On Sunday, NBC News admitted that on that morning’s episode of “Meet The Press,” host Chuck Todd aired a deceptively edited clip of Attorney General Bill Barr’s interview with CBS News’ Catherine Herridge discussing the Michael Flynn case.
Today on Meet The Press, @chucktodd wildly took context out of an answer AG Bill Barr gave about his decision to drop the case into Gen. Michael Flynn.
I cut Todd's segment along with Barr's full answer together. Look at how blatantly dishonest this is. pic.twitter.com/tODOEwL48V
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 10, 2020
“When history looks back on this decision, how do you think it will be written?” asked Herridge.
“Well, history’s written by the winners, so it largely depends on [laughs] who’s writing the history,” Barr responded in the clip.
In response to the clip, Todd said he was “struck … by the cynicism of the answer.”
Todd continued. “He didn’t make the case that he was upholding the rule of law. He was almost admitting that, yeah, this is a political job.”
Todd was 100 percent incorrect. Here’s a transcript the full exchange, with the portions included in Chuck Todd’s clip in bold:
HERRIDGE: In closing, this was a big decision in the Flynn case, to– to say the least. When history looks back on this decision, how do you think it will be written? What will it say about your decision making?
BARR: Well, history is written by the winner. So it largely depends on [laughs] who’s writing the history. But I think a fair history would say that it was a good decision because it upheld the rule of law. It helped, it upheld the standards of the Department of Justice, and it undid what was an injustice.
Attorney General Barr absolutely argued he was upholding the rule of law. This blatant deception by Chuck Todd prompted a response from DOJ spokeswoman Kerri Kupec, who tweeted: “Very disappointed by the deceptive editing/commentary by @ChuckTodd on @MeetThePress on AG Barr’s CBS interview.” She posted a transcript of the CBS interview and compared it to what Chuck Todd aired.
“Compare the two transcripts below. Not only did the AG make the case in the VERY answer Chuck says he didn’t, he also did so multiple times throughout the interview,” she wrote.
The official Twitter account for ‘Meet The Press’ responded to the tweet, acknowledging the “error.”
“You’re correct. Earlier today, we inadvertently and inaccurately cut short a video clip of an interview with AG Barr before offering commentary and analysis. The remaining clip included important remarks from the attorney general that we missed, and we regret the error.”
You’re correct. Earlier today, we inadvertently and inaccurately cut short a video clip of an interview with AG Barr before offering commentary and analysis. The remaining clip included important remarks from the attorney general that we missed, and we regret the error.
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) May 10, 2020
Does anyone really believe this clip was “inadvertently” cut short? The few extra seconds needed to show the full response didn’t merit it being clipped for time. This was intentional. President Trump also didn’t buy the excuse and called for Chuck Todd to be fired.
Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd should be FIRED by “Concast” (NBC) for this fraud. He knew exactly what he was doing. Public Airwaves = Fake News! @AjitPaiFCC @FCC https://t.co/fLTDhjMXo4
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 11, 2020
It’s sad to see “Meet The Press” becoming just another mouthpiece of the liberal media. The late Tim Russert, who hosted the show for sixteen years until his death in 2008, was known and praised for his objectivity. The show hasn’t been worth watching since.
I doubt Chuck Todd will be fired, but an on-air apology is absolutely necessary.
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Matt Margolis is the author of Trumping Obama: How President Trump Saved Us From Barack Obama’s Legacy and the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis
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