Following President Trump’s Wednesday press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, NBC News White House correspondent Kristen Welker passive aggressively savaged Christian Broadcast Network’s David Brody and Townhall editor Katie Pavlich for questions to Trump that Welker deemed not to be “tough questions” concerning Mike Flynn.
Welker told NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt that it was “striking” to witness the President inform the media that he believe Flynn “was treated unfairly” thanks to “leaks in the media — leaks by the intelligence community to the media.”
However, what drew Welker’s ire was that Trump “didn’t answer the key question here” that “his former National Security Adviser apparently had a conversation with the Russian ambassador about sanctions before President Trump was even sworn into office.”
Of course, Welker totally ignored the fact that a, the press conference concerned U.S.-Israeli relations and b, Brody asked about Flynn in his question (when questioners on Monday’s Canadien joint press conference didn’t mention him).
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Instead, she chose to move the goal posts about what reporters should be asking the President and refuse to call out Brody and Pavlich by name when she uncorked this complaint:
Also worth noting, the President wasn’t pressed on this at all, so he didn't really have to answer tough questions about why it took him nearly three weeks to fire Flynn, despite the fact he was warned by the Department of Justice. There were a few other headlines, Lester, worth noting. The fact that you heard the President say he would be open to both a one or two-state solution, that's a large departure from U.S. Middle East policy.
It’s particularly rich that Welker would criticize Brody and Pavlich for not having sufficiently “pressed” Trump seeing as how her network featured serial liar Brian Williams sparing with George W. Bush and cozying up to Barack Obama.
Perhaps most egregiously about NBC’ was that Welker had been one-time colleagues with Chelsea Clinton. We all know how that worked out.
Whether it’s The Washington Post’s Anne Gearan asking Hillary Clinton what she’ll tell granddaughter Charlotte about the election or NPR’s Tamara Keith inquiring with Clinton how she felt about supporters getting teary-eyed, we at NewsBusters can’t recall Welker ever being upset about those instances of softballs.
Here’s the relevant portion of the transcript from the NBC News Special Report on February 15:
NBC News Special Report
February 15, 2017
12:43 p.m. Eastern
KRISTEN WELKER: Well, it was striking, Lester. That was his reaction to the fact that it he asked for his own National Security Adviser's resignation, saying he was treated unfairly. He was effectively referencing what he calls leaks in the media — leaks by the intelligence community to the media. But he didn't address the key question here. The fact that his former National Security Adviser apparently had a conversation with the Russian ambassador about sanctions before President Trump was even sworn into office. Also worth noting, the President wasn’t pressed on this at all, so he didn't really have to answer tough questions about why it took him nearly three weeks to fire Flynn, despite the fact he was warned by the Department of Justice. There were a few other headlines, Lester, worth noting. The fact that you heard the President say he would be open to both a one or two-state solution, that's a large departure from U.S. Middle East policy.
