hannity2 bak
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</font></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> SEE THREE</font></font></div>919 bad code?<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>2 is 404</b>
</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">12/17 proxy for sleaze? age of trump.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see main for earlier</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">rw on guns at border 3 23</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">prolly neglected to routine bs</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">bak 2 23</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">html kinchlow</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</span></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>As NYC is inundated with wildfire smoke, Rupert Murdoch’s WSJ calmly shows link to climate crisis, while Murdoch's Fox News mocks it</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">WRITTEN BY JOHN WHITEHOUSE</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM SAGE HODIL</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">PUBLISHED 06/07/23 </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>New York City is currently inundated with a hazardous level of wildfire smoke, making the skies appear yellowish-orange.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>
</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>The smoke is from wildfires in Canada, which scientists say are “becoming bigger and more frequent” due to climate change, as reliably explained by Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal:</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Wildfires like those ravaging Canada are becoming bigger and more frequent as forests around the world increasingly dry out amid the warming climate, many scientists say.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Some of the biggest fires are breaking out in the </span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">boreal forests of the Northern Hemisphere such as most of the ones in Canada</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">. That is because the Arctic region has warmed nearly four times faster than the rest of the world, </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">said Carly Phillips, a Boston-based research scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In the boreal areas—mostly conifer forests with long winters and short summers—of Canada and Alaska, she said th<b>e annual area burned has nearly doubled in the past 60 years, along with an increase in the frequency of large fires. Russia’s vast Siberian forests have been consumed by giant fires too. Phillips said this year’s outbreak, while unprecedented in size, is just following the trend.</b></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“I don’t know if it’s a tipping point, but what this underscores is that the climate crisis is here and now,” </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Phillips said.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>The link is so obvious and uncontroversial that Journal staff members have no problems tweeting it.</b></div><div><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">And yet, over at Murdoch’s Fox News Channel, this is just another reason for hosts to punch left, this time at frequent target Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who dared to point out that the country has work to do to adapt to the climate crisis.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>
</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Video file</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Video CitationFrom the June 7, 2023, edition of of Fox News' <b>Outnumbered</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">None of this is novel. Fox News (and the Journal’s right-wing editorial board) have for years pushed climate denial on the body politic. Now that the effects of the climate crisis are impossible to miss, the network is still refusing to recalibrate.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Like the Dominion case shows, it’s not clear if Fox’s audience — or whatever is left of it — will allow the network to speak the truth.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Either way, I’d recommend that people working at Fox News headquarters in Manhattan buy some high-quality masks. They might even still have some sitting around.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">THE LATEST</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Linda Yaccarino just started as Twitter’s new CEO, but Elon Musk already destroyed the platform for advertisers</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">06/08/23 9:27 AM EDT</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">200+ things that Fox News has labeled “woke”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">06/08/23 8:58 AM EDT</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Newsmax's Greg Kelly praises the smoke from Canadian wildfires: “It's a beautiful, interesting aura”</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">06/08/23 8:45 AM EDT</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Sean Hannity mocks New Yorkers </b>for wearing masks to protect themselves from wildfire smoke</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">06/07/23 9:58 PM EDT</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Fox News' Jesse Watters attacks government officials</b> for suggesting masking to protect against wildfire smoke</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">06/07/23 The Wall Street Journal</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Wall Street Journal</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Climate deniers</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">i predict game over 10/18/19 pmck</font></div><div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-promises-he-wont-challenge-or-fact-check-donald-trump-during-iowa-town">https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-promises-he-wont-challenge-or-fact-check-donald-trump-during-iowa-town</a></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/sean-hannity-accuses-fbi-putting-cinderblocks-scale-presidential-election-2016">https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/sean-hannity-accuses-fbi-putting-cinderblocks-scale-presidential-election-2016</a></font></div><div style=""><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-jesse-watters-tells-house-republicans-force-joe-biden-resign-or-were-going-blow">https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-jesse-watters-tells-house-republicans-force-joe-biden-resign-or-were-going-blow</a> up debt limit</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-instructs-republicans-not-be-scared-defaulting-national-debt">
