One of the revelations from the character assassination attempt of Justice Brett Kavanaugh by The New York Times was that Leland Keyser, an alleged witness to the allegations of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, was viciously pressured by Blasey Ford’s allies to back up the claims unless she wanted to be discredited with her past history of drug abuse. Well, one of the reporters behind the hit piece did the work for Team Blasey Ford and slimed Keyser’s rebuttal during an appearance on CNN.
While speaking with CNN host and media dung-sweeper Brian Stelter on so-called "Reliable Sources," Times reporter Kate Kelly whined about the people rightfully discrediting their because they willfully left out exculpatory evidence that supported Kavanaugh:
It's really sort of an attempt to discredit the messenger and avoid the conversation about the facts, about the evidence, the type of thing you've been talking about on your show. How the media becomes this punching bag.
While Kelly was complaining about messengers being discredited, she used the attacks concocted by Team Blasey Ford to attack Keyser. “Keyser's claims really don't rebut Blasey Ford's claims,” she declared despite the fact that Keyser told them Ford’s claims didn’t make any sense.
“And also, Kaiser has memory issues that are discussed in the book as well, which relate to the way memory functions for all of us. And also because she has a history of substance abuse, which she acknowledges,” Kelly chided. Of course, Kelly refused to mention Blasey Ford's own notoriously terrible memory.
Immediately following that hit job by Kelly, Stelter repeated his hoax narrative from the previous week and suggested it was only Fox News who was tearing into the dubious piece:
BRINN STELTER: Now, Trump is using this misstep last weekend as a battering ram against The New York Times. So are people on Fox News. What’s that feel like?
KELLY: It’s a convenient target.
STELTER: What does it feel like, Robin, as a reporter for The New York Times.
“You know, it's kind of amazing because you hear about it all the time and certainly, our colleagues have been subject to it, but it really just points out how all of these facts are kind of taken out of context and then weaponized for people's own political ends,” whined co-author Robin Pogrebin without recognizing the hypocrisy.
Earlier in that same 11 o’clock timeslot, Federalist senior editor and author of a counter book about Kavanaugh’s confirmation show trial, Mollie Hemingway was on Fox News Channel’s MediaBuzz and called out Kelly and Pogrebin for misleading the public about Times editors being the ones to taking out the exculpatory facts:
Well, first off, on whether I buy that explanation. Those same reporters gave an interview on NPR where they omitted that information, went out of their way to omit the information, and NPR had to edit in a clarification. So this idea that we can claim editors for what was clearly something coming from the reporters, I think, is inappropriate.
Adding: “This shows kind of the corruption of our media right now, they fixate on a target and they try to destroy that person and they will omit key information, they will get facts wrong, they will do whatever it takes to construct a narrative rather than just report facts. (…) And even though the people who were supposed witnesses for allegations all say they don’t support it.”
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s Reliable Sources
September 22, 2019
11:50:47 a.m. Eastern(…)
KATE KELLY: But just to jump in on something here, Brian. We feel like all this stuff this week, while there are some valid issues that have been raised and address, are ready a distraction from all the reporting we did and all the new material that we have. It's really sort of an attempt to discredit the messenger and avoid the conversation about the facts, about the evidence, the type of thing you've been talking about on your show. How the media becomes this punching bag.
So, for example, one thing that’s gone on is, there’s some interesting stuff in our book about Leland Keyser this friend of Christine Blasey Ford’s who’s allegedly at the party where the alleged assault by Kavanaugh occurred. She gives us her first-ever interview. It’s interesting and worth a read and it was very much a part of the, like, behind the scenes drama going on last year which is coming to light.
However, we still find Christine Blasey Ford credible in the end and if you read our book, you will see why. Keyser's claims really don't rebut Blasey Ford's claims. And also, Kaiser has memory issues that are discussed in the book as well, which relate to the way memory functions for all of us. And also because she has a history of substance abuse, which she acknowledges.
So, I think it's important for all of these things to be seen in the full context. We wanted to share it all with readers so they can evaluate it for themselves.
BRINN STELTER: Now, Trump is using this misstep last weekend as a battering ram against The New York Times. So are people on Fox News. What’s that feel like?
KELLY: It’s a convenient target.
STELTER: What does it feel like, Robin, as a reporter for The New York Times.
ROBIN POGREBIN: You know, it's kind of amazing because you hear about it all the time and certainly, our colleagues have been subject to it, but it really just points out how all of these facts are kind of taken out of context and then weaponized for people's own political ends. And we think it's really unfortunate because it obscures the hard actual hard work that we're doing and actually trying to put the facts out there so that people can make an assessment on the merits.
(…)
