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Fox News Anchor Surprised His Incorrect Story About FBI And a Clinton Indictment ‘Got Picked Up Everywhere’

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EDITORIAL: MORE FOX NEWS HACKERY

Fox News Channel’s chief political anchor Bret Baier on Wednesday reported that an FBI ivestigation was moving towards “likely an indictment” for Hillary Clinton in a “pay-to-play” case the Bureau has been investigating for “more than a year.” The anchor of “Special Report with Bret Baier” breathlessly told viewers in a story that was called a “bombshell” on right wing media outlets that “two separate sources with intimate knowledge of the FBI investigations” assured Fox News that the “Clinton Foundation investigation is far more expansive than anybody has reported so far,” and the FBI is “actively and aggressively pursuing this case.”

Baier went on to tell his right wing audience that lapped up every word with excitement and without question that the investigation into the Clinton Foundation “is a, quote, ‘very high priority.’ Agents have interviewed and reinterviewed multiple people about the Foundation case, and even before the WikiLeaks dumps, agents say they have collected a great deal of evidence. Pressed on that, one sources said, quote, ‘a lot of it,’ and ‘there is an avalanche of new information coming every day.'”

Now, if you’re like me and heard Baier say this yesterday, maybe you thought it sounded bad but then you stopped and thought that it just sounded fishy. First of all, the FBI doesn’t indict. A prosecutor from the Dept. of Justice would, and would have to make that decision after the investigation was complete.

Secondly, we know there is a part of the FBI that is conservative to far right wing and furious that Comey did not recommend indicting Clinton this summer. Hence the leaks we’ve increasingly seen in recent weeks, including the insane tweeting of government files on Bill and Hillary Clinton from a dormant FBI account.

So if Baier were a journalist worth his salt, he’d be talking to sources within the FBI, since there are plenty who apparently have an axe to grind, and not, as he said, “two separate sources with intimate knowledge of the FBI investigations,” who frankly could be anyone, and anyone who wants to plant a story without taking blame, but clearly not anyone inside the Bureau.

Third, “there is an avalanche of new information coming every day.” Really? Seriously? Maybe in an investigator’s dreams, but it doesn’t work that way.

So, as Raw Story and Media Matters and other outlets report today, Bret Baier was forced to walk back his story, although he still insists an indictment of Hillary Clinton will be forthcoming, because sources not in the FBI were brave enough to not go on the record with their names but assure him, days before the election, this will happen, so he can report it while holding on to a modicum of credibility.

“Baier’s uncritical reporting of anonymous, unvetted sources has been parroted by a stream of Fox hosts and correspondents, as well as right–wing blogs,” Media Matters notes, adding:

“The Daily Beast has reported on a pipeline between conservative FBI agents (both active and retired) — angered by FBI Director James Comey’s conclusion in July that there was insufficient evidence to recommend any indictment in the review of Clinton’s use of private email as secretary of state — and Fox News. According to The Daily Beast, “Trump supporters with strong ties to the agency kept talking about surprises and leaks to come — and come they did.”

And, unsurprisingly, the far right wing media universe was stunned when the story wasn’t picked up by more reliable sources.

Why?

It’s Fox News hackery at its finest.

Here’s yesterday’s initial report that sounds so damning until you actually listen to how artfully he uses key words that sound damning but then, you know, also just sound false.

Breaking news on the Hillary Clinton email investigation

Posted by Bret Baier on Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Baier is still holding on to the indictment part, but was stunned that his supposed bombshell of a story, which, again, we believe is just plain false, “got picked up everywhere.” 

Here he is walking it back, where he notes that, yes, only a prosecutor, not the FBI, can indict someone:

Continuing my reporting with the newest information on the breaking news into the Hillary Clinton email investigations on America's Newsroom with Bill Hemmer and Martha MacCallum.#SpecialReport #FoxNews

Posted by Bret Baier on Thursday, November 3, 2016

And one more disgusting side note about how Fox News operates. In the above video where Baier walks back part of his story, look at the stock footage on the right side of the screen starting at the -4:03 mark that Fox News chooses to use of Clinton. Hillary Clinton with Black people, and for a moment, there’s even an HRC logo flag in the shots. There’s also a few seconds of Clinton being chummy with several men wearing Scott Israel tees. Google Scott Israel and you’ll find articles like, “Sheriff Scott Israel accused of misusing office for political campaign.”

