MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt on Thursday touted Democratic talking points on John Conyers, reminding viewers that the elderly Congressman, who has been accused of sexual harassment, is an “icon” and the “Dean of the House.” This is the same Hunt who downplayed accusations against Al Franken as “not actually groping.”
The journalist hyped, “Conyers is 88 years old. He is the longest serving member of the House of representatives, the Dean of the House. He is a co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus. He worked with Martin Luther King.” She added, “He is an icon as Nancy Pelosi has said among civil rights leader.”
Hunt noted the accusations against Conyers, saying they range from “verbal abuse to sexual touching to appearing in his underwear.” Of course, even that included some spin from the Congressman: “One of Conyers' defenders said that this is relatively common. He had a closet in his office and most of the staff walked in on him in his underwear.”
On November 27, the Morning Joe co-hosts repeatedly hailed Conyers as an icon.
On November 16, Hunt embarrassingly described Al Franken’s predatory behavior this way: “Franken] took a picture, which his office now says was of a joke, that showed him potentially — not actually groping — but mock-groping her while she was asleep.”
Not actually groping? Mock groping?
A partial transcript of the November 30 segment is below:
MSNBC Live
11/30/17
10:05KASIE HUNT: Conyers is 88 years old. He is the longest serving member of the House of representatives, the Dean of the House. He is a co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus. He worked with Martin Luther King. He is an icon as Nancy Pelosi has said among civil rights leader. But, of course, he has been sidelined amid a series of accusations against him from women who say who worked in his office and say that he behaved sexually inappropriately towards them.
The accusations range from verbal abuse to sexual touching to appearing in his underwear. One of Conyers' defenders said that this is relatively common. He had a closet in his office and most of the staff walked in on him in his underwear. He is under intense pressure to resign his seat in Congress by Democratic leaders behind the scenes. There's a growing number of Democrats who have called on him to step down but so Conyers has refused. And his defenders say he should have the right to make the personal decision. I think there will be some questions and we’ve seen some local reports suggesting he may not run for reelection in 2018. We have not confirmed that here at MSNBC News. His lawyer told me late yesterday that those reports are incorrect. But, of course, there are a lot of conversations going on about his future, Hallie.
