On Wednesday, the Big Three Networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) were all over the latest developments in the Russia investigation saga. They mainly focused on how former FBI Director James Comey received permission from Special Counsel Robert Mueller to speak to Congress. Among the developments that didn’t make the cut for ABC's and CBS's evening programming, were a series of subpoenas issued by the House to former high-ranking members of the Obama administration for improper unmasking. Instead, they mentioned those issued to Trump associates.
When they did mention the subpoenas it was buried at the end of their reports. Unlike ABC and CBS, NBC actually featured the subpoenas in their Russian investigation segment. “This is the House Intelligence Committee approved seven subpoenas, four for Michael Flynn, Trump lawyer Michael Cohn and their businesses on the Russia probe,” reported Andrea Mitchell during the opening report for NBC Nightly News.
She added what the others wouldn’t touch: “And three for classified reports related to whether former Obama officials Susan Rice, Samantha Power, and John Brennan improperly accessed the identity of Trump associates and intelligence reports.” But then Mitchell came to Rice’s defense with a ridiculous segment from her MSNBC show, Andrea Mitchell Reports:
ANDREA MITCHELL: Did you leak the name of Mike Flynn?
SUSAN RICE: I leaked nothing to nobody and never have and never would.
Remember, Rice is the same Obama administration official that went around on TV and lied about how a YouTube video caused the Benghazi attack.
During the second part of her report, Mitchell flaunted her Hillary Clinton fandom by touting how the failed presidential candidate blamed Russian collusion for her loss. “Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton for the first time blasted Russian spies for hacking her campaign manager e-mails, and then working with American political operatives, she said, to target her campaign with false messages on the internet,” she praised, even though it was far from the first time.
“The Russians, in my opinion, and based on the Intel and counter intel, people I've talked to, could not have known how best to weaponize that information unless they had been guided [by an American],” Clinton told a crowd. Mitchell followed that up by seeming to back up her assertions. “Who did she say created those false internet messages? Top campaign fundraisers and the President's son-in-law,” Mitchell explained.
And without any rebuttal, Mitchell played a clip of Clinton pushing the tinfoil hat conspiracy that “They [the Russians] came to Jared Kushner and basically said, ‘We will marry our operation, we will marry that with the RNC on two conditions, you pick Steve Bannon and you pick Kellyanne Conway.’ Bannon had been running the Breitbart operation supplying a lot of the untrue, false stories.”
Both Spanish-language networks Univision and Telemundo also failed to mention the subpoenas directed at the former Obama officials, but they were quick to report on those sent to Trump associates. Neither of them reported on Clinton’s comments, which also goes for ABC and CBS.
Transcript below:
NBC Nightly News
May 31, 2017
7:01:23 PM EasternSAVANNAH GUTHRIE: And the stage is set for what could be the most dramatic showdown in Washington to take place in a generation. FBI Director James Comey, fired by President Trump, will testify before Congress telling his story publicly for the first time, and setting up a ‘he said he said’ with the president of the United States.
Will Comey confirm what he reportedly has told friends, that the President leaned on him to lay off parts of the Russia investigation? And tonight as Congress issues a blizzard of new subpoenas, Hillary Clinton is making her most blunt comments to date accusing Trump allies of coordinating directly with the Russians. NBC's Andrea Mitchell leading us off tonight.
[Cuts to video]
ANDREA MITCHELL: Tonight, James Comey has the green light to testify to Congress as early as next week. Permission from special counsel Robert Mueller, and is expected to be asked about what the President said to him about the Russia probe. NBC News has previously reported that Comey told friends he felt pressure to back off from the investigation. This is the House Intelligence Committee approved seven subpoenas, four for Michael Flynn, Trump lawyer Michael Cohn and their businesses on the Russia probe. And three for classified reports related to whether former Obama officials Susan Rice, Samantha Power, and John Brennan improperly accessed the identity of Trump associates and intelligence reports. Rice strongly denied it to us.
Did you leak the name of Mike Flynn?
SUSAN RICE: I leaked nothing to nobody and never have and never would.
MITCHELL: Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton for the first time blasted Russian spies for hacking her campaign manager e-mails, and then working with American political operatives, she said, to target her campaign with false messages on the internet.
HILLARY CLINTON: The Russians, in my opinion, and based on the Intel and counter Intel, people I've talked to, could not have known how best to weaponize that information unless they had been guided, and here’s –
UNIDENTIFIED MODERATOR: Guided by Americans?
CLINTON: Guided by Americans.
MITCHELL: Who did she say created those false internet messages? Top campaign fundraisers and the President's son-in-law.
CLINTON: They came to Jared Kushner and basically said, “we will marry our operation, we will marry that with the RNC on two conditions, you pick Steve Bannon and you pick Kellyanne Conway.” Bannon had been running the Breitbart operation supplying a lot of the untrue, false stories.
[Cuts back to live]
MITCHELL: Clinton also said Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders could get angry about issues but voters didn't accept that from a woman. But above all, she blames her loss on James Comey for reviving the e-mail issue just before Election Day, and not telling voters he had been investigating Russia and the Trump campaign for months. Savannah?
GUTHRIE: Andrea Mitchell in Washington, thank you.