There is of course nothing wrong with hanging out with Black people or gay people, except in the minds of many Fox News viewers. So the picture painted for those Fox News viewers is Clinton only hangs out with minorities and people who are accused of corruption. 

It’s frankly very ugly.

And this is how the right operates.

Do a Twitter search for “Clinton” and “indict” and you’ll find tweets like this one, retweeted almost 1100 times, and liked nearly 1000 times:

Or this one from the far right media watchdog that doesn’t even know that the FBI cannot indict anyone:

And then there are “articles” like this at the right wing Independent Journal Review, that according to their stats have been viewed, apparently, 935,000 times in less than a day: “FBI Sources: Agency Moving Towards ‘Likely an Indictment’ for Hillary Clinton.” 

And we wonder why it feels like the right is living in a different universe. It’s exactly because of this type of “reporting” that gets repeated by literally millions of conservatives every day.

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News

Fox News Host Suggests Trump ‘Force’ Court to Throw Him in Jail – by Quoting Him

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April 19, 2024

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The Fox News host who targeted a juror serving on Donald Trump’s criminal New York trial is now suggesting the ex-president should violate his gag order and “force” the court to throw him in jail, by quoting the Fox News host.

Jesse Watters came under fire earlier this week for profiling juror number two, sharing possibly identifying information published by a myriad of reporters but then using that information to pass judgment on her ability to serve.

“I’m not so sure about juror number two,” Watters concluded on Fox News.

Jurors, at the judge’s direction, were to remain anonymous, for their protection and the protection of the trial.

The judge excused her, after she said she felt she was not able to be impartial because friends and family were calling her asking if she had been chosen to serve on the Trump trial, after the media blitz.

New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan admonished the press for reporting the information, but some news outlets appeared to ignore his warning.

Watters on Wednesday “did a segment with a jury consultant, revealing details about people who had been seated on the jury and questioning whether some were ‘stealth liberals’ who would be out to convict Trump,” the Associated Press reported.

READ MORE: Gaetz: ‘Corrupt’ Republicans Could ‘Take a Bribe’ and Throw House to Dems, Blocking Trump Run

Trump later posted Watters’ quote on his Truth Social platform, leading some, including New York prosecutors, to ask the judge to cite him for allegedly breaking his gag order.

Judge Merchan ordered Trump to not mention witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, court staff, or the family members of prosecutors and court staff, CNN has reported.

New York prosecutors told Juge Merchan Trump has violated the gag order at least ten times.

“Prosecutor Christopher Conroy described the ‘most disturbing’ example as a social media message Trump posted on Wednesday evening quoting a Fox News host as saying, ‘They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury,'” Politico reports.

That host was Jesse Watters.

RELATED: ‘Afraid and Intimidated’: Trump Trial Juror Targeted by Fox News Dismissed

Friday afternoon, Watters appeared to egg Trump on, urging the ex-president to violate the gag order.

“I would make them put me in jail,” Watters said on Fox News. “I would have a tweet about something perhaps I said on ‘The Five’ or ‘Jesse Watters Primetime,’ and I would force them to throw me in jail.”

Watch Watters’ remark below or at this link.

 

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News

Gaetz: ‘Corrupt’ Republicans Could ‘Take a Bribe’ and Throw House to Dems, Blocking Trump Run

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5 hours ago

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April 19, 2024

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U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) says some of his fellow House Republicans would “take a bribe” to throw the razor-thin GOP majority to the Democrats if a far-right faction calls up a motion to oust Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, allowing Democrats to hand the gavel to the Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries. he warned if that happens, Democrats would immediately declare Trump ineligible to be President, pack the U.S. Supreme Court, and pass numerous laws like the American Rescue Plan.

