One week after YouTuber Nick Shirley posted a video alleging mass fraud at children's daycare centers in Minnesota, involving some in the Somali community, many in the liberal media are still casting doubt on the legitimacy of that video, and are still attacking Shirley personally, claiming he had previously created anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim videos, while never presenting any proof of that allegation. Last Friday's edition of CNN's NewsNight with Abby Phillip continued the attacks.
From the start of the segment on Shirley's findings, which has resulted in a federal investigation, Phillip's mission was to delegitimize his findings, and repeat vicious unsubstantiated claims of racism against him.
PHILLIP: The Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families says the centers at the heart of a controversial video were operating as expected when they were visited by investigators. Children were present at all sites except for one facility, which was not yet open when inspectors arrived. Now the agency's report comes days after YouTube content creator Nick Shirley, who has created anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim videos in the past, posted a video alleging widespread fraud... It includes limited evidence, though, to support the claims that it makes.
The irony is astounding. Phillip talks about Shirley's video including "limited evidence," yet she provides not one shred of evidence while accusing him of having made anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim videos. She then turned to her panel.
PHILLIP: .. The actual people who have to adjudicate whether fraud is happening are looking at these facilities and they're saying you can't just go outside of a facility, people decide not to talk to you, and then you say that there's fraud. There's actually more to a fraud determination than that.
BRAD TODD GOP STRATEGIST: ..Hold on, The Minneapolis Star Tribune...not a conservative blogger, when visited the same 10 places, said only four of them had kids. The prosecutors say there's industrial-scale fraud going on. And if you go back in time, way back to June of 2024, Keith Ellison, the Attorney General of Minnesota, who is a Democrat, prosecuted a number of people for fraud..
PHILLIP: ..The issue isn't is there fraud. We know that there's fraud. We know that because that fraud has been prosecuted by two administrations, by the Biden administration, by the Trump administration. That's a fact...I'm just asking a question. Do we need proof or not? ..
TODD: The prosecutors are going to have, going to obtain proof...That's what they will be convicted on, proof.
What is the real discussion here? A video was made, an investigation is underway, and as Todd says, proof will be needed for any convictions. The video shines a light, like any story done by any journalist. So why does Phillip freak out when the former New York Lieutenant Governor Betsy McCaughey states the obvious?
McCAUGHEY: The fact is whether Nick Shirley's video is accurate is almost immaterial..PHILLIP: Immaterial.. How is it immaterial?
McCAUGHEY: ..Listen to me. We have a huge body of other evidence regardless of this video that shows extensive fraud in this state regarding not just child care, but also substance abuse, housing, artistic services, many other things...
PHILLIP: OK. Betsy, I'm aware of that.
McCAUGHEY: Let me finish my statement because --
PHILLIP: ..I'm aware because actual journalists have gone around ..
McCAUGHEY: I'm an actual journalist. ..
(CROSSTALK)
MCCAUGHEY: Listen, this has nothing to do with this video...
McCaughey is absolutely right. Notice Phillip implying that Shirley is not an actual journalist. This implies only left-wing journalists are "actual" journalists. Brad Todd followed up on the video, on Phillip and on the liberal media.
TODD: ..If this raises more attention to this scandal, then that would be a really good thing. I don't know why you're intent on discrediting Nick Shirley's video. I mean, I guarantee you, a lot more people trust him more than they trust a lot of mainstream journalists.PHILLIP: ..Listen, I don't care about Nick Shirley personally. This is really more about whether or not there's any truth to what is in the video... We know that there's fraud happening in Minnesota. But the video alleges that just by showing up at specific locations, he has determined that there is fraud. And that is not actually what the video shows. So, that's what I care about. I actually care whether fraud is found....
TODD: Journalists draw conclusions all the time.
PHILLIP: ..There's no way to determine based on what he did, which is literally show up, knock on a door, he wasn't let in, and then he says there's fraud happening. That is.. it's not fraud.
TODD: It's kind of a 60 Minutes style of journalism.
PHILLIP: No.
TODD: It is. Of course, it is.
PHILLIP: That's a complete misrepresentation.
Good analogy by Todd, and here you go again -- if liberals at CBS knock on doors to expose fraud, it's "actual journalists" in action. It's been just a little over two weeks since Nick Shirley's video was posted. Phillip seems to be saying that since there have been no convictions stemming from it yet, its contents must be inaccurate. Crazy.
