Believe it or not, but the “big three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC each covered on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning the disturbing discovery of cocaine inside the West Wing of the White House with a news brief, partial segment, or full report. But despite the six minutes and 25 seconds of coverage and even a few jokes, there hasn’t been a mention of Hunter Biden.
CBS and NBC, however, have dutifully accepted the spin of the Biden regime put out in the press, which is the implication that the cocaine had to have been left by a tourist on a trip around the White House and not, say, the First Family, a staffer, or even — gasp — a journalist. If this happened under a Republican president, there’s no doubt this would be covered differently.
On NBC Nightly News, senior White House correspondent Kelly O’Donnell assured everyone in a partial segment on the coke:
This bag was found in a common area of the West Wing where many employees and guests pass through. Cameras and entrance logs will be checked to try to figure out who may have left it and when. It was found Sunday night when the President and his family were not here.
O’Donnell was back for Wednesday’s Today to cover the “unusual who done it in the West Wing” with a baggie of cocaine found during “a routine inspection...in a common area of the West Wing where many staffers and visitors pass through daily.”
“Investigators will check cameras and entrance logs to try to determine how the suspected drug was left in a secure area. President Biden and his family were away at the time. But home to host a massive summer party on the Fourth of July,” she added.
ABC had 64 seconds in a full report for Tuesday’s World News Tonight and 42 seconds in a partial segment during Wednesday’s Good Morning America, but didn’t include the tourist excuse (though they too refused to speculate).
On Tuesday night, White House correspondent Karen Travers covered the “very unusual incident” and said the matter “was taken very seriously” and so much so that “[t]here was a partial evacuation of that area in the West Wing where the substance was found, and also the area of the West Wing where White House reporters work”.
Wednesday morning fell to Travers’s colleague, Rachel Scott, who said the matter was being “investigat[ed],” and “[t]he White House was briefly evacuated.”
CBS’s Jericka Duncan had a 23-second brief on Tuesday’s CBS Evening News that boasted of anonymous sources insisting the cocaine “was discovered in a common work space in the West Wing on Sunday night” in an “area is accessible to tour groups.”
CBS Mornings largely stuck to the tourist excuse. Co-host and Democratic donor Gayle King hyped the “surprising discovery” of cocaine “in an area...accessible, rather, to tour groups, and the President and his family were out of town at the time.”
Correspondent Skyler Henry doubled down:
The substance, which is believed to be cocaine was found Sunday evening in a routine check by the Secret Service, sparking a precautionary closure of the White House complex altogether...According to two law enforcement officials briefed, the bag of powder was found in a work area of the West Wing that could have been accessible to many people, including staff or visitors, even tourists.
Henry didn’t have the final word, however, as co-host Tony Dokoupil called out this as a cop-out (click “expand”):
DOKOUPIL: They should be able to sort this one out.
KING: Pretty quickly.
DOKOUPIL: I’m hung up on the believed to be comment. How long does it take to find out? Also, they’re kind of blaming it on the tourists.
NATE BURLESON: On the tourists?
DOKOUPIL: On the public area?
KING: Yes. Are people careless with their cocaine? I mean —
DOKOUPIL: You know, it’s — it’s an expensive drug.
KING: — so many questions there. So many questions.
BURLESON: A lot of questions.
DOKOUPIL: We are not quite to the like Jimmy Carter level where multiple officials in the White House are in trouble and one person resigned, but —
BURLESON: — and I don’t wanna hear — I don’t want to hear from, you know, President Biden or Trump — I would like to hear from one person in particular.
KING: Who?
BURLESON: That bill that used to sit on Capitol Hill from Schoolhouse Rock. [DOKOUPIL LAUGHS] Can you put this in layman’s terms what happened cause I’m a little confused.
DOKOUPIL: He was already rolled up in the cartoon. He was ready to go. Alright —
KING: It lends itself to so many comments, doesn’t it?
These shameless attempts to spin on behalf of the White House and refusing to engage in speculation (when they certainly would have under a Republican president) were made possible thanks to Allstate (on NBC), Crest (on CBS), and Pfizer’s Paxlovid (on ABC). Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant transcripts from July 4, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC). To see the relevant transcripts from July 5, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).
