NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck returned early Tuesday to the Fox News Channel’s Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream to call out the liberal media’s burying of the failed plot to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and how attacks on pro-lifers signal a dangerous escalation in political rhetoric.
Appearing alongside Cal-Berkley law professor John Yoo, Bream first went to Houck with comments from HBO’s Bill Maher in which he ripped The New York Times for having “buried” the threat to Kavanaugh when they would have done the opposite if it had happened to one of the liberal justices.
After Bream said a threat to any justice should be “front page news,” Houck replied that it only received front-page treatment with the Washington D.C.-area papers The Washington Post and The Washington Times whereas The Times not only relegated it to A-20 on Thursday, but took until paragraph five to get to the suspect’s motive.
Houck also gave this thoughts on why both the broadcast networks and major papers have decided to move on from Kavanaugh:
[I]f you asked a lot of these broadcast networks or newspapers, the excuse they would offer would be something rather lame in my opinion, like, you know, because it was foiled, because the lead the suspect confessed and we had all of these details, and it didn’t turn out as badly as it did. But what an indictment that is on our news media that something so serious, that turned out to, you know, not have come to fruition have to not really received a lot of coverage.
Houck added that the coverage would have been far greater if it had happened to “Justice Sotomayor...[b]ut instead, you know, it’s some threats, like the threat to the Capitol, obviously far larger in scope [that] gets, you know, three, four times more coverage on the broadcast networks than it did on a Justice Kavanaugh.”
Bream replied that news outlets can and should “cover both” before going to Yoo by citing the double standard in terms of the left’s focus on January 6 but not Kavanaugh (click “expand”):
BREAM: The Wall Street Journal editorial board on the headline says the assault on the Supreme Court it says, “January 6th was an assault on the transfer of presidential power and Congress’s duty to certify the electoral college votes under the Constitution. But what about the growing threat to the third branch of Democratic government, the Supreme Court? And especially this seeming nonchalance for last week’s arrest of an armed man outside the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh?” John, can they not walk and chew gum? I think we can.
YOO: The Wall Street Journal has a point. We are in the middle of watching these nationally televised hearings about political violence to interfere with constitutional process of the changing government. That’s fine. I’m glad that Congress is finally putting his cards on the table and showing us but it’s been spending months investigating. But at the same time, we should follow the same standards when it comes to Justice Kavanaugh, which the assassination attempt, I don’t think a justice — someone’s tried to kill justice for over 100, more than 100 years. I think it was actually in the late 19th century you have an effort to try to kill a justice of the Supreme Court to get the court to change his decision in one of the most important Supreme Court cases in our history. That is also using political violence to try to interfere with constitutional government. I think, at least, you should apply the same standards to both stories.
Bream shifted gears to the rise in attacks on crisis pregnancy centers and, not surprisingly, a lack of coverage in the establishment media.
Houck responded by noting that the issue has fetched “only a couple of seconds here or there” on the broadcast networks, adding that “this is, again, another example of they should be able to walk and chew gum at the same time and...look inward to realize, you know, political violence...is getting so heated” that we’re near a breaking point.
Tying things back to Maher, he said this odious change “in our body politic” on such issues has led to a case of “strange bedfellows” with Americans standing up when so many have decided to remain silent.
Yoo closed out the segment by slamming the Departments of Justice and of Homeland Security, demanding they “spend just a portion of the resources they’ve poured into investigating January 6th to investigate these groups.”
“We should ask the same questions about any groups that are threatening violence, again to try to intimidate or pressure one of our three branches...I think that is a serious threat to our constitutional government,” he said.
To see the transcript of the segment from FNC on June 14, click “expand.”
FNC’s Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream
June 14, 2022
12:06 a.m. EasternSHANNON BREAM: Following our reporting on this whole thing Friday, the past weekend rolled on with an abundance of broadcast time dedicated to the January 6th Committee hearings, but almost nothing on the threat to Justice Kavanaugh and his life, and his family. Let’s discuss that glaring dichotomy tonight with NewsBusters Managing Editor Curtis Houck, and Cal Berkeley Law Professor John Yoo. Great to have you both back.
CURTIS HOUCK: Good evening, Shannon.
JOHN YOO: Hi, Shannon.
BREAM: OK. So, let’s play something from Bill Maher talking about the spotty coverage on Justice Kavanaugh and the attempt on his life.
BILL MAHER [on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, 06/10/22]: The New York Times buried this.
JOSH BARRO [on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, 06/10/22]: Yes, it was like the tiny thing below the fold.
MAHER [on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, 06/10/22]: If this had been a liberal Supreme Court Justice that someone came to kill, it would have been on, it would have been on the front page. And that’s what’s so disappointing about a paper like the New York Times, because they just wear their bias on their sleeves. And they -- if it’s not part of something that feeds our narrative, (BLEEP) it.
BREAM: Oh, we got a little bleep there. OK. Curtis, I mean, do you agree? I feel like any Supreme Court, Justice Breyer, Sotomayor, Kavanaugh, whoever it is, I mean, that feels like front page news.
