The liberal media spent two years smearing President Trump and trying to delegitimize his presidency with Robert Mueller's investigation, which ending up exonerating him on collusion. Naturally, something like that calls for a victory lap and several spiked footballs. But Monday’s NBC Nightly News was not having any of it as chief White House correspondent Hallie Jackson chided the President’s “vindictiveness” in victory.
“[B]asking in one of his biggest political wins, the President's elated but irritated,” she began her report. “Joined in the Oval Office today by his outside attorneys, Rudy Giuliani and Jay Sekulow, the President expressed vindication and vindictiveness against those who investigated him.”
Her evidence was a soundbite of Trump blasting those who wanted to see him fall: “There are a lot of people out there that have done some very, very evil things, very bad things. I would say treasonous things against our country. [SCREEN WIPE] And, I'm saying why haven't they been looked at?”
Jackson made sure to note that the “fallout from the Mueller report is far from over”, with “top Democrats are now demanding the attorney general release the special counsel's full report to Congress no later than next Tuesday, April 2nd.”
Beyond that, Democrats were concocting conspiracies about Attorney General William Barr’s motives in not prosecuting on obstruction of justice. Accusations the liberal media were more than happy to entertain. “We cannot simply rely on what may be a hasty partisan interpretation of the facts,” New York Congressman Jerry Nadler pompously proclaimed in the NBC report.
Of course, Jackson failed to note the irony of a partisan claiming they were going to investigate partisanship.
But Jackson did sound aghast at South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham’s plan to investigate the investigation: “On the Republican side, Senator Lindsey Graham’s calling for another special counsel to investigate how the FBI and Justice Department handled the opening of the Russia investigation during the 2016 campaign.”
Jackson also hyped the Democrats’ other investigations of President Trump. “At least four congressional committees are examining the President's conduct and issues like potential abuses of power. But even as those investigations continue, the President and his allies are still seizing on the end of Mueller's work,” she huffed.
That’s a ridiculous response from a network that filled its cable channel with anti-Trump conspiracy theories day after day, week after week, and month after month for two years. That’s not to mention how they had anchors, reporters, analysts, and commentators alike suggest the President was a puppet and an asset of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
NBC Nightly News
March 25, 2019
7:04:37 p.m. Eastern [2 minutes 5 seconds]HALLIE JACKSON: I'm Hallie Jackson at the White House where, basking in one of his biggest political wins, the President's elated but irritated.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: What they did, it was a false narrative. It was a terrible thing. We can never let this happen to another president again.
JACKSON: Joined in the Oval Office today by his outside attorneys, Rudy Giuliani and Jay Sekulow, the President expressed vindication and vindictiveness against those who investigated him.
TRUMP: There are a lot of people out there that have done some very, very evil things, very bad things. I would say treasonous things against our country. [Transition] And, I'm saying why haven't they been looked at?
JACKSON: On Robert Mueller himself, a shift. After two years of this --
TRUMP: But sadly, Mr. Mueller's conflicted.
JACKSON: A different tone today. Asked if he thinks Mueller acted honorably, the President said yes.
TRUMP: Yes, he did. Yes, he did.
JACKSON: Fallout from the Mueller report is far from over. NBC News has learned top Democrats are now demanding the attorney general release the special counsel's full report to Congress no later than next Tuesday, April 2nd.
REP. JERRY NADLER: We cannot simply rely on what may be a hasty partisan interpretation of the facts.
JACKSON: On the Republican side, Senator Lindsey Graham’s calling for another special counsel to investigate how the FBI and Justice Department handled the opening of the Russia investigation during the 2016 campaign.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM: Going forward, hopefully in a bipartisan fashion, we'll begin to unpack the other side of the story.
JACKSON: At least four Congressional committees are examining the President's conduct and issues like potential abuses of power. But even as those investigations continue, the President and his allies are still seizing on the end of Mueller's work. A senior campaign official tells NBC News they're planning to feature the findings at a rally Thursday in Michigan, sure to be celebratory, just like at the White House today.
[Cuts to video]
As for the potential the President might pardon some of his former aides and associates convicted in the Russia investigation, he said today he hasn't given it any thought. Lester?
LESTER HOLT: Hallie Jackson at the White House tonight, thanks.