</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-instructs-republicans-not-be-scared-defaulting-national-debt">https://www.mediamatters.org/<b>sean-hannity</b>/sean-hannity-instructs-republicans-not-be-scared-defaulting-national-debt</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4/17/23 msnbc dominion discovery whole sht email redacted, judge nixed, 2ndary JOK evidence "interesting"</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mma 5 23</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(58, 67, 78); font-family: bagatela, serif; font-size: 19.7354px; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);"> HANNITY (HOST): We get to the 2020 election and what happened? They had Hunter Biden's laptop since December of 2019. They verified it according to John Solomon [NOTE NO ID AFFILIATION] in the spring of 2020.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(58, 67, 78); font-family: bagatela, serif; font-size: 19.7354px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But yet, we had <b>FBI</b> agents that were meeting weekly in the months leading up to the 2020 election pre-bunking the Hunter Biden laptop story by telling them directly, "You're likely going to be the victim of a misinformation campaign. It may be about Hunter. It may be about Joe Biden. You better be ready." But they knew the laptop story was coming and they knew Rudy Giuliani had a copy of it. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; color: rgb(58, 67, 78); font-family: bagatela, serif; font-size: 19.7354px; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">JEANINE PIRRO (GUEST): Well, you know what the problem is with that? The problem is that is election interference. That is a crime. It's not only a constitutional violation of the First Amendment and the right of the press to be able to discuss things that are in the news. <b>But they literally interfered with an election. We know that by the polls that came out afterwards that indicated that people would have changed their votes.</b></p></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx vid</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Fox News freaks out over energy efficiency standards for <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">washing machines</span></b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Special PROGRAMS</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CLIMATE & ENERGY</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">WRITTEN BY ILANA BERGER</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PUBLISHED 03/16/23</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Washing machines have become the latest target of Fox News’ campaign to stoke outrage over efforts to reduce carbon emissions from household appliances by casting newer, more energy-efficient products as dysfunctional, expensive, and intrusive “scams.” </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In February, the Department of Energy proposed stricter standards for household washing machines, refrigerators, and freezers to reduce carbon emissions and make these appliances more energy efficient. On March 13, the Washington Free Beacon and later Fox News started a parade of misleading claims about the effectiveness and cost of what several sources say will actually make doing laundry cheaper for many Americans</span>.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Consumer experts and the U.S. Energy Department suggest energy-efficient washing machines would actually make doing laundry easier and cheaper</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Firstly, it’s important to note that consumers will still be able to choose between top-loaders and front-loading machines. According to the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, the new standards will actually phase out machines that use older technology called agitators and replace them with ones that use impellers, or wash plates. Consumer Reports says that impellers use less water and more motion to get clothes clean and cut down on time in the dryer, which could save consumers money in the long run. Consumer Reports also found that top-loaders that use impellers have a higher average “washing performance” score than those that use agitators. Even Whirlpool, which spoke out against the new standards, claims on its website that impellers and agitators are “roughly equal” in “cleaning performance, energy efficiency, capacity, innovation and convenience.”</span> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Department of Energy estimates that the proposed standards could cost manufacturers about $690 million to make the necessary updates. However, the changes would also save U.S. consumers up to $14.5 billion over 30 years,</b> helping reduce utility costs for renters who are typically lower-income, and the new standards are estimated to cut more than 53 million metric tons of carbon emissions over that same time.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox personalities misleadingly attack energy-efficient washing machines</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Despite the evidence, anchors, hosts, and guests on Fox News and Fox Business have taken the word of an industry trade association, the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, and repeatedly claimed that the Department of Energy’s new efficiency standards will somehow make Americans “dirtier and stinkier.” They also parroted the industry claim that the standards would make doing laundry more expensive by increasing the cost of detergent or preventing consumers from buying cheaper, older, less efficient models. Some Fox figures even denied the reality of climate change to argue that energy efficiency should not be a priority in the first place: </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox News Radio host Jimmy Failla said the Biden administration is banning “super-sized water” in washing machines, calling it a “scam” that will leave clothes “dirtier.” “This is the scam here, OK, because your clothes are going to be dirtier. And they’ve said this already. It's going to require possibly a second wash. … Think about this, remember when they banned super-sized fries so all the fat people like me just bought two larges? That’s what this is. They're banning super-sized water. So now you get to wash them twice.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 3/15/23]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox & Friends hosts doubled down on the idea that the new standards would leave clothes dirtier. Co-host Steve Doocy reported, “Critics say President Biden's new energy plan would make each washing cycle take longer, make detergent more expensive, and leave clothes dirtier because they use less water.” Co-host Ainsley Earhardt told viewers to “get those dirty clothes clean while you can, cause soon they're all gonna be dirty.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 3/15/23]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Video </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CitationFrom the March 15, 2023, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Fox Business correspondent Jeff Flock questioned why his washing machine isn’t energy efficient enough, even though the government is not forcing anyone to get rid of their washing machines.</span> “I already have what they call a high-efficiency washing machine. But the Biden administration thinks maybe it's not efficient enough.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> They want you to use less water and less detergent.”</span> [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 3/15/23]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>James Coleman, a senior fellow at Koch-funded climate denial front group the American Enterprise Institute, </b>fearmongered that “the standards would, on-net, harm consumers.” “Like many efficiency standards, the government claims that although these standards will raise the cost of appliances, they are justified because they will reduce consumer spending on energy and water even more. Of course, if that were true, consumers would likely buy more efficient appliances anyway, given that studies show consumers consider energy and water costs.” [FoxNews.com, 3/14/23]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><b>Hannity host Sean Hannity called reducing carbon emissions from washers and dryers “idiotic.” “Leave my washing machine alone. But more importantly, leave my gas stove alone. … I mean, this is madness. China is the world's biggest polluter. They're not being held accountabl</b>e. All these other countries are not being held accountable. <b>And they're looking for U.S. taxpayers to pay for their cleaner air. Why would we bear that responsibility? This is so idiotic</b>, but yet they present this as legitimate policy.” [Fox News, Hannity, 3/14/23]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on The Bottom Line said the Biden administration wants to have people “carrying our clothes back out back and doing an old wringer washing machine.” “My goodness, you know it is not enough to control you from daylight to dark. Now they want to control your oven. I'm not giving up my gas stove.