The New York Times spun the crank on the liberal media outrage machine one more time, on Monday, when they published a story panicking over Attorney General William Barr speaking to Australia during the course of his investigation into the origins of the Russia probe. And while ABC, CBS, and NBC were up in arms that same evening, the panel on the Fox News Channel’s Special Report put the brakes on their narrative with some inconvenient truth.
Near the top of the panel discussion, anchor Bret Baier read off the Times headline (“Trump pressed Australian leader to help Barr investigate Mueller inquiry’s origins”) and noted, “it got a lot of pickup on social media press and press all over.”
He then quipped, “One thing to note, though, he said something like this publicly right here at the White House not too long ago.” Baier then played a soundbite of President Trump in a May 24 press gaggle telling them who he wanted Barr to speak too (click “expand”):
The Attorney General is one of the most respected people in this country. And he has been for a long period of time. He is going to look at a lot of documents, some he might find interesting, maybe he will find none interesting. But for over a year, people have asked me to declassify, so what I’ve done is declassified everything. He can look. And I hope that he looks at the U.K., and I hope that he looks at Australia, and I hope that he looks at Ukraine. I hope that he looks at everything, because there was a hoax that was perpetrated on our country.
“Now, DOJ out with a statement saying that it wasn’t pressure, they were asking for cooperation,” Baier added as he proceeded to introduce the panel.
The Federalist senior editor and panelist Mollie Hemingway opened by mocking the newspaper for their dud of a “bombshell” report:
Well, it is interesting this most recent story that came out from The New York Times that promised this bombshell, this reporting that Trump and the Department of Justice are looking into the origins of this 2016 collusion conspiracy theory, that Donald Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election. It is not a bombshell, as you note, it has been reported with months prior to now.
Hemingway argued that “it’s important that this be investigated” because “we had for several years a dangerous and damaging conspiracy theory that was perpetrated throughout the media, and by powerful Democratic politicians, and powerful people in our own government, and it was done in conjunction with some people in other countries.”
“It’s important, if we are to have free and fair elections, that we understand how this dangerous theory got spread, who was involved with it, and it also helps explain why there's so much pushback about this investigation,” she continued.
What most of the liberal media refused to admit amidst their outrage was that it was reasonable for Barr to talk with Australian officials. The original investigation found that a former Trump advisor did some dubious bragging to the Australian ambassador to the U.K. during the 2016 election.
Hemingway touched on that fact: “There was a lot of involvement with Democratic National Committee folks in Ukraine, and other countries that were involved in this, and they might not want that coming to light. And that can explain why there's so much pushback to these efforts to get to the bottom of the story.”
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
Fox News Channel’s Special Report
September 30, 2019
6:46:47 p.m. Eastern(…)
BRET BAIER: Late this afternoon, The New York Times moved a piece that said “Trump pressed Australian leader to help Barr,” the attorney general, “investigate Mueller inquiry’s origins.” It got a lot of pickup on social media press and press all over. One thing to note, though, he said something like this publicly right here at the White House not too long ago.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The Attorney General is one of the most respected people in this country. And he has been for a long period of time. He is going to look at a lot of documents, some he might find interesting, maybe he will find none interesting. But for over a year, people have asked me to declassify, so what I’ve done is declassified everything. He can look. And I hope that he looks at the U.K., and I hope that he looks at Australia, and I hope that he looks at Ukraine. I hope that he looks at everything, because there was a hoax that was perpetrated on our country.
BAIER: Now, DOJ out with a statement saying that it wasn’t pressure, they were asking for cooperation. That's where we will start with our panel.
(…)
6:48:28 p.m. Eastern
BAIER: Mollie, your thoughts on where we stand tonight?
MOLLIE HEMINGWAY: Well, it is interesting this most recent story that came out from The New York Times that promised this bombshell, this reporting that Trump and the Department of Justice are looking into the origins of this 2016 collusion conspiracy theory, that Donald Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election. It is not a bombshell, as you note, it has been reported with months prior to now.
And it’s important that this be investigated. We had for several years a dangerous and damaging conspiracy theory that was perpetrated throughout the media, and by powerful Democratic politicians, and powerful people in our own government, and it was done in conjunction with some people in other countries.
It’s important, if we are to have free and fair elections, that we understand how this dangerous theory got spread, who was involved with it, and it also helps explain why there's so much pushback about this investigation. This might be the type of thing where it does not look good. There was a lot of involvement with Democratic National Committee folks in Ukraine, and other countries that were involved in this, and they might not want that coming to light. And that can explain why there's so much pushback to these efforts to get to the bottom of the story.
(…)