HOUCK: Right. Yes, and it was covered in The Washington Post, in The Washington Times here in D.C. But you know, The New York Times really decided to just bury it on a 20 with a really short story and a bottom white corner that took multiple paragraphs to even get to the motive. You know, if you asked a lot of these broadcast networks or newspapers, the excuse they would offer would be something rather lame in my opinion, like, you know, because it was foiled, because the lead the suspect confessed and we had all of these details, and it didn’t turn out as badly as it did. But what an indictment that is on our news media that something so serious, that turned out to, you know, not have come to fruition have to not really received a lot of coverage. And again, it just shows the bias that we all know if this had been Justice Sotomayor, any of the justices, it would have gotten way more coverage. But instead, you know, it’s some threats, like the threat to the Capitol, obviously far larger in scope gets, you know, three, four times more coverage on the broadcast networks than it did on a Justice Kavanaugh.
BREAM: Well, and you can cover both. I mean, these are both big stories. You can’t do that. The Wall Street Journal editorial board on the headline says the assault on the Supreme Court it says, “January 6th was an assault on the transfer of presidential power and Congress’s duty to certify the electoral college votes under the Constitution. But what about the growing threat to the third branch of Democratic government, the Supreme Court? And especially this seeming nonchalance for last week’s arrest of an armed man outside the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh?” John, can they not walk and chew gum? I think we can.
YOO: The Wall Street Journal has a point. We are in the middle of watching these nationally televised hearings about political violence to interfere with constitutional process of the changing government. That’s fine. I’m glad that Congress is finally putting his cards on the table and showing us but it’s been spending months investigating. But at the same time, we should follow the same standards when it comes to Justice Kavanaugh, which the assassination attempt, I don’t think a justice — someone’s tried to kill justice for over 100, more than 100 years. I think it was actually in the late 19th century you have an effort to try to kill a justice of the Supreme Court to get the court to change his decision in one of the most important Supreme Court cases in our history. That is also using political violence to try to interfere with constitutional government. I think, at least, you should apply the same standards to both stories.
BREAM: Well, and there’s another story that’s not getting a lot of attention. We’ve got video and — that shows you some of the clinics, the pregnancy, pro-life clinics that are out there that have been firebombed, vandalized, spray painted with messages. Like if, if abortion is not safe, you’re not safe. I mean, there’s been a lot of destruction. The Washington Examiner writing about this as, “Attacks against crisis pregnancy center, some of them faith-based, have risen steadily since the leak of a draft opinion the case Dobbs v. Jackson, Women’s Health Organization — that’s the abortion case — which suggests the court is considering overturning the legal precedent that prevents states from banning abortion. A Washington Examiner review identified recent incidents of arson, vandalism, or both at, at least 13 anti-abortion centers across the country.” Curtis, I haven’t seen a lot of reporting on that either.
HOUCK: No, we’re really getting only a couple of seconds here or there. The only time we’re actually getting more than a few seconds or a sentence or two is here on the Fox News Channel. I mean, really, this is, again, another example of they should be able to walk and chew gum at the same time and consider — really look inward to realize, you know, political violence in this point — at the point in the country is getting so heated, you know, whether it’s a Supreme Court justice or journalists or you know, pro-life groups now that are being attacked. All sides, everybody’s really feeling like, we’re really — something’s about to blow. And I think it would behoove everyone to give everything equal time and for people to just simply calm down. But with Bill Maher, you know, it just shows like this — it’s creating strange bedfellows across the political spectrum, people realizing that something’s going on in our body politic and it has to stop.
BREAM: Well, and the Catholic Telegraph writes about this, these “anarchist groups and individuals using the moniker Jane’s Revenge are among those who are claiming to plan a quote, night of rage to support — to respond to the Supreme Court’s expected overturning of Roe v. Wade. Their grandiose rhetoric portrays churches, crisis pregnancy centers and pro-life groups as their enemy. And these actors seem to be behind at least six vandalism or arson attacks on pro-life groups, crisis pregnancy centers and churches.” John a night of rage sounds rather ominous. I mean, DHS has been warning there could be violence to come from groups, they say on both sides of this.
YOO: I wish the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security spend just a portion of the resources they’ve poured into investigating January 6th to investigate these groups. Take for example, the group that’s put the addresses of the justices’ homes on the Internet. That’s how the assassin, would be assassin found Justice Kavanaugh’s home. I think that group should be investigated. Are they in some way connected, in any way to other, to officials? Are they connected to people counting out violence? Those are the same questions that people have been asking you about January 6th. We should ask the same questions about any groups that are threatening violence, again to try to intimidate or pressure one of our three branches of government to try to change your decision. I think that is a serious threat to our constitutional government. I’m very surprised that Justice Department is not taking a firmer stance
BREAM: I know, especially because there is a law on the books with very clear language that they could go out and arrest these people right now. If nothing else, just to send a message and calm things down. Gentlemen, we’re not going to solve it tonight. But we’re going to keep tracking it. Curtis and John, thank you both very much.
HOUCK: Thanks, Shannon.
YOO: Thanks, Shannon.
