The Biden administration was only a few hours old on Wednesday and NBC Nightly News was already trying to gaslight their viewers. As the liberal media were eagerly awaiting the first White House press briefing, chief Washington correspondent Andrea Mitchell spun a false tale about Press Secretary Jen Psaki’s “great reputation” at the State Department. Of course, what they weren’t telling viewers was that her press shop manipulated an official briefing video of Fox News catching them in a lie about the Iran nuclear deal.
As they were waiting for Psaki to make her first appearance behind the White House podium for President Biden, anchor Lester Holt misled viewers about how much the media swooned for Democratic presidents. “Andrea, it's probably fair to point out that even the best of times it's an adversarial relationship, often, between the press and presidencies,” he teed her up.
Responding, Mitchell beamed about Psaki and her purported “track record” of being honest with the press:
Absolutely. And a healthy one at that. But then they come in with a lot of goodwill. They have to prove that they're open. She has to prove that they're going to take questions, be accessible. She has that track record. She's a great reputation. She was the chief spokesperson at the State Department. I traveled with her all over the world. She then went to the White House in the Obama administration as well.
“So, she had been the spokesperson in the State Department for Secretary Kerry, and she did a very good job with the press. Has always had great relations,” she praised.
Of course, that was a massive lie.
Back in 2016, Psaki’s press shop at State was caught manipulating a 2013 video of then-Fox News reporter James Rosen pressing Psaki on the Obama administration’s lies about the Iran deal. At the time, all of the broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) refused to cover the scandal.
The missing exchanged spanned eight minutes and included this back and forth between Rosen and Psaki:
ROSEN: Is it the policy of the State Department, where the preservation of the secrecy of secret negotiations is concerned, to lie in order to achieve that goal?
PSAKI: James, I think there are times where diplomacy needs privacy in order to progress. This is a good example of that.
“There was no technical glitch. The State Department admitted today instead they deliberately deleted an eight-minute exchange about whether or not they lied to hide Iran talks,” Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy announced at the time. He also reported that the long exchange was replaced by a white flash.
Now Fox's White House correspondent, 2016 Doocy added: “Nobody would know about government employees deceptively deleting this video if our producer hadn't noticed the edit while pulling tape for a completely different story and the State Department said this afternoon, they don't know if any other clips have been edited out the same way.”
NBC (and CBS) maintained their blackout despite other major networks covering it. Clearly, they’re still maintaining it.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
NBC Nightly News
January 20, 2021
7:05:39 p.m. EasternLESTER HOLT: Chuck, it's not lost anyone that President Trump called the press “the enemy of the people.” What can we expect from this administration?
CHUCK TODD: I -- Look, by the way, wouldn't be shocked if we even saw President Biden make a quick little point here. You know, he put the word truth and he talked about the need for truth in his inaugural address. I do think this is also a bit of a statement you know, not just, you know, to us in the press corps but also a statement about freedom of the press and open access. And you know, exchange of ideas and an exchange of accountability here; given what was seen in the last administration.
(…)
7:06:56 p.m. Eastern
HOLT: All right. Still waiting for Jen Psaki to come out. Let's go our chief Washington correspondent Andrea Mitchell. Andrea, it's probably fair to point out that even the best of times it's an adversarial relationship, often, between the press and presidencies.
ANDREA MITCHELL: Absolutely. And a healthy one at that. But then they come in with a lot of goodwill. They have to prove that they're open. She has to prove that they're going to take questions, be accessible. She has that track record. She's a great reputation. She was the chief spokesperson at the State Department. I traveled with her all over the world. She then went to the White House in the Obama administration as well.
So, she had been the spokesperson in the State Department for Secretary Kerry and she did a very good job with the press. Has always had great relations.
(…)
