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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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WHY DOES TUCKER CARLSON HATE AMERICAN FAMILIES?

Pete Buttigieg Brilliantly Destroys Tucker Carlson After Fox Host’s Homophobic Hit Job

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October 15, 2021

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U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg responded to Fox News host Tucker Carlson‘s vile, homophobic attack from Thursday night, by defending the right of every new parent to take paternity or maternity leave and spend time building bonds that will last a lifetime.

Buttigieg, known for being able to incisively carve up conservative hate, had no problem correcting Carlson’s claims.

Carlson, who regularly spreads white nationalistic, white supremacist, and fascistic rhetoric that clearly is supported by Fox News chiefs Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch, on Thursday berated Buttigieg for taking paternity leave as he and his husband, Chasten welcome two newborn twins into their family.

“Pete Buttigieg has been on leave from his job since August after adopting a child,” Carlson had told Fox news viewers. “Paternity leave, they call it, trying to figure out how to breastfeed – no word on how that went.”

Buttigieg struck back on Friday, telling MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace Carlson’s “attack is coming from a guy who has yet to explain his apparent approval for the assassination of Harvey Milk.”

Related: Tucker Carlson and Naomi Wolf Blasted for Claiming No One ‘Moralized’ Against HIV/AIDS Patients in the ’80s

Carlson, in his college yearbook, reportedly wrote that he was a member of the “Dan White Society.” There is no Dan White Society, but Dan White is the man who assassinated Harvey Milk, one of America’s first openly-gay elected officials. At the same time, in 1978, he also assassinated San Francisco Mayor George Moscone.

“So, you know, obviously we know that there’s some dark places where some of these attitudes come from,” Buttigieg continued.

“But I also note that that doesn’t speak for the country,” he said of Carlson’s homophobic and anti-family remark.

“I don’t think that even speaks for most people, on the other side of the aisle from the party that I belong to. This is largely a consensus issue, not just the support for families like mine to have a right to marry and right to be treated equally, but also that families in general. Moms and dads have to be able to support their children including with paid leave.”

Buttigieg, as NCRM reported Thursday night, is correct: 86% of Americans support paid paternity leave. And seven out of 10 Americans support same-sex marriage.  Sadly, U.S. federal law does not require companies to offer it, but as Wallace noted, Tucker Carlson’s employer does.

Watch:

 

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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

‘We Warned You’: Jenna Ellis Destroyed by Legal Expert for Comparing Herself and Giuliani to Atticus Finch

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October 15, 2021

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Former Trump personal and campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis is getting blowback from at least one top legal expert after she falsely compared herself and her colleague, Rudy Giuliani, to fictional hero attorney Atticus Finch from “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and to founding father John Adams.

“No, you are not John Adams. You are not Atticus Finch. Competent lawyers warned you to stay away from the election lawsuits,” said top national security attorney Bradley Moss. “We warned you loyalty to a conspiratorial client [doesn’t] override ethical obligations to the court. It’s on you.”

Ellis, in video posted by Right Wing Watch (below), claimed that she and Giuliani were merely “advocating” for “politically inconvenient candidates” like Trump, which is provably false.

Giuliani, according to numerous news reports, wasn’t defending Trump so much as he was traveling the world trying to dig up dirt on Joe Biden to help Trump win re-election. When that didn’t work Giuliani (and Ellis) promoted false election “fraud” narratives, which is not advocacy for a client.

“It used to be that if you represented the politically inconvenient candidates or the, the politically inconvenient, people I mean look at ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ you know, it was like you were you were lauded as a defense attorney, like John Adams, you know, who represented people who deserve a defense,” Ellis said.

“This has such an impact on the future of America,” Ellis continued, “because if we tell lawyers that in order to advocate for a client, that means that necessarily you have to subscribe to their position, you will be you will be liable for your bar license essentially based on not only the merit of their case but the outcome, then we won’t have advocates anymore in the United States.”

Again, that is not a reality-based response to what she and Giuliani were doing.

Moss, meanwhile, was far from the only attorney criticizing Ellis.

Former Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), Richard Signorelli, commented, “Jenna is lucky she wasn’t given any actual lawyerly responsibilities.”

Atlanta appellate attorney Andrew Fleischman weighed in, saying, “It’s good for people to get due process before being convicted of things. It’s bad to file dozens of frivolous, dishonest lawsuits. That’s the distinction.”

 

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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

Trump’s MAGA Supporters Chant Profanities Within ‘Clear’ Earshot of Young Kids Biden Was Talking to Outdoors

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11 hours ago

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October 15, 2021

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Trump’s MAGA supporters were out in full force Friday afternoon, chanting “F**k Biden,” waving flags with the same slogan, along with ones that falsely claim “Trump won,” as President Joe Biden spoke with young children outside a Connecticut child development center.

“Around 50 more Trump supporters,” according to the White House press pool, “gathered a street away from the center. They chanted ‘F*** Joe Biden. He’s not our president.’ They also shouted ‘traitors’ as a coda while we walked inside.”

Minutes later the press pool reported President Biden “entered the playground at 1:25, greeted by some gregarious children. One gave him a hug, as he kneeled to talk. Another, wearing an American flag t-shirt, pointed out parts of the playground.”

But then, confirmation that the Trump supporters’ profanity could be heard by the young children and the President.

“From the playground the pool could still hear protesters chanting from the curb outside. More expletives. More yelling,” the pool reports.

NBC News White House Correspondent Mike Memoli also confirms:

President Biden later made televised remarks promoting his “Build Back Better” agenda, and talking about how improvements to infrastructure will help young children.

 

 

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