“I do believe in a one seat majority there could be one or two or three of my colleagues who would take a bribe in one form or another in order to deprive the Republicans of a majority at all,” Gaetz said Friday on his podcast (video below.)

He added, “the risk that one or two of my corrupt Republican colleagues might take a bribe, take a walk, feign an ailment and flip this thing to the Democrats is a risk that is too high for me at this time.”

Gaetz’s fellow far-right Florida Republican member of Congress, Anna Paulina Luna, told listeners, “I heard that when, if and when the motion vacate is introduced, that there will be immediate resignations of a couple of more moderate members of Congress. And in the event that that happens, that ultimately means it does go to a Democrat speaker.”

RELATED: Jeffries Vows Democrats Will Ensure Ukraine Aid Passes as Johnson Defectors Grow

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) last month filed a “motion to vacate,” which she can use at any time to force a vote to oust the GOP Speaker, Mike Johnson. U.S. Rep. Tim Massie (R-KY) and just today, U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) has signed on as co-sponsors.

Congressman Gaetz told listeners if Democrats do take the House through a force vote to remove Johnson, Democrats would “be declaring Donald Trump an insurrectionist and setting up a barrier to him being able to become the president United States.”

“That’ll be their leadoff hitter, and then the chaser to that shot will be a massive spending package that looks a lot more like the American Rescue Plan. They will blow past every concept of every cap ever imagined. You’ll be looking at Universal Basic Income, you could be looking at packing the Supreme Court.”

Watch a short clip of Gaetz’s remarks below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Stop Bringing Up Nazis and Hitler’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Smacked Down by Democrats

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Jeffries Vows Democrats Will Ensure Ukraine Aid Passes as Johnson Defectors Grow

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8 hours ago

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April 19, 2024

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Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries vowed Friday the majority of Democrats will support Republicans’ Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and Gaza foreign aid legislation as Republican Speaker Mike Johnson lost support of another member of his conference to a faction determined to oust him.

“Democrats will provide a majority of our majority as it relates to funding Israel, humanitarian assistance, Ukraine, and our allies in the Indo Pacific,” Minority Leader Jeffries said. “It remains to be seen what Republicans will do in terms of meeting the national security needs of the American people, but it was important for House Democrats to ensure that the national security bills are going to be considered.”

Despite Republicans having a one-vote majority, more Democrats on Friday voted to move the critical and long-awaited foreign aid bills forward than did Republicans.

READ MORE: ‘Stop Bringing Up Nazis and Hitler’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Smacked Down by Democrats

The 316-94 vote included 165 Democrats and 151 Republicans voting yes, and 55 Republicans and 39 Democrats voting no.

Axios’ Juliegrace Brufke posted the list of Republicans voting against their party’s legislation.

Calling it a “rare” moment in modern congressional history to have to rely on opposition party votes to pass legislation, BBC News reports Speaker Johnson’s “hold on power is tenuous, and the legislators who oppose him – and his bid to provide aid to Ukraine – occupy some key positions within the House’s power structure.”

Amid the procedural vote to move the foreign aid funding bills forward, U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, a far-right Republican of Arizona, announced he is joining Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and Congressman Tim Massie (R-KY) in formally announcing their will vote to oust Speaker Johnson.

Gosar, like Greene, is reportedly a Christian nationalist. In 2022 CNN reported his “lengthy ties to White nationalists, [a] pro-Nazi blogger and far-right fringe received little pushback for years.”

RELATED: ‘Repercussions’: Democrats and Republicans Stand Against ‘Pro-Putin’ House GOP Faction

“We’ve been very honest in our assessment of the situation from the beginning,” Jeffries on Friday also declared. “At the appropriate time as House Democrats, we will have a conversation about how to deal with any hypothetical motion to vacate.”

“Moscow Marjorie Taylor Greene, Massie, and Gosar are quite a group. But central to our conversation is to make sure that the national security legislation in totality is passed by the House of Representatives.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

 

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