</span> … And to take your washing machine and try to make it to the point that it is going to be less efficient.” Co-host Sean Duffy added, “They’ve ruined our toilets, they’ve ruined our dishwashers. Listen, nothing works in the home. Enough with these liberals, get them out of here.” [Fox Business, The Bottom Line, 3/14/23]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Video </font><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">From the March 14, 2023, edition of Fox Business' The Bottom Line </span></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox Business’ The Big Money Show co-hosts Brian Brenberg and Taylor Riggs said energy-efficient washing machines are ineffective. “I can tell you what is exactly going to happen here, OK?” Brenberg said. “You going to just wash your clothes twice, which means you’re going to use more water than you do right now and more soap than you do right now.” Riggs further claimed that saving water and energy will not have an impact on the climate crisis: “China and India are the world's largest polluters, go after them. The U.N. climate report says anything we do is worth nothing if we don't get them on board. Stop coming after small things like washing machines.” [Fox Business, The Big Money Show, 3/14/23]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Comedian Tom Shillue on America’s Newsroom </b>said “no one ends up noticing the benefit” from more energy-efficient washing machines. “They always claim this is going to save the consumer, you should be happy. Well if that’s true, manufacturers would do it on their own and we would be happy to pay more for a machine to see that happen. But we don’t believe that’s what happens.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 3/14/23]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Varney & Co. host Stuart Varney included washing machines in a list of things that people supposedly “can’t have” anymore. “It is nonstop. Lightbulbs, can't have them. You can’t have toilets which flush a lot of water, so now you flush twice of course. What else have we got? Gas stoves, let’s not forget, washing machines, they’ve got to tell you what to do all of the time</span>.” [Fox Business, Varney & Co., 3/14/23]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Fox anchor Maria Bartiromo discussed the new regulation with investor Michael Lee, who called the climate crisis a “lie” because “over the last 100 years, deaths due to climate-related accidents and disasters is down 98%, yet somehow it's an existential threat.</b>” “It is beyond insane, the things that they've done and hearing that you've got to change your washing machine because it might use a little less water for this cycle or for that cycle, it's more of the same insanity that's ruining our country right in front of our eyes.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 3/14/23]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Failla called the regulations a “scam” the Biden administration is “forcing it on us.”</b> “Nobody is on board with this. Everything this government does is some type of heavy-handed coercion or in this case what they would be calling a <b>mandate. … These clothes aren't going to be cleaner, so you’re going to wind up washing them twice</b> is my guess and probably using more water in the process.” Fox host Steve Doocy suggested the administration only put the regulations in place to placate environmentalists after greenlighting the Willow Project: “You’ve got to figure that his environmentalist base loves this kind of stuff, but at the same time he’s apparently greenlighted the Willow project which is going to open billions of gallons — billions of barrels of oil up north. So they’re furious.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 3/14/23]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Video </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CitationFrom the March 14, 2023, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Outnumbered co-host Harris Faulkner insisted that more efficient appliances would actually use more energy. </b>“If in fact you're doing it longer, right, and you’re not getting the clothes as clean, if in fact you're cooking on that electric appliance now and also not cooking as quickly because the flame is on and<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> the other element takes time to heat up, you’re already — aren't you breaking regulations for usage?</span> … This is so counter to all the regulations that they’ve put in place, it makes no sense. It is like they are punching each other in the face, only they're hitting us.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 3/14/23]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Outnumbered guest and former NFL player Jake Bequette said the “green agenda” is making everything worse. “Before long, you’ll have to say your preferred pronouns to get your dishwasher to work</b>. I mean this is ridiculous, like nothing works anymore. I just want the high-pressure shower heads to come back. They don't make them like they used to. I mean, this is all part of the green agenda.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 3/14/23]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity tweeted, “WON’T WASH: Biden Proposes Washing Machine Regulations, Makes Doing Laundry More Expensive.” [Twitter, 3/14/23]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The attacks on washing machines are just part of right-wing media’s drumbeat against any consumer policy framed as climate-friendly</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These attacks are just the latest instance of conservative media fearmongering over various household appliances, goods, and cherished companions — including gas stoves, coffee, gaming consoles, cars, and even pets — being supposedly regulated to fight climate change. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In January, right-wing media essentially tried to convince consumers that the Biden administration was going to come into their homes and rip their gas stoves out of the walls in the name of public health and climate change (in addition to trying to discredit a plethora of studies highlighting the health risks of indoor air pollution). It is only a matter of time before right-wing media finds some new manufactured narrative to whine about. These stories are not about improving the quality of life for Americans — they are purely politically motivated attacks to lambast Biden’s “green agenda.