The same networks that have repeatedly defended Eric Holder in the past are now quietly ignoring the congressional testimony of a Milwaukee sheriff who has slammed the Attorney General. Despite a combined eight hours of air time, CBS This Morning, Today and Good Morning America avoided covering David Clarke's outrage: "The incendiary rhetoric used by Eric Holder created a pathway for a false narrative that then became the rallying cry for cop haters across America."
The sheriff made his remarks while testifying at the confirmation hearings of Holder's replacement, Loretta Lynch. (The networks have mostly ignored Lynch's confirmations in general.) Only Fox News covered Clarke's broadside against the Attorney General.
Clarke derided Holder's comments in the wake of the shooting death of Michael Brown, saying of the AG's remarks: "[They] sparked unjustified hatred towards America’s law enforcement agencies and its officers." (As an example, Holder compared Brown's death to the racial murder of Emmett Till.)
Previously, the networks have fawned over Holder. On September 25, NBC's Chuck Todd told viewers that the AG is a "very non-political person." On June 14, 2012, ABC lamented that Holder has been "demonized" and "victimized" by Republicans. On April 10, 2014, CBS This Morning's Charlie Rose hyped the attorney general as "lashing out" at the GOP's "ugly" Capitol Hill "culture."
It's not as though there wasn't time for the story on Friday. All three networks devoted ample coverage to every aspect of the Super Bowl.
A transcript of the January 30 Fox and Friends brief is below:
6:09
HEATHER CHILDERS: And you have seen him here on Fox and Friends. But Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke was on Capitol Hill yesterday to call out Eric Holder for what he calls is a, quote, "anti-cop" attitude. This all unfolded at the confirmation hearing for the attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch.
DAVID CLARKE (Milwaukee County, WI Sheriff): The incendiary rhetoric used by Eric Holder created a pathway for a false narrative that then became the rallying cry for cop haters across America.
CHILDERS: The confirmation vote for Lynch is next month.
