With Donald Trump as the presumptive nominee of the GOP, the liberal media has finally decided to do what they neglected to do during the nomination process, vet his past. With the release of the so called “Trump Tapes,” audio recordings that purport to show Trump pretending to be his own publicist, it’s clear the media has taken a much greater interest in his dealings than those of Hillary Clinton. On Fox News Sunday pundit Brit Hume scolded the media for their bias.
[Members of the] mainstream media have shown precious little interest in stories like the Benghazi story. And, while it was The New York Times, I guess, that broke the story about the Clinton Foundation and it's multitude of dealings, some of them quite controversial, the thread there seems to have largely been lost.
And Hume appears to be right.
When author Peter Schweizer wrote Throw Them All Out, a book about how members of Congress get rich off insider knowledge, like on stock and land deals, there was an uproar. The book showed the barely legal dealings of politicians on both sides of the aisle, but media chose to focus mostly on Republicans. It ultimately resulted in a bill being passed by Congress to stop it, but it was later overturned.
But when Schweizer published Clinton Cash, a book which pointed out a correlation between donations to the Clinton Foundation and State Department activities, some liberal media vets attacked, starting with ABC's George Stephanopoulos.
Hume does have some hope for the situation. “So, perhaps the slack will be taken up on that. A guy can hope, right,” he asked to host Chris Wallace. Maybe one day the liberal media will hold the Clintons to the same standard as Republicans, but we may have to wait a long, long time for that.
Transcript below:
Fox News
Fox News Sunday
May 15, 2016
9:34:38 AM EasternCHRIS WALLACE: Brit, do you think that this kind of probing into Trump's life is legitimate? And what about complaints that you hear from a lot of conservatives that this is the mainstream media trying to sink Trump and help elect -- and we heard this to a certain degree from newt Gingrich just now -- and help Clinton?
BRIT HUME: I think it's legitimate. And in the case of Trump –
WALLACE: The probing is legitimate?
HUME: Yes, I think it's utterly legitimate. And I think when you think of Trump who for all of his celebrity is nonetheless a newcomer to politics who is -- you know, the fullness of who is record has really not been fully explored and I think that's worthwhile. You know, I hope and trust that a similar effort will be made with Secretary Clinton. I cannot -- the record on this, however, is not so good. The media have shown -- mainstream media have shown precious little interest in stories like the Benghazi story. And, while it was The New York Times, I guess, that broke the story about the Clinton Foundation and it's multitude of dealings, some of them quite controversial. The thread there seems to have largely been lost. So, perhaps the slack will be taken up on that. A guy can hope, right?