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">THE LATEST</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Daily Wire has earned millions of Facebook interactions amplifying anti-trans content</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">03/17/23 1:07 PM EDT</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Benny Johnson: “COVID was a woke virus” that was “used to take away Donald Trump's three biggest political weapons”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">03/17/23 1:02 PM EDT</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Steve Bannon reportedly “gave vital assistance” to Miles Guo's allegedly fraudulent schemes</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">03/17/23 12:27 PM EDT</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">New Colorado GOP chair opposes public schools because they purportedly teach students to accept “deviant” LGBTQ “lifestyles”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">03/17/23 12:15 PM EDT</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Facebook has allowed Alex Jones to circumvent his ban with National File — a website he says he secretly runs</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">03/17/23 12:03 PM EDT</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pagination</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Current page1</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">…</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Next page</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">IN THIS ARTICLE</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Climate deniers</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Related</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Right-wing media figures become gas stove devotees after health concerns arise</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">01/12/23 2:55 PM EST</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox News’ Jesse Watters suggest climate policies will “bring society back to the Stone Age”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">02/02/22 3:22 PM EST</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As a climate-fueled heat wave stresses California's electric grid, right-wing media are disingenuously attacking electric vehicles</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">09/02/22 11:50 AM EDT</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div style=""><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/sean-hannity-claims-fbi-put-their-thumb-scale-joe-biden-2020-presidential-election">https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/sean-hannity-claims-fbi-put-their-thumb-scale-joe-biden-2020-presidential-election</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mma 3 23 see bengh y roth did not say feds? another co?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">HANNITY (HOST): Now, that is sadly the FBI putting their thumb on the scale of a presidential election. They were indoctrinating and basically training people in Big Tech, they had weekly meetings with them -- oh, that they're going to be victims of a disinformation campaign that never happened.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And by the way, they did something else in <b>2016, it was called the Russia hoax. </b>And they did it again in the fall of 2020, with the censorship, disinformation campaign against what was the very real reports about Hunter Biden and his laptop from hell. A laptop, by the way, that your FBI had since December of 2019 and they easily could've verified probably in 48 hours.</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div></div><div style=""><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an 3 23</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">f</font><span style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">ox News host Sean Hannity interviewed former President Donald Trump on Monday and, apparently<b>, omitted crucial chunks of their conversation about Ukraine</b> when it was broadcast to Hannity's radio audience.</span></span></div><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Justin Baragona, the senior media reporter at<b> The Daily Beast</b>, noticed the discrepancy on Tuesday.</span></p><div id="story_page_incontent_p2_target" style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-5155643920455169" data-ad-slot="6339868799" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration-line: none; text-align: center; margin-bottom: 20px; display: block;" /></div><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>"According to Trump, all he needed to do was let Russia 'take over' parts of Ukraine</b>," Baragona explained. "Saying that Russia was going for the 'whole enchilada' with Joe Biden as president, Trump added that Russia 'took over nothing' while he was in the White House because Russian President Vladimir Putin 'understood' that 'he would have never done it.'"</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">READ MORE: <a href="https://www.alternet.org/Bank/donald-trump-wildly-dishonest-cpac/" target="_self" title="view post: Donald Trump's CPAC speech overflowed with 'wildly dishonest' claims: fact-checker" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Donald Trump's CPAC speech overflowed with 'wildly dishonest' claims: fact-checker</a></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Trump added, "that's without even negotiating a deal. I could have negotiated. At worst, I could've made a deal to take over something, there are certain areas that are Russian-speaking areas, frankly, but you could've worked a deal."</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But as Baragona pointed out, that is not what Hannity played.</p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"Instead, shortly after Trump says, 'I could have negotiated,' the audio quickly skips about 30 seconds of speaking time before picking back up where the former president pivots to his complaint that 'China no longer respects the United States,'" Baragona observed.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Baragona also noted that "besides asserting that he would have stopped Russia from invading Ukraine by making a deal to let them 'take over something,' Trump also said in the portion not aired by Fox that 'so many more people are dying than is being reported' while reiterating this 'would have never happened' under his watch."</span></p><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style=""><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/sean-hannity-served-trump-dojs-kool-aid"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/sean-hannity-served-trump-dojs-kool-aid</font></a></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">deep state fbi BS?
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</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-encourages-caller-who-claims-hes-stockpiling-military-weapons-southern">https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-encourages-caller-who-claims-hes-stockpiling-military-weapons-southern</a></font></div><div style=""><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mma 3 23</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Fox News is not content with <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/they-knew-it-was-lie-behind-scenes-happenings-fox-while-network-pushed-false-claims-about" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">knowingly lying</a> to its audience and spreading dangerous claims in the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/rupert-murdoch-admits-new-dominion-filing-fox-knew-election-fraud-conspiracy-theories-were" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">pursuit of profit</a>. The network is also seeking to further destabilize the country along partisan lines, as its hosts and guests are increasingly promoting various schemes like a “national divorce” to break up parts of the United States.