On Thursday night and Friday morning, NBC News tried their best to go after Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson by attempting to make a mountain out of a molehill of his relationship with a man who was convicted nearly a decade ago of insurance fraud while ignoring the ongoing investigation of Hillary Clinton over her private e-mail server.
Even though competitors ABC and CBS didn’t cover this story, NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt hyped on Thursday that “Republican frontrunner Ben Carson is facing new questions about his friendship with a convicted felon.”
Senior White House correspondent Chris Jansing worked to explain in the newscast’s only report on the 2016 campaign that “Ben Carson calls Alfonso Costa his very best friend” and has been “a driving force behind Carson’s charity, owner of an Italian resort where Carson often vacations, but he’s also a convicted felon.”
As for Costa’s crimes, he was working as an oral surgeon when he “pled guilty in 2008 scamming more than $40,000 from insurance companies.” Concerning his punishment, Jansing reported that he “voided prison [by] getting three years of probation, including a year under house arrest in this mansion outside of Pittsburgh and even that sentence was reduced by a year because of his work with Carson's charity.”
The so-called hook and smoking gun concerning Carson came when Jansing touted an excerpt from one of Carson’s books in 2013:
[B]ut four years after Carson appealed for leniency for his friend, he argued the opposite for everyone else in a best-selling book calling for a “Saudi Arabian solution” for fraud. “Not advocate chopping off people's limbs, but...stiff penalties...no less than ten years in prison, and loss of all of one's personal possessions.”
NBC national correspondent Peter Alexander offered a 44-second bit on this story during Friday’s Today:
Ben Carson’s facing questions for defending his best friend, a convicted felon. Oral surgeon Alfonso Costa pleaded guilty to insurance fraud nearly a decade ago before Carson petitioned a federal judge for leniency, citing Costa’s “honesty and integrity.” Prosecutors wanted prison time, but the judge gave him probation instead. But in Carson's 2013 book American the Beautiful, the neurosurgeon calls for a “Saudi Arabian solution” for medical fraud, “not the chopping off people's limbs — but...no less than ten years in prison, and loss of all one's personal possessions.” In a statement to NBC News, Costa and his lawyer declined comment. Carson responded, calling Costa his very best friend, adding: “I’ve always and will continue to stand by him. That's what real friends do.”
Of course, this attempt to turn it into a huge scandal comes as all three networks have largely stayed away from the latest developments in the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal as Fox News cited sources on Thursday that the FBI has expanded its probe of her e-mail server and launched an independent review of them “with agents exploring whether multiple statements violate[d] a federal false statements statute.”
The transcript of the segment from November 12's NBC Nightly News can be found below.
NBC Nightly News
November 12, 20157:11 p.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: Double Standard?]
LESTER HOLT: Republican frontrunner Ben Carson is facing new questions about his friendship with a convicted felon. Carson has taken a hard line on health care fraud, yet as NBC’s Chris Jansing explains, he fought to keep his friend from going to prison for that very same offense.
CHRIS JANSING: Ben Carson calls Alfonso Costa his very best friend. He’s a driving force behind Carson's charity, owner of an Italian resort where Carson often vacations, but he’s also a convicted felon. Working out of this office as an oral surgeon, Costa pled guilty in 2008 scamming more than $40,000 from insurance companies. NBC spoke exclusively to the prosecutor today.
FORMER CRIMINAL PROSECUTOR JAMES GARRETT: He caused the insurance companies to finance the expansion of his business.
JANSING: As first reported by the Associated Press, in a bid for leniency, Ben Carson wrote a letter to the judge saying “next to my wife of 32 years, there is no one on this planet that I trust more.” He testified at Costa's sentencing. They became friends because “our value systems were almost identical,” adding, “I love him.”
GARRETT: Fraud is fraud and Dr. Costa pleaded guilty to fraud.
JANSING: Cost's's voided prison getting three years of probation, including a year under house arrest in this mansion outside of Pittsburgh and even that sentence was reduced by a year because of his work with Carson's charity, but four years after Carson appealed for leniency for his friend, he argued the opposite for everyone else in a best-selling book calling for a “Saudi Arabian solution” for fraud. “Not advocate chopping off people's limbs, but...stiff penalties...no less than ten years in prison, and loss of all of one's personal possessions.” Costa and his lawyer have declined comment. No comment from Carson, arriving at a fundraiser tonight, but in a statement today said of Costa: “I know his heart. I am proud to call him my friend. I have always and will continue to stand by him. That is what real friends do.” It's been a lucrative friendship. When Ben Carson filed papers to run for president, they showed that he and his wife earned between $200,000 and $2 million a year from his business association with Costa. Lester?
HOLT: Alright, Chris Jansing, thank you.
The relevant transcript of the segment from NBC’s Today on November 13 can be found below.
NBC’s Today
November 13, 2015
7:09 a.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Decision 2016; Ben Carson in the Crosshairs; Stands by “Best Friend” Doctor Convicted of Fraud]
PETER ALEXANDER: Meanwhile, Ben Carson’s facing questions for defending his best friend, a convicted felon. Oral surgeon Alfonso Costa pleaded guilty to insurance fraud nearly a decade ago before Carson petitioned a federal judge for leniency, citing Costa’s “honesty and integrity.” Prosecutors wanted prison time, but the judge gave him probation instead. But in Carson's 2013 book American the Beautiful, the neurosurgeon calls for a “Saudi Arabian solution” for medical fraud, “not the chopping off people's limbs — but...no less than ten years in prison, and loss of all one's personal possessions.” In a statement to NBC News, Costa and his lawyer declined comment. Carson responded, calling Costa his very best friend, adding: “I’ve always and will continue to stand by him. That's what real friends do.”
