Despite a new update Thursday in the ongoing "cocainegate" scandal in which a small bag of cocaine was left inside with West Wing of the White House in a different location than was originally reported, ABC's World News Tonight and CBS Evening News both lost interest in the story, while NBC Nightly News only managed to dedicate 41 seconds during their evening newscast. The three networks often have a habit of moving on quickly from any scandals involving Democrats. You can be certain if Donald Trump Jr. was a well-known crackhead and a bag of cocaine was found in the Trump White House, this story would still be leading the three evening newscasts.
Instead, ABC and CBS decided that the Powerball Jackpot (ABC) and news of a cruise ship crashing into a dock in San Francisco (CBS) were more important stories for their viewers to hear about. Not to leave NBC off the hook since while they still managed to update their viewers on the cocaine story, they still couldn't manage to dedicate even a full minute of their airtime to the report.
White House correspondent Kelly O'Donnell offered a news brief for NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt:
Officials familiar with the investigation, Lester, say the inquiry could be wrapped up by Monday. Sources also provided an updated location where the small baggy of cocaine was found Sunday, pointing to a storage cubby inside the entrance off West Executive Drive. This is the floor below the Oval Office. And officials say it was in the area close to the situation room.
Accepting this unacceptable level of disinterest by America's law enforcement (much like the failure to find the Dobbs leaker), O'Donnell accepted at face value that "it's likely they will not solve this, and the baggy remains available for additional testing, where they will try to find forensic evidence."
This bias by omission from ABC & CBS was made possible by Progressive on ABC, and Aleve on CBS. Their information is linked.
The NBC Nightly News transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
NBC Nightly News
7/6/2023
6:39:15 p.m. EasternLESTER HOLT: Now to new developments in the investigation into that small bag of cocaine found in the West Wing. Kelly O'Donnell is at the White House tonight. Kelly, what can you tell us?
KELLY O’DONNELL: Well, officials familiar with the investigation, Lester, say the inquiry could be wrapped up by Monday. Sources also provided an updated location where the small baggy of cocaine was found Sunday, pointing to a storage cubby inside the entrance off West Executive Drive. This is the floor below the Oval Office. And officials say it was in the area close to the situation room. Sources were also blunt, saying it's likely they will not solve this, and the baggy remains available for additional testing, where they will try to find forensic evidence. Lester?