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last month, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) issued an absurd call for a “national divorce.” But Fox’s obsession with finding some way to split the country internally goes back a long way, since at least President Barack Obama’s reelection in 2012, when both Fox prime-time host <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/hannity-and-drudge-give-credence-post-election-calls-secession" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Sean Hannity</a> and the cast of Fox’s <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/foxs-economic-argument-secession-would-actually-create-confederacy-takers" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Five</em></a> responded sympathetically to fruitless secession petitions from aggrieved Republicans in states Obama did not carry.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Later, in December 2020, the network gave a friendly interview to the Texas state GOP chair who called for red states to “<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/right-wing-media-and-trump-supporters-encourage-secession-martial-law-after-supreme-court" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">form a Union of states</a>” and to push back in some unspecified manner after the Supreme Court had upheld Joe Biden’s victory and rejected the defeated President Donald Trump’s legal challenges.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">More recently, the network’s on-air talent have supported efforts to <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-friends/fox-hosts-promote-effort-secede-california-form-new-state-i-love-it" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">split off conservative counties in California</a> into a new state called “Jefferson.” (Fox has <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/calexit-gets-go-ahead-to-start-collecting-signatures" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">previously</a> been <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/calexit-supporters-revamp-campaign-with-plan-to-convert-half-of-california-into-autonomous-native-american-nation" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">very interested</a> in the so-called “<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/calexit-what-pushed-one-californias-biggest-counties-consider-leaving-state" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Calexit</a>” movement, an ostensibly left-wing call for Californian independence, which was <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20161226220159/https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2016/12/13/from-his-home-in-russia-calexit-leader-plots-california-secession/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">ironically</a> supported by <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2016-12-07/how-to-make-california-great-secede-with-a-little-help-from-putin?sref=Qjo1tp0z" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">right-wing</a> Russian dictator<a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/RussianInterference-report1.pdf#page=15" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;"> Vladimir Putin</a>.)</font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The “national divorce”</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The network is now defending Greene’s impossible proposal for what she called a “<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/right-wing-media-figures-defend-and-even-endorse-marjorie-taylor-greenes-calls" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">national divorce</a>.” Last week, Fox prime-time host Sean Hannity endorsed her idea that people who move from blue states to red states should be <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/sean-hannity-endorses-rep-marjorie-taylor-greenes-call-banning-people-who-move-blue-states" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">barred from voting</a> for five years to avoid altering the partisanship of their new home states. (It’s possible Hannity hadn’t <a href="https://twitter.com/abughazalehkat/status/1629134300351197187" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">considered the implications</a> of such a policy, which would bar someone like himself — a New Yorker — from voting if he were to move to a Republican-controlled state.)</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So far just this week, the network has supported two different internal separatist movements in the United States, in addition to Greene’s proposed “national divorce.”</font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Greater Idaho”</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To start with, on Monday morning one of the network’s purported “straight news” personalities openly approved of a push for Republican-voting counties in Oregon to <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-hosts-celebrate-plan-eastern-oregon-secede-idaho-thats-amazing" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">join the Republican-dominated state of Idaho</a> instead. After quoting an op-ed saying the plan would free “rural, conservative communities from progressive blue-state law," Fox News correspondent and overnight anchor Ashley Strohmier stated simply, “I would be OK with it.” Later that night, FoxNews.com <a href="https://archive.is/7ROgh" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">published an article</a> further promoting the so-called “Greater Idaho” plan.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Two days later, the Wednesday edition of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox & Friends</em> aired a credulous segment on the plan, interviewing Republican Idaho state Rep. Barbara Ehardt, a proponent.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Co-host Ainsley Earhardt concluded the interview by pining for such right-wing separatist movements to sprout up elsewhere: “There are people in New York that would love to do this, too. Because New York City’s so liberal, but the fringe area is not at all. So, it does affect elections."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[vid]</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">in 2022, the “Greater Idaho” movement was given the level of attention and analysis it actually deserves from legitimate news outlets: <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Daily Show </em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyyxeqMithk" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">dismantled</a> the scheme, which an expert estimated could cost the state of Idaho $10-15 billion.</font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Buckhead City”</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox has also taken up the cause of so-called “Buckhead City,” a wealthy district in Atlanta where some activists have sought for years to <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/the-recast/2022/02/15/white-atlanta-neighborhood-buckhead-secede-politics-00009076" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">separate from the city</a> and form their own municipality. On Monday, a committee in the Republican-controlled state Senate <a href="https://apnews.com/article/georgia-state-government-atlanta-0907302004968e1f77676dd4d810f46f" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">advanced a bill</a> that would allow Buckhead to separate. The bill must still pass through a full vote in the state Senate, separate passage in the state House, and be signed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Greene appeared again with Hannity on Tuesday night’s show, during which the two further discussed her “national divorce” proposals, and Greene declared that conservatives “want our own safe space, and we deserve it.” Hannity then brought up the Buckhead case, which Greene of course supported.