As NBC Nightly News rounded out their three stories on the apparent suicide of accused pedophile Jeffrey Epstein on Monday, chief foreign affairs correspondent and Clinton superfan Andrea Mitchell took issue with President Trump tying former President Bill Clinton to the death. Meanwhile, multiple MSNBC “journalists” were busy suggesting President Trump, Attorney General Bill Barr, and Russia were involved in conspiracies to kill Epstein.
“In the wake of Epstein's death it didn't take long for people to spread wild conspiracy theories on social media, among them, President Trump, who has a long history of fueling unfounded conspiracy claims,” decried anchor Lester Holt at the top of the segment.
Being arguably the Clintons’ number one fan, Mitchell was clearly very annoyed by Trump’s retweet of a post suggesting the Clintons were involved:
Within hours of Jeffrey Epstein's apparent suicide, President Trump was retweeting a conspiracy theory linking Bill Clinton to his death. It was immediately picked up by Russian state media going viral. A Clinton spokesperson calling the tweet “ridiculous, and of course not true”…
She then rattled off a laundry list of other conspiracies Trump had backed over the years (click “expand”):
MITCHELL: For the President, seizing on a conspiracy theory is part of a pattern. He launched his political career with a false birther claim against President Obama.
(…)
MITCHELL: In 2016 there was a bizarre claim that Republican rival, Ted Cruz's father had been involved in the Kennedy assassination.
(…)
MITCHELL: And after the election, the false charge that millions in California have voted illegally for Hillary Clinton.
(…)
MITCHELL: Other examples, that Justice Scalia may have been murdered, that vaccines cause autism, or thousands of Muslims celebrated in Jersey City on 9/11.
“But tying Bill Clinton to Epstein’s death reached a new level,” she whined. She then played a soundbite of left-wing historian and frequent MSNBC guest Jon Meacham bitterly declaring: “Certainly to accuse even by implication a predecessor of a murder conspiracy puts us in a whole different realm of reality.”
NBC’s has complained about it since Sunday morning and they have yet to issue a public statement about how their own employees were trying to implicate the sitting President, the Attorney General, and Russia in Epstein’s death.
In a Saturday morning Tweet, Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough was busy suggesting the Russians had something to do with it. “A guy who had information that would have destroyed rich and powerful men’s lives ends up dead in his jail cell. How predictably … Russian.” John Heilmann, a frequent guest and fill-in host for Deadline: White House, also thought the Russian were behind it.
Meanwhile, AM Joy host, Joy Reid was busy making the conspiracy theories a part of MSNBC’s official coverage of Epstein’s death. Singling out AG Barr, and with zero evidence, she proclaimed: “This Department of Justice does not exactly inspire confidence. Let's just be blunt. William Barr's Justice Department is not one you can readily simply rely upon and feel confident in.”
Grabien founder Tom Elliott pointed out that Reid would go on to suggest Barr may have been trying to help the President dodge being implicated by Epstein.
“Donald Trump’s name comes up whenever Jeffrey Epstein’s name comes up and other people, too. He’s no longer a threat to those people because he can’t talk about them anymore. I think one of the reasons people feel a lot of skepticism here is he’s deprived these Girls of justice, young women of justice, but he now goes silent,” Reid asserted.
Now, what was that Meacham was saying about conspiracies putting “us in a whole different realm of reality”?
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
NBC Nightly News
August 12, 2019
7:05:57 p.m. EasternLESTER HOLT: In the wake of Epstein's death it didn't take long for people to spread wild conspiracy theories on social media, among them, President Trump, who has a long history of fueling unfounded conspiracy claims. We get more from NBC's Andrea Mitchell.
[Cuts to video]
ANDREA MITCHELL: Within hours of Jeffrey Epstein's apparent suicide, President Trump was retweeting a conspiracy theory linking Bill Clinton to his death. It was immediately picked up by Russian state media going viral. A Clinton spokesperson calling the tweet “ridiculous, and of course not true”, but a top Trump adviser defending him.
(…)
MITCHELL: For the President, seizing on a conspiracy theory is part of a pattern. He launched his political career with a false birther claim against President Obama.
(…)
MITCHELL: In 2016 there was a bizarre claim that Republican rival, Ted Cruz's father had been involved in the Kennedy assassination.
(…)
MITCHELL: And after the election, the false charge that millions in California have voted illegally for Hillary Clinton.
(…)
MITCHELL: Other examples, that Justice Scalia may have been murdered, that vaccines cause autism, or thousands of Muslims celebrated in Jersey City on 9/11. But tying Bill Clinton to Epstein’s death reached a new level.
JON MEACHAM: Certainly to accuse even by implication a predecessor of a murder conspiracy puts us in a whole different realm of reality.
[Cuts back to live]
MITCHELL: Clinton and Trump had both known Epstein and Trump critics countered by blaming Mr. Trump online for Epstein's death. Marco Rubio chided both sides for spreading conspiracies. But no one did it with as big a megaphone as the President. Lester.
HOLT: Andrea Mitchell. Thank you, Andrea.
