In addition to hosting the Finnish President Sauli Niinisto on Monday, President Trump spoke numerous times about the rescue and recovery efforts underway in the State of Texas following the devastation of Hurricane Harvey. But during NBC Nightly News, the network didn’t really want to bother with all of that, so they chose to focus on hammering him for his controversial pardon of former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
NBC only ran one story about the President that totaled two minutes and 14 seconds of air time. Of that time, over half, one minute and 14 seconds were spent on Trump’s pardon. And with that, the remaining minute was spent on Trump’s reassurances and actions in Texas. But, 21 seconds of that minute were spent criticizing Trump for planning the visit the state on Tuesday, which was too soon in the network’s opinion.
“Even while the hurricane battered the Texas coast late Friday, President Trump created a storm of his own by pardoning controversial former sheriff Joe Arpaio,” stated White House Correspondent Hallie Jackson. “The President clearly prepared to defend the move today pulling from his suit pocket a list of other presidential pardons and commutations.”
She played a clip of the President reading off a list of the controversial pardons committed by former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. “President Clinton pardoned Mark Rich, Susan Rosenberg … President Obama commuted the sentence of Chelsea Manning,” Trump argued.
The NBC correspondent edited the video to cut out the part where Trump called out Obama for pardoning unrepentant terrorist Oscar Lopez Rivera.
He was the man who led the domestic terrorist organization Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (FALN). As the National Review reported back in January, when he was first pardoned:
He was convicted of seditious conspiracy and arms trafficking in connection with his leadership of the FALN, the notorious left-wing terrorist group that perpetrated more than 130 attacks on U.S. soil from the mid-1970s through the mid-1980s.
When the news first broke that Obama released the unrepentant domestic terrorist, NBC covered it up for him then as well. They instead chose to praise the release of intelligence leaker Chelsea Manning.
In wrapping up her report, Jackson continued NBC’s narrative of claiming Trump’s visit to Texas was going to hurt the state. “President Trump will visit the Corpus Christi area tomorrow despite critics concerns it's too soon for a presidential visit,” she sneered. “And even before his first visit to the storm zone, he's planning a second, announcing he may head to Louisiana this weekend.”
Transcript below:
NBC Nightly News
August 28, 2017
7:12:23 PM Eastern(…)
HALLIE JACKSON: Even while the hurricane battered the Texas coast late Friday, President Trump created a storm of his own by pardoning controversial former sheriff Joe Arpaio.
DONALD TRUMP: Actually in the middle of a hurricane even though it was a Friday evening I assumed the ratings would be far higher than they would be normally. The hurricane was just starting.
JACKSON: The President clearly prepared to defend the move today pulling from his suit pocket a list of other presidential pardons and commutations.
DONALD TRUMP: President Clinton pardoned Mark Rich, Susan Rosenberg. President Obama commuted the sentence of Chelsea Manning.
JACKSON: Arpaio, who got to know the President during the so-called birther movement, has been accused of treating prisoners too harshly and was recently convicted of contempt of court for defying a judge's order to stop racially profiling Latinos.
TRUMP: He is loved in Arizona. I thought he was treated unbelievably unfairly.
JACKSON: House Speaker Paul Ryan publicly rebuking the President for that pardon. And both Arizona senators, both Republican, also disagree. Despite that, defiance from Donald Trump.
TRUMP: Sheriff Joe is a patriot. Sheriff Joe loves our country. Sheriff Joe protected our borders. And sheriff Joe was very unfairly treated by the Obama administration.
[Cuts back to live]
JACKSON: President Trump will visit the Corpus Christi area tomorrow despite critics concerns it's too soon for a presidential visit. The President will avoid Houston, which has been hardest hit. And even before his first visit to the storm zone, he's planning a second, announcing he may head to Louisiana this weekend. Lester?
LESTER HOLT: Hallie Jackson tonight at the White House, thank you.