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[vid]</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> HANNITY (HOST): What would you say about cases like we see counties in Oregon wanting to join Idaho? We see Buckhead — I used to live in Georgia for four years, where you are — and Buckhead wants to separate, for example, from Atlanta, have their own police department, their own government. So you have these examples where people want to join up with another state or another county or another town. Should they have the right to do that?</font></span></p></div></div><div data-align="center" class="l--gutter-pull paragraph paragraph--type--stories-web-video paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: -56.2625px; margin-right: -56.2625px;"><div class="erd-list--editorial-embed-transcript field field--name-field-stories-web-video field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="media-player media-player--video" role="group" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; width: 843.987px;"><figcaption class="media-playercaption block-quote block-quote--minor" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);"><div class="block-quotequote" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): Absolutely. Don’t we believe in freedom in America? Isn’t that what America is all about? It’s the -- it’s the people and their choices, and the freedom to do so. I’m a huge supporter of Buckhead City.</font></p></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Then on Wednesday’s edition of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Tucker Carlson Tonight</em>, the host interviewed the volunteer CEO of the Buckhead secession committee. Carlson declared that the neighborhood’s push for separation “really is a test of democracy,” rhetorically asking, “Since when did democracy become so unfashionable? I thought everyone was in favor of democracy. What happened?” (Carlson has a <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/january-6-insurrection/after-news-tucker-carlsons-exclusive-access-january-6-footage-right-wing" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">prolific record</a> of spreading conspiracy theories about the January 6 insurrection, recently <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/tucker-carlson-says-sketchy-2020-election-has-led-tenuous-legitimacy-american-democracy" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">questioned the legitimacy of American democracy</a>, and has made various pronouncements about <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/tucker-carlson-worst-attack-our-democracy-160-years-how-about-immigration-act-1965" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">which groups of people</a> shouldn’t be <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/tucker-carlson-says-people-who-cant-vote-person-dont-have-right-participate-democracy" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">allowed to vote</a>.)</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Carlson concluded the interview by wishing the group success and calling for more such separatist movements: “So if you win this, I think it will be a sign for towns across the country: You don’t have to be managed into the ground by criminals who hate you. You can run your own affairs. It’s democracy."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[vid]</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">fox gave the Buckhead push more promotion Thursday morning, with <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox & Friends</em> hosting local talk radio host MalaniKai Massey, who is also a Buckhead resident.</font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Co-host Ainsley Earhardt mentioned briefly at the start of the segment that Kemp was “throwing cold water on the proposal, questioning its legality,” a topic that she did not revisit in any major detail.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Massey briefly addressed the topic, sounding a cautiously optimistic note: “Is everything on paper always going to go as planned? Absolutely not. However, you’ve got to talk to the bond people. You’ve got to talk to the attorneys, have addressed all of Gov. Kemp’s concerns that he put out yesterday.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Earhardt concluded the interview: “I’m sure some government officials don’t like this because they’re worried other neighborhoods, your surrounding neighborhoods, will do the same thing and they’ll lose more and more money." </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[vid]</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the Buckhead proposal actually presents major legal and financial difficulties, with a coalition of area business groups warning on Monday that the proposal would “<a href="https://www.ajc.com/politics/politics-blog/analysis-an-incredibly-insulting-buckhead-split-gains-new-traction/UNDYTQTCUNBPRLNFFIGOZS4ASQ/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">choke off economic development</a>” in Buckhead itself. Then on Tuesday, Kemp’s executive counsel warned that the proposal was potentially unconstitutional for the manner in which it would seek to apportion the city of Atlanta’s public debt, and that the specter of further city break-ups could trigger the “<a href="https://www.ajc.com/politics/politics-blog/kemp-administration-deals-blow-to-buckhead-cityhood-push/23UCYI4UQBDLHELMFJDRZWZVL4/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">possible widespread default</a>” of local government bonds in Georgia. Fox’s own online reporting Thursday depicted this letter as a sign that Kemp himself had “<a href="https://archive.is/xuot8" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">delivered a blow</a>” to the Buckhead City cause.</font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rather than addressing the numerous problems that these Balkanization proposals would actually pose, Fox’s hosts have instead extolled the desire of conservative voters to have “their own government” in the name of “democracy,” in an attempt to declare that they shouldn’t have to live under a political system when they don’t like the majority results.</font></p></div></div></div><div><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></p></div></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">normalizing </font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-pushes-rep-marjorie-taylor-greene-tie-her-national-divorce-america-debt">https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-pushes-rep-marjorie-taylor-greene-tie-her-national-divorce-america-debt</a></font></div><div style=""><div><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body css-listicle-body-2658486258" style="zoom: 1; margin-top: 10px; line-height: 31px; display: -webkit-box; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; -webkit-line-clamp: 4; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body-description"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><h1 class="widgetheadline h1" style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(31, 31, 31); cursor: pointer; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><a class="widgetheadline-text custom-post-headline rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.alternet.org/sean-hannity-had-been-privately-disgusted-by-trump-for-weeks-court-docs-2659476143/" aria-label="Sean Hannity 'has been privately disgusted by Trump for weeks': court