Taking a page from the playbook of Democratic House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, on Monday’s Today show, NBC News national security analyst and former Obama administration official Jeremy Bash fabricated quotes from President Trump in an attempt to bolster the case for impeachment.
After co-host Savannah Guthrie asked about reports of a second whistleblower against the President, Bash argued: “...it’s really part of a mounting body of evidence....that Trump wasn’t just being Trump on that phone call with President Zelensky on Ukraine...” He fantasized: “...this was part of a carefully orchestrated effort by a number of key administration officials to present an ultimatum to the Ukrainians: ‘You’ve got to get involved in the 2020 election, help Trump win reelection, and if not, then you’re not gonna get the benefit of American support, including military support.’”
Rather than challenge Bash on making up that quote out of thin air, Guthrie simply replied: “Of course the President denies a quid pro quo, we’ll see if the evidence amounts to one, as you just suggested.”
Continuing to discuss the phone call at the center of the controversy, Bash relied on his imagination once again: “Well, imagine, Savannah, if a president of the United States said to China, ‘Hey, you can invade your neighbors,’ or said to North Korea, ‘You can build nuclear weapons, if you do me a favor though.’”
The NBC analyst accused Trump of “putting American foreign policy, American power, American support on sale for a very low price” and warned that “there are a lot of countries, a lot of dangerous countries in the world, that will take advantage of that and could potentially hurt American national security.”
While Guthrie introduced Bash as a “former chief of staff at the CIA as well as the Department of Defense,” she never actually mentioned that he worked for the Obama administration. One other interesting note about Bash’s political background, both he and Guthrie’s husband, Democratic strategist Michael Feldman, worked for Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign and were part of the Flordia recount effort. For as long a Bash has been an analyst for NBC, Guthrie has never disclosed that connection.
When Congressman Schiff opened a September 26 impeachment inquiry hearing with the Acting Director of National Intelligence by similarly inventing quotes from President, the broadcast networks managed to ignore the embarrassing performance.
If the substance of Trump’s July phone call with the Ukrainian president was really so damning, then why would Democrats in Congress and the media repeatedly feel the need to fabricate more extreme quotes that were never uttered?
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Here is a full transcript of the October 7 segment with Bash:
7:06 AM ET
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Let’s turn to NBC News analyst Jeremy Bash, former chief of staff at the CIA as well as the Department of Defense. Jeremy, good morning.
JEREMY BASH: Hey, good morning, Savannah.
GUTHRIE: So a second whistleblower has come forward. Considering that, that initial whistleblower complaint mentioned many other officials who had been witness to these events, are you surprised there’s a second whistleblower? What’s the significance?
BASH: Not surprised at all. And I think it does blow a hole in efforts to undermine the credibility of that first whistleblower. Savannah, it’s really part of a mounting body of evidence, along with those text messages and this witness testimony, that Trump wasn’t just being Trump on that phone call with President Zelensky on Ukraine, this was part of a carefully orchestrated effort by a number of key administration officials to present an ultimatum to the Ukrainians: “You’ve got to get involved in the 2020 election, help Trump win reelection, and if not, then you’re not gonna get the benefit of American support, including military support.”
GUTHRIE: Of course the President denies a quid pro quo, we’ll see if the evidence amounts to one, as you just suggested. But what the President has acknowledged and is as clear as day is this rough transcript of the phone call in which the President says to Ukraine, “I want you to do me a favor,” and talks about investigating the Bidens. The President has said repeatedly that is a “perfect call.” Is there anything wrong with that call, these facts that the President has acknowledged?
BASH: Well, imagine, Savannah, if a president of the United States said to China, “Hey, you can invade your neighbors,” or said to North Korea, “You can build nuclear weapons, if you do me a favor though.” In effect, it’s putting American foreign policy, American power, American support on sale for a very low price. And there are a lot of countries, a lot of dangerous countries in the world, that will take advantage of that and could potentially hurt American national security.
GUTHRIE: And finally, we heard some of the President’s allies in Congress saying, “Look, when the President went out on camera and said China should investigate the Bidens, he was just kidding.” People can look at the tape and determine whether or not he was kidding or not, but let’s just say for the sake of argument that he was. You used to work at the CIA, how do you think China would receive those comments?
BASH: First, he wasn’t kidding, he was serious. Second is, even if he was joking around, China would interpret this as a very serious invitation. They saw what happened in 2016, Russia clearly interfered and they were rewarded.
GUTHRIE: Alright, Jeremy Bash, thank you so much.
BASH: Thanks, Savannah.
