Late Monday, interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba announced assault charges against far-left Congresswoman LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) in relation to a physical confrontation outside an Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) facility.
But through Wednesday morning, ABC’s top news shows — Good Morning America and World News Tonight — had yet to cover it while their competitors on CBS and NBC ran cover for McIver standing up to illegal immigrants.
CBS had one minute and 53 seconds on its flagship shows CBS Mornings and the CBS Evening News. That number balloons to four minute and 49 seconds if the Plus editions of both shows were included.
Tuesday’s CBS Mornings opened with the chaotic scene as McIver, two other House Democrats, and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, followed by co-host Nate Burleson boasting McIver “is strongly disputing the charges.”
Despite having offered years of vociferous coverage of every nook and cranny of January 6 prosecutions, Justice correspondent Scott MacFarlane was up in arms about this prosecution (click “expand”):
We could see those charging documents as early as this morning in this case of 38-year-old Lamonica McIver, a first-term Democrat from New Jersey. The video from earlier this month outside the Delaney Immigration Facility shows the confrontation with federal agents, McIver, a couple other members of Congress, and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. The group was there for a routine inspection of the facility, but after Baraka was arrested, the scuffle ensued. McIver calls this a “purely political prosecution,” and says it was the agents who “created an unnecessary and unsafe confrontation.” The misdemeanor case against Baraka was dropped Monday by the U.S. Attorney, she said, “for the sake of moving forward,” but at the same time the U.S. Attorney announced this assault prosecution of McIver. The Department of Homeland Security argues the group stormed the gates and that no one is above the law, but Democrats are rallying behind McIver. And Gayle, they’re saying this is an attempt by the Trump administration to intimidate members of Congress.
He repeated the same shtick on CBS Mornings Plus, including his bit that “Democrats...have defended McIver, saying this is the Trump administration trying to intimidate members of Congress.”
The CBS Evening News had an 18-second brief courtesy of co-anchor Maurice DuBois:
Federal authorities have charged Congresswoman LaMonica McIver with assaulting federal officers during a scuffle earlier this month outside an immigration detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. LaMonica McIver is accused of hitting the officers with her forearms. The New Jersey Democrat denies the allegation.
MacFarlane and CBS Evening News Plus anchor John Dickerson later went around on this case, also rushing to the defense of someone laying her body on the line for illegals, not American citizens (click “expand”):
DICKERSON : Federal prosecutors have charged New Jersey Congresswoman LaMonica McIver with felony assault after a skirmish outside that Newark ICE facility where the city’s mayor was arrested earlier this month. McIver says the charges are purely political. Here now, with more on this is Scott MacFarlane. So Scott, what comes next in this whole thing?
MACFARLANE: At some point, they have to put on the calendar a preliminary hearing and an arraignment. This has all been so untraditional, John. Not only is this case untraditional, a member of Congress being prosecuted by the executive branch for alleged crimes against executive branch agents, but the way they rolled this out has departed from tradition at the Department of Justice. This was announced by the U.S. attorney for New Jersey in a social media post last night. The charging documents weren’t revealed until this morning. Usually, the Department of Justice lets its filings do the talking. But here’s the key excerpt from the charging document. They’re alleging that Congresswoman McIver used her forearm against a federal agent during that confrontation on May 9 and that ultimately she tried to forcibly grab the agent, then used her forearms against a second federal agent. John, this is why she faces two federal criminal charges. She says this is all a political prosecution and Democrats are supporting her.
NBC, meanwhile, combined for one minute and 49 seconds of McIver coverage.
Tuesday’s Today had this 30-second brief from Sunday host Willie Geist:
The Justice Department filed charges yesterday against a Democratic Congressman LaMonica McIver of New Jersey. McIver, seen here in the red blazer, is accused of assaulting and interfering with law enforcement officials earlier this month at an ICE facility in Newark. McIver said she was there to inspect the treatment of detainees at Delaney Hall. She says it was ICE agents who created an unsafe confrontation. Newark mayor, Ras Baraka, was arrested during the clash, but his trespassing charge was later dropped.
Hours later, NBC Nightly News had a partial segment with this lead-in from anchor Lester Holt: “Now to those new assault charges against a member of Congress. The Justice Department alleges a New Jersey lawmaker hit ICE agents trying to make an arrest. But Democrats are slamming the prosecution as political intimidation.”
Senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez described the scene as a “heated confrontation....captured on body cameras” in which “[y]ou can see Democratic Congresswoman Lemonica McIver, there in the red jacket, in a shuffle with ICE agents.”
After a clip of President Trump saying McIver “was out of control” and “the days of that crap” disrespecting law enforcement “are over.”
“But the congresswoman says she did nothing wrong and is accusing federal agents of escalating the situation,” Gutierrez countered plus a clip of McIver saying she’s a victim of “political intimidation.”
“According to the criminal complaint, McIver hit officers while trying to stop them from arresting the Newark mayor Ros Baraka trespassing. Today, charges against Baraka were dropped. The complaint includes photos of what looks like McIver’s forearm making contact with an officer's back...The Justice Department did not follow its standard practice of consulting its public integrity section before charging her, according to a source familiar with the matter,” he added, kicking further dirt on this.
A word of the wise to the liberal media they so often loved hitting the right with for the last four years amid January 6 prosecutions and the four criminal indictments against Trump: No one is above the law.