docs" data-type="text" style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; font-family: " open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" word-break="word-break" break-word="break-word" outline="outline" px="px" overflow-wrap="overflow-wrap" font-size="font-size" line-height="line-height">Hannity 'has been privately disgusted by Trump for weeks': court docs</a></h1><div class="social-author clearfix" style="zoom: 1; margin-top: 10px; display: inline-block; color: rgb(31, 31, 31); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 17.6px;"><a class="social-authorname rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.alternet.org/author/sarah-k-burris" data-type="text" style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4; display: inline; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Cabin, sans-serif;">Sarah K. Burris</a> <a class="social-authorname rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.alternet.org/author/raw-story" data-type="text" style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4; display: inline; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Cabin, sans-serif;">Raw Story</a></div><div class="social-date" style="margin-top: 8px; display: inline-block; color: rgb(164, 162, 160); font-size: 1.4rem; vertical-align: top; font-family: Helvetica;"> <span class="social-date__text" style="color: rgb(142, 142, 142); font-size: 12px; line-height: 1; position: relative; top: 3px; font-family: Cabin, sans-serif; left: -3px;">February 28, 2023</span></div><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body css-listicle-body-2659476143" style="zoom: 1; margin-top: 10px; font-size: 17px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); line-height: 31px; font-family: Cabin, sans-serif; display: -webkit-box; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; -webkit-line-clamp: 4; -webkit-box-orient: vertical;"><div class="body-description"><p>Behind the scenes at Fox News after the 2020 election, it was becoming clear that conservative prime-time hosts were saying one thing to viewers and another thing privately....</p></div></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mma 2 23</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">hannity</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/immigration/right-wing-media-outlets-are-endorsing-border-militias-tool-curb-immigration">https://www.mediamatters.org/immigration/right-wing-media-outlets-are-endorsing-border-militias-tool-curb-immigration</a></font></p></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mma 2 23 vaxx</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><span style="color: rgb(58, 67, 78); font-family: bagatela, serif; font-size: 19.7354px; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">cALLER: I wanted to thank you for all of your truth and you telling it like it is and explaining things to us that the people that are in charge are supposed to be telling us the truth, but they're not. Example: COVID. You've never sugarcoated COVID. You had told what should have been said to the American people. It was never explained to us the way it should have been. But you always tell, you know, what you know, who you know it from. You bring in experts who know what they're talking about and you're always truthful.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; color: rgb(58, 67, 78); font-family: bagatela, serif; font-size: 19.7354px; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);" /><span style="color: rgb(58, 67, 78); font-family: bagatela, serif; font-size: 19.7354px; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);"> </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; color: rgb(58, 67, 78); font-family: bagatela, serif; font-size: 19.7354px; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);" /><span style="color: rgb(58, 67, 78); font-family: bagatela, serif; font-size: 19.7354px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">SEAN HANNITY (HOST): Well, I appreciate your kind words. I will tell you, there was a lot of pressure, Leslie, brought on this show and my TV show, for me to tell people what to do and I refused to do it. In retrospect, I am so grateful that I allowed my common sense to guide me and didn't give in to the pressure. But there was a lot of pressure being brought to bear on me to tell people, "Oh, you've got to get the shot." And I'm like, "I don't believe that's the case. I don't think everybody should</span><span style="color: rgb(58, 67, 78); font-family: bagatela, serif; font-size: 19.7354px; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">."</span></div></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1 23 an</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><p><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Conservative pundit Sean Hannity claimed without evidence on Thursday
that<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> President Joe Biden and his son Hunter have "hired" Special
Weapons and Tactics units to hunt down and destroy their political
detractors.</span></font></b></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">First, Hannity and his guest alleged that the Bidens
conducted nefarious business with China. They agreed that there were
secret recordings of the two men kanoodling with foreign nationals, and
determined that the Bidens acted illegally based on what was left
"unsaid" in the supposed clandestine phone calls. LACK OF EVIDENCE IS EVIDENCE
</font></span></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Next, Hannity
stated in a fake Russian accent that Libya may have "real compromising
materials" about Hunter. </b>He then transitioned into the Biden-SWAT
conspiracy theory.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">READ MORE: <a href="https://www.alternet.org/lauren-boebert-hannity/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_self" title="view post: 'Is this a game show?' Hannity, Boebert clash in heated debate amid House lawmakers’ House speaker feud" class="rm-stats-tracked">'Is this a game show?' <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Hannity, Boebert clash </span>in heated debate amid House lawmakers’ House speaker feud</a></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The
amount of money, the sheer amount of money, and a number of countries,
and<b> Joe's outright lie about never having discussed this with Hunter </b>are
now coming to light. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Now there's going to be pushback because they have
now<b> hired, you know, SWAT teams</b> and are creating a war room to slander
and smear and attack every single solitary person that either reports it
or is investigating it,"</span> Hannity said.</font></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He also accused Biden and Democrats of weaponizing investigations, which is what House Republicans are doing through their <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/10/us/politics/house-republican-committee-weaponization-government.html" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">congressional committees</a>.</font></span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"That's,
you know, that's Democratic politics 101. That's who they are. That's
what they do. So we have to know this, understand this fully," Hannity
