They either know they’re pushing a false claim or they need to get their heads checked. On Monday evening, the liberal broadcast networks of ABC and NBC continued their fake news campaign by pushing a false claim that President Trump only recently admitted the infamous Trump Tower meeting was for opposition research, when, in fact, he admitted it over a year ago.
Over the weekend, President Trump tweeted out a defense of his son, Don Jr. and his meeting with a Russia linked lawyer at Trump Tower, saying “This was a meeting to get information on an opponent.” It was something both men admitted back in 2017 after many shifting explanations. “For me, this was opposition research,” Don Jr. said at the time to Fox News. And the President spoke about it on stage saying, “It's called opposition research, or even research into your opponent.”
“As that courtroom drama plays out, President Trump has made an about-face in that much-discussed meeting between his son, Don Jr. and a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower back in June 2016,” declared anchor Lester Holt during NBC Nightly News. “The President now admitted it was all about getting information on Hillary Clinton…”
Despite the fact that what he'd said was untrue, Holt boasted that NBC's pompous White House correspondent, Peter Alexander would “explain” “that's not the story he was telling before now.”
After mocking how the President couldn’t enjoy his weekend because of the Special Counsel probe, Alexander suggested it was a “stunning reversal” that the President finally “admitted outright that it was about getting dirt on Hillary Clinton.” “A far cry from the misleading explanation he dictated from Air Force One on his son's behalf last summer,” he chided.
Meanwhile, on ABC’s World News Tonight, the same old story was being framed absurdly as a stunning new revelation. “The other major headline involving the President tonight? The meeting at Trump Tower with Russians. The President now tweeting that the meeting was about getting dirt on Hillary Clinton,” announced sensationalist anchor David Muir.
“As President Trump dials up his attacks on special counsel Robert Mueller … He’s now bluntly acknowledging that a Trump Tower meeting central the investigation was, in fact, about getting dirt on Hillary Clinton from the Russians,” ABC chief White House correspondent Jon Karl falsely suggested. This guy is going to be the President of the White House Correspondents Association next year.
What made ABC’s reporting even more unbelievable was that they actually played soundbites of both Trump’s admitting to what the meeting was about, back in 2017.
DONALD TRUMP JR.: For me, this was opposition research.
DONALD TRUMP: It's called opposition research, or even research into your opponent.
But ABC used the soundbites to rebuke the Trumps on their claim it was normal for campaigns to receive opposition research from foreign powers. “Campaigns do gather opposition research all the time, but they don't gather it from foreign governments, especially ones hostile to the United State,” Karl stated.
NBC’s Alexander made the same argument, “it's illegal for a campaign to accept or even solicit a gift of any value from a foreign person or government.” But of course, neither network mentioned how Clinton and the Democrats received a salacious anti-Trump dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele with the help of Russian assets.
Both liberal news outlets shamelessly are pushing an easily disproven claim. And they wonder why the public doesn’t trust them.
The transcripts are below, click "expand" to read:
NBC Nightly News
August 6, 2018
7:06:10 p.m. EasternLESTER HOLT: As that courtroom drama plays out, President Trump has made an about-face in that much-discussed meeting between his son, Don Jr. and a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower back in June 2016. The President now admitted it was all about getting information on Hillary Clinton but as our Peter Alexander explains, that's not the story he was telling before now.
[Cuts to video]
PETER ALEXANDER: President Trump today on vacation but hardly in vacation mode. No public appearances but plenty of public complaints. Watching cable news coverage, still fuming about Robert Mueller's inquiry even after himself reigniting controversy about that 2016 Trump Tower meeting between his son and the Russian lawyer tied to the Kremlin. Donald Trump Jr. today trying to clean up after his father admitted outright that it was about getting dirt on Hillary Clinton. Blamed the media instead.
(…)
ALEXANDER: The President's stunning reversal coming by tweet. “This was a meeting to get information on an opponent.” A far cry from the misleading explanation he dictated from Air Force One on his son's behalf last summer. The President and his aides at the time insisting that meeting, now central to Mueller’s investigation, was primarily about Russian adoptions.
(…)
ALEXANDER: The President's new argument, that oppo research effort was “totally legal and done all the time in politics”. But it's illegal for a campaign to accept or even solicit a gift of any value from a foreign person or government.
(…)
ABC
World News Tonight
August 6, 2018
6:34:24 p.m. EasternDAVID MUIR: The other major headline involving the President tonight? The meeting at Trump Tower with Russians. The President now tweeting that the meeting was about getting dirt on Hillary Clinton. The President's son, Donald Trump Jr. was at that meeting. The President's aides once acknowledged the President helped his son explain the meeting months later. The President has argued getting opposition research on your opponent is perfectly legal, but this would have involved a foreign adversary, potentially helping in a U.S. election. Here's ABC's chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl on this front.
[Cuts to video]
JON KARL: As President Trump dials up his attacks on special counsel Robert Mueller --
DONALD TRUMP: The Russian witch hunt.
KARL: He’s now bluntly acknowledging that a Trump Tower meeting central the investigation was, in fact, about getting dirt on Hillary Clinton from the Russians. "This was meeting to get information on an opponent," the President tweeted over the weekend, "Totally legal and done all the time in politics and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!" That explanation directly contradicts what Trump Jr. And the White House said when the meeting was first revealed last year.
(…)
DONALD TRUMP JR.: For me, this was opposition research.
TRUMP: It's called opposition research, or even research into your opponent.
KARL: Campaigns do gather opposition research all the time, but they don't gather it from foreign governments, especially ones hostile to the United States. Conspiring to get campaign help from a foreign government would likely be illegal, although the President's legal team insists it might not be.
(…)
KARL: And any such offer from a foreign government, David, would raise huge red flags on any campaign. It is just not something that is commonly done. It is something that is not done because of those legal concerns.
(…)
