Broadcasting live from Hanoi, Vietnam for the second U.S./North Korea summit on denuclearization, NBC kicked off Tuesday’s Nightly News with a report giving a rundown of the current state of the negotiations after last year’s historic summit. But towards the end of that report, which was delivered by anchor Lester Holt, he shared concerns from “critics” who feared Kim Jong-un would “flatter” his way to major concessions from President Trump with little in return.
“Back then, Kim promising to work towards denuclearization, but taking few concrete steps since. While Kim has stopped nuclear testing and missile launches, the President's own intelligence officials warning he has not given up his nuclear ambitions,” Holt reminded viewers.
Holt noted that Trump was “counting on personal chemistry to get a deal done,” but quickly parroted the naysayers. “But some critics, concerned about what President Trump may be willing to concede in this second summit and whether Kim could flatter him into giving up too much,” he added.
Immediately following that worry, Holt brought on chief White House correspondent Hallie Jackson to talk about what Americans back home could expect from the summit. “Lester, the White House has really tried to tamp down expectations for what this summit could be, with multiple sources close to the process telling us what could be on the table to get Kim to agree to, for example, opening up a nuclear facility to inspection,” she explained.
She added: “The U.S. could offer to negotiate a formal end to the Korean War. They could ease minor sanctions against the regime, or they could establish a kind of bare-bones diplomatic outpost in North Korea.”
But Jackson also spread fears from unnamed “experts” who were worried about the so-called Trump “X-factor”:
But some experts worry about a surprise like last time, remember, in Singapore, when the President unexpectedly announced the end of military exercises in South Korea after those talks. There is some serious X-factor potential coming up tomorrow night. That is when President Trump and Kim are set to meet one-on-one before that small group dinner. A lot of folks wishing they could be a fly on that wall, Lester.
But NBC has never really been supportive of Trump’s efforts to denuclearize North Korea. Leading up to the first summit in 2018, MSNBC was afraid the President would get a “winning news cycle” when it was all said and done.
Following the first summit, NBC Nightly News was quick to whine about seemingly every aspect of the fledgling talks. “So after all the pomp and circumstance, what comes next? How does the U.S. hold North Korea to its commitment to denuclearize after its broken nuclear promises in the past,” Holt condescendingly wondered at the time.
“How can the U.S. be sure? A key missing ingredient, no requirement that Kim Jong-un disclose how many weapons he has or where they are hidden,” huffed chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell.
Back then, Jackson made it seem like Trump didn’t know much about North Korea’s abysmal human rights record. “But what he calls ‘fervor,’ the U.N. calls indoctrination. Another in a long and disturbing list of human rights abuses Kim's accused of.” NBC didn’t care about that then they glamorized the creepy North Korea cheer quad at the Olympics.
There’s no telling what games NBC was going to play nor how they were going to twist the events of this week’s summit.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
NBC Nightly News
February 26, 2019
7:03:30 p.m. Eastern(…)
LESTER HOLT: Back then Kim promising to work towards denuclearization, but taking few concrete steps since. While Kim has stopped nuclear testing and missile launches, the President's own intelligence officials warning he has not given up his nuclear ambitions. Tonight, the President hoping Kim will be swayed by his argument to give up the weapons in return for losing those crippling sanctions.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: As I tell chairman Kim, he has a chance to have a country that is so vibrant economically, maybe one of the most in the world.
HOLT: And counting on personal chemistry to get a deal done.
TRUMP: And then we fell in love, okay? No, really. He wrote me beautiful letters.
HOLT: But some critics, concerned about what President Trump may be willing to concede in this second summit and whether Kim could flatter him into giving up too much. Tonight, last-minute preparations underway at the summit site with the world now watching.
[Cuts back to live]
So much at stake here. Let's bring in Hallie Jackson with us in Hanoi. Hallie, what are we expecting when these two begin meeting.
HALLIE JACKSON: Lester, the White House has really tried to tamp down expectations for what this summit could be, with multiple sources close to the process telling us what could be on the table to get Kim to agree to, for example, opening up a nuclear facility to inspection. The U.S. could offer to negotiate a formal end to the Korean War. They could ease minor sanctions against the regime, or they could establish a kind of bare-bones diplomatic outpost in North Korea.
But some experts worry about a surprise like last time, remember, in Singapore, when the President unexpectedly announced the end of military exercises in South Korea after those talks. There is some serious X-factor potential coming up tomorrow night. That is when President Trump and Kim are set to meet one-on-one before that small group dinner. A lot of folks wishing they could be a fly on that wall, Lester.
HOLT: Hallie Jackson, good to have you here. Thank you.
