Trump-Russia probe

MSNBC Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough would like viewers to know that he is not a fan of Attorney General William Barr. On Thursday's show, Scarborough launched into Barr for telling a Senate subcommittee that, "I think spying did occur" against the Trump campaign and he was going to look into it to make sure there was nothing nefarious going on.

In the first 15 minutes of Wednesday’s Hardball, MSNBC pundit Chris Matthews and an assembled crew of cringeworthy guests to defend the Obama administration’s surveillance of the Trump campaign under the guise of alleged Russian collusion (built on some dubious pieces to begin with) while decrying the use of the word “spying.”

MSNBC host and self-appointed referee of American politics, Chuck Todd was visibly irritated Wednesday evening after Attorney General William Barr admitted before Congress that the Trump campaign was spied on in 2016, and he planned to investigate it. Suggesting Barr was “perpetuating” a “fact-less conspiracy theory”, Todd denied known facts of the case and spun a series of falsehoods while…

In a hearing that was originally slotted to be about the Justice Department’s budget, Attorney General William Barr was grilled on Tuesday by House Democrats about the Special Counsel Report. He told Congress that he asked Robert Mueller to review his letter (which Mueller declined), but not to help him prepare it. During ABC’s World News Tonight, congressional correspondent Mary Bruce twisted…

March provided television viewers and streaming platform binge-watchers another heavy dose of Trump hate. At least another 40 separate entertainment programs, on major networks, cable TV, and popular streaming platforms continued their vicious anti-Trump propaganda. What once might have been shocking is all too commonplace for a media in the later stages of Trump Derangement syndrome.

Talk about a turn of events from a few weeks ago. MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews closed out Thursday’s show on a hopeful note that the Mueller report bodes ill for President Trump and his orbit and a love note for the news media being “ready to carry” the “truth” of “public servants” wanting to take down the Trump administration “into the grace of public light.”

Late Wednesday night, both The New York Times and The Washington Post released dubiously sourced reports suggested that members of the Special Counsel told other people (and in some cases, those people then told other people) that Attorney General William Barr’s letter Congress was not truthful. This high-stakes game of telephone was all ABC News and NBC News needed to get there hopes up to see…

Despite the esoteric nature of anonymously-sourced reports about how “some” of “Mueller’s team” aren’t pleased with Attorney General Barr’s letters on the Mueller report, liberal media types have used the stories to imply Barr has been lying about the report’s findings on collusion and obstruction of justice. This nonsense shined brightly on Thursday’s The Lead as CNN political commentators…

Good for literally every sound-minded person on the planet: Alec Baldwin says he’s going to start winding down his terrible impression of Donald Trump. Sitting down with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, Baldwin intimated that he might be starting to grow tired of the role, and that it’s the SNL producers who “keep pulling me back in.” Sad!

CNN really wants you to take them seriously as a news organization, but it’s infinitely more difficult when they keep on inviting proven fake news anchors such as Dan Rather to opine on the day’s news like they did on Tuesday’s CNN Tonight. Host Don Lemon again thought it was worth inviting on “Mr. Rather” to bash the President as a liar and demand more transparency from the Justice Department…

MSNBC Morning Joe co-host Willie Geist proved that even a broken clock is right twice a day as the morning show welcomed on House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff. After co-host Mika Brzezinski let Schiff get some free swings in against "handpicked" Attorney General William Barr, Geist asked the questions that Schiff should get every time appears for an interview.

After Attorney General William Barr released the key findings of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s 22-month-long investigation, the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts showered Donald Trump with good press (80% positive) for the first time since he became President. But the good news for the White House only lasted for two days; after that, the networks resumed their lopsidedly hostile (79%…

As my colleague Bill D’Agostino outlined last month, CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer is not so much a home for news, analysis, and substantive interviews as it is a green room for Democratic members of Congress. Tuesday’s show provided another illustration of that sad reality as arguably the most senior and prestigious CNN anchor allowed House Democrats Adam Schiff (CA) then Jerry…