics, including several media outlets, characterized the comments as a &#8220;defense&#8221; of the racist practice of &#8220;blackface,&#8221; which Kelly stressed was not her intention in an emotional apology the next day.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
&#8220;I want to begin with two words, I&#8217;m sorry..The country feels so divided and I have no wish to add to that pain and offense. I believe this is a time for more understanding, more love, more sensitivity and honor..Thank you for listening and for helping me listen too.&#8221; Megyn Kelly <a href="https://t.co/6hHrvZLNvK">pic.twitter.com/6hHrvZLNvK</a>
&#8212; Megyn Kelly TODAY (@MegynTODAY) <a href="https://twitter.com/MegynTODAY/status/1055084273420722176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 24, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
Kelly&#8217;s apology was not enough for network executive Andy Lack, whose relationship with Kelly had <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/37635/nbc-sources-suggest-real-reasons-network-wants-james-barrett">already reportedly soured</a>.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/37859/megyn-kelly-breaks-silence-slams-out-control-media-james-barrett">Megyn Kelly Breaks Silence, Slams Out Of Control Media: &#8216;Videotaped My 7-Yr-Old Child&#8217;</a>

Megyn Kelly, NBC Finalizing Exit Deal, And It&#8217;s A Good One For Kelly

NBC reporter Kasie Hunt learned the hard way Sunday that leftists aren&#8217;t willing to give a GOP Congressional candidate the benefit of a compliment, even when that candidate is unfairly maligned.
Saturday night, SNL cast-member Pete Davidson poked fun at Republican Congressional hopeful Dan Crenshaw, mocking Crenshaw for wearing an eye patch designed to hide a wound he received from an IED while serving with the U.S. military in Afghanistan.
Crenshaw responded to the joke by saying he could certainly handle a few harsh words about his accessory, and cautioned Americans not to give in to &#8220;apology culture.&#8221; But reporters and fellow Republicans who&#8217;ve interacted with Crenshaw &#8212; including Hunt &#8212; were quick to offer their own kind words for the former Navy SEAL.
Hunt noted that she&#8217;d interviewed Crenshaw and that she admired him for his service. She said nothing of Davidson&#8217;s joke, but suggested that we need &#8220;more&#8221; people like Crenshaw in Congress, regardless of party affiliation.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
I interviewed <a href="https://twitter.com/DanCrenshawTX?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DanCrenshawTX</a> for a piece on vets running. I enjoyed our conversation &#8212; and as an American I am incredibly grateful for his service and his sacrifice. Our country is better off with more people like him in Congress, party aside.
&#8212; Kasie Hunt (@kasie) <a href="https://twitter.com/kasie/status/1059094623753302016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2018</a></blockquote>
That, the Left determined, was not acceptable. Twitter users tore into Hunt, accusing Hunt of &#8220;outing&#8221; herself as a Republican and &#8220;endorsing&#8221; Crenshaw, and calling Crenshaw &#8220;dangerous&#8221; and &#8220;hate-filled.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Thanks for outing yourself as a Republican, Kasie. I always suspected it, but now you&#8217;ve verified. You &amp; Andrea Mitchell are two of a kind, and that&#8217;s not a compliment.
&#8212; Pumpkin Spice Covfefe (@total_janarchy) <a href="https://twitter.com/total_janarchy/status/1059114120010719232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
As a gay American, I think Dan is dangerous and hate-filled in his rhetoric and policies towards gay people. I don&#8217;t care how many Jody parts he left at war. But I DO care that a hack political reporter is making endorsements. I&#8217;ll be contacting msnbc.
&#8212; DemocratForLife (@DCMorgan1972) <a href="https://twitter.com/DCMorgan1972/status/1059159471832883202?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Our country is not better off with people in Congress who will vote to take away their health care &amp; destroy their retirement security. And there are far more vets running as Democrats this cycle, many of them women. Have you interviewed Mikie Sherrill, Amy McGrath, (continued)
&#8212; Jon Bowzer Bauman (@JonBowzerBauman) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonBowzerBauman/status/1059428345811628033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 5, 2018</a></blockquote>
A number of Twitter users called for Hunt to be fired, apparently for the crime of saying something genuinely nice about a person they disagree with politically.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
That you did not delete your tweet immediately says that you are stubbornly going to go with it. You&#8217;ve been walking a rather wobbly fine line for weeks. You should be fired. If you want to be a political operative, get out of journalism! <a href="https://twitter.com/MSNBC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MSNBC</a>
&#8212; Goldensrule (@BDBgoldens3) <a href="https://twitter.com/BDBgoldens3/status/1059171960255639554?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
How much are they paying you, <a href="https://twitter.com/kasie?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kasie</a>, to betray democracy? Because more Rs in any seat means the continued destruction of our country. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/complicitpress?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#complicitpress</a>
&#8212; Pamela (@tpacific) <a href="https://twitter.com/tpacific/status/1059130975584571397?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2018</a></blockquote>
Hunt ended up trying to defend herself in a series of tweets outlining that she simply liked Crenshaw as a person, that her tweet shouldn&#8217;t be seen as an endorsement, but that she was offering her own perspective on a man running for Congress who&#8217;d been, perhaps, unfairly maligned. The piece she&#8217;d interviewed Crenshaw for, she explained, was a bigger piece on veterans running for Congress, and Democrats were also interviewed.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
I&#8217;m not endorsing any candidate. I AM saying thanks for serving and saying I think more veterans in Congress is good for our country. If you disagree, we can agree to disagree.
&#8212; Kasie Hunt (@kasie) <a href="https://twitter.com/kasie/status/1059104453041836037?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
I understand that. I&#8217;m not urging voters to pick him over his opponent. I am saying he should not be mocked for his service and that I personally appreciate that he sacrificed for all of us.
&#8212; Kasie Hunt (@kasie) <a href="https://twitter.com/kasie/status/1059109513318547456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
That&#8217;s not what I&#8217;m saying. I&#8217;m saying we should value service from our veterans and appreciate what that experience can bring to the table, not mock them when they come home hurt.
&#8212; Kasie Hunt (@kasie) <a href="https://twitter.com/kasie/status/1059112627392135168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
I just don&#8217;t see defending a veteran who is mocked for their wounds as a venial sin. We are going to have to disagree on this.
&#8212; Kasie Hunt (@kasie) <a href="https://twitter.com/kasie/status/1059156351987974147?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2018</a></blockquote>
Hunt also brought up that she&#8217;d have made the same comment if the veteran being mocked was a Democrat &#8212; for example, Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who lost both legs in combat while serving in the Middle East.
In this back-and-forth, Crenshaw might be the best example: he took the heat, and then let it go.

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