continued. "And, you know, I think it's pretty obvious what's going on."</font></span></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Listen below via<b> <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-claims-joe-and-hunter-biden-have-hired-swat-teams-go-after-people" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">Media Matters for America</a></b> or <a href="https://www.alternet.org/sean-hannity-joe-biden-swat" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">at this link</a>.</font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/sean-hannity-vaccines-and-boosters-do-not-work-they-have-told-us">https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/sean-hannity-vaccines-and-boosters-do-not-work-they-have-told-us</a></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx vids see comer anno</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://webbrain.com/brainpage/brain/no%20lnx%20vids%20see%20comerhttps://www.alternet.org/james-comer/U.S.%20Rep.%20James%20Comer%20of%20Kentucky,%20the%20Republican%20chair%20of%20the%20powerful%20House%20Oversight%20Committee%20is%20repeatedly%20pushing%20a%20baseless%20narrative%20that%20President%20Joe%20Biden,%20who%20has%20served%20his%20nation%20for%2050%20years,%20is%20%E2%80%9Ccompromised.%E2%80%9DChairman%20Comer,%20who%20has%20promoted%20the%20false%20theory%20of%20fraud%20in%20the%202020%20election,%20blaming%20alleged%20%E2%80%9Ctroubling%20reports%20of%20irregularities%20and%20improprieties%E2%80%9D%20on%20Democrats,%20has%20been%20regularly%20criticized.%20He%20was%20deemed%20%E2%80%9Ca%20fundamentally%20unserious,%20dishonest,%20laughable%20caricature,%E2%80%9D%20by%20Democratic%20strategist%20Sam%20Cornale%20on%20Wednesday,%20and%20mocked%20by%20The%20Washington%20Post%E2%80%99s%20Dana%20Milbank%20last%20year.%E2%80%9CIn%20interviews%20with%20Fox%20News%20and%20other%20public%20pronouncements,%20Comer%20has%20alleged%20that%20the%20president%E2%80%99s%20son%20is%20responsible%20for%20just%20about%20everything,%E2%80%9D%20Milbank%20wrote%20last%20year.%20%E2%80%9CWhy%20is%20fentanyl%20flowing%20into%20the%20United%20States?%20Hunter%20Biden.%20Why%20is%20President%20Biden%20pushing%20electric%20vehicles?%20Hunter%20Biden.%20Why%20isn%E2%80%99t%20the%20president%20tougher%20on%20Russian%20oligarchs?%20Hunter%20Biden.%20Why%20isn%E2%80%99t%20the%20administration%20pinning%20the%20pandemic%20on%20a%20Wuhan%20lab%20leak%20and%20battling%20China%20over%20currency%20manipulation?%20Hunter%20Biden%20and%20Hunter%20Biden.%20Why%20did%20the%20United%20States%20rejoin%20the%20Paris%20climate%20accord?%20Hunter%20Biden.%E2%80%9DOn%20Tuesday,%20Fox%20News%E2%80%99%20Sean%20Hannity%20led%20a%20highly-criticized%20interview%20with%20Speaker%20Kevin%20McCarthy,%20Majority%20Leader%20Steve%20Scalise,%20Judiciary%20Chair%20Jim%20Jordan,%20and%20Oversight%20Chair%20James%20Comer%20that%20was%20shockingly%20filmed%20inside%20the%20U.S.%20House%20of%20Representatives.READ%20MORE:%20%E2%80%98The%20Deep%20State%E2%80%99%20Wants%20to%20%E2%80%98Wipe%20Out%20the%20American%20Cowboy%E2%80%99%20Warns%20GOP%20Congressman%20in%20Conspiracy-Laden%20Rant%20(Video)New%20York%20University%20Professor%20Ruth%20Ben-Ghiat,%20an%20expert%20on%20fascism%20and%20authoritarian%20leaders,%20responded%20by%20declaring,%20%E2%80%9CAmericans,%20I%20give%20you%E2%80%A6President%20Murdoch%20and%20the%20coronation%20of%20Fox%20News%20as%20state%20media.%E2%80%9DHannity%20and%20the%20top%20Republicans%20were%20surrounded%20by%20dozens%20of%20House%20Republicans,%20sitting%20quietly,%20as%20the%20Fox%20News%20personality%20promoted%20their%20talking%20points.In%20addition%20to%20posting%20video,%20journalist%20Matt%20Laslo%20tweeted,%20%E2%80%9CHannity%20noted%20to%20the%20lawmakers%20(who%20are%20obediently%20sitting%20and%20saying%20nothing%20which%20is%20WILD)%20that%20many%20of%20the%20lawmakers%20in%20attendance%20might%20not%20make%20it%20on%20TV%20tonight%20but%20they%20gave%20up%20an%20hour%20to%20support%20the%20Speaker.%E2%80%9DBut%20Chairman%20Comer%20made%20news%20for%20two%20remarks%20(both%20seen%20in%20the%20clip%20below):%20calling%20Ukraine%20%E2%80%93%20which%20is%20fighting%20to%20protect%20democracy%20in%20Europe%20and%20thus%20around%20the%20globe%20%E2%80%93%20an%20%E2%80%9Cadversary%E2%80%9D%20of%20the%20United%20States,%20and%20strongly%20suggesting%20President%20Joe%20Biden%20is%20%E2%80%9Ccompromised.%E2%80%9DREAD%20MORE:%20Watch:%20Democrats%20File%20Ethics%20Complaint%20Against%20George%20Santos%20After%20GOP%20Leadership%20Calls%20It%20an%20%E2%80%98Internal%E2%80%99%20Matter%E2%80%9CYou%20know%20there%E2%80%99s%20a%20pattern%20here%20with%20Communist%20China,%20with%20Ukraine,%20with%20Russia,%20with%20our%20adversaries%20across%20the%20world,%E2%80%9D%20he%20told%20Hannity.%20%E2%80%9CAnd%20you%20look%20at%20the%20bad%20decisions%20that%20Joe%20Biden%20makes%20and%20this%20White%20House%20makes%20every%20day%20that%20has%20a%20detrimental%20effect%20on%20every%20American%20%E2%80%93%20you%20wonder,%20is%20this%20President%20compromised?%E2%80%9DHannity%20himself%20has%20promoted%20the%20baseless%20claim%20that%20President%20Biden%20may%20be%20%E2%80%9Ccompromised.%E2%80%9DIn%20a%20December%20interview%20with%20Comer,%20Hannity,%20known%20to%20have%20had%20nightly%20conversations%20advising%20Donald%20Trump%20when%20he%20was%20president,%20concluded%20with%20this%20question:%20%E2%80%9CDo%20you%20believe%20it%E2%80%99s%20possible%20Joe%20Biden%20is%20compromised%20by%20Russia%20and%20China?%E2%80%9D%20Comer%20dutifully%20replied,%20%E2%80%9CI%20fear%20that%20he%20is.%E2%80%9DThat%20word,%20%E2%80%9Ccompromised,%E2%80%9D%20is%20now%20being%20used%20by%20Comer%20and%20his%20fellow%20House%20Republicans%20repeatedly%20against%20President%20Biden%20%E2%80%93%20and%20his%20family.On%20Monday,%20U.S.%20Rep.%20Andy%20Biggs%20(R-AZ),%20the%20former%20chair%20of%20the%20far-right%20House%20Freedom%20Caucus,%20a%20former%20policy%20advisor%20to%20an%20anti-LGBTQ%20hate%20group,%20and%20an%20alleged%20co-founder%20of%20the%20Stop%20the%20Steal%20movement,%20called%20President%20Biden,%20First%20Lady%20Dr.%20Jill%20Biden,%20and%20Hunter%20Biden,%20%E2%80%9Ccompromised%E2%80%9D%20%E2%80%93%20while%20making%20false%20claims%20about%20classified%20documents%20(and%20the%20Biden%20think%20tank)%20that%20were%20immediately%20handed%20over%20to%20the%20National%20Archives.On%20Wednesday,%20Chairman%20Comer%20again%20baselessly%20used%20the%20word%20%E2%80%9Ccompromised%E2%80%9D%20against%20President%20Biden.%E2%80%9CThe%20Committee%20on%20Oversight%20and%20Accountability%20is%20investigating%20President%20Biden%E2%80%99s%20involvement%20in%20his%20family%E2%80%99s%20foreign%20business%20practices%20and%20international%20influence%20peddling%20schemes,%E2%80%9D%20Chairman%20Comer%20wrote%20in%20an%20official%20letter%20published%20by%20ABC%20News,%20to%20Treasury%20Secretary%20Janet%20Yellen,%20making%20an%20unsubstantiated%20clam%20as%20if%20it%20were%20fact.%E2%80%9CThe%20Committee%20is%20investigating%20President%20Biden%E2%80%99s%20knowledge%20of%20and%20role%20in%20these%20schemes%20to%20assess%20whether%20he%20has%20compromised%20our%20national%20security%20at%20the%20expense%20of%20the%20American%20people,%E2%80%9D%20Comer%20wrote.ABC%20News%20adds%20that%20Comer%20%E2%80%9Ccalled%20the%20Biden%20probe%20a%20%E2%80%98top%20priority%20for%20House%20Republicans%20during%20the%20118th%20Congress.%27%E2%80%9DREAD%20MORE:%20GOP%20Congressman%20From%20Texas%20Calls%20for%20Defunding%20Homeland%20Security%E2%80%9CThe%20American%20people%20must%20know%20the%20extent%20of%20Joe%20Biden%E2%80%99s%20involvement%20in%20his%20family%E2%80%99s%20shady%20business%20deals%20and%20if%20these%20deals%20threaten%20national%20security%20and%20his%20decision-making%20as%20president,%E2%80%9D%20Comer%20told%20ABC.Comer%20wasn%E2%80%99t%20done%20using%20the%20%E2%80%9Ccompromised%E2%80%9D%20word%20against%20President%20Biden.%E2%80%9CIn%20a%20letter%20to%20the%20White%20House%20counsel%20today,%E2%80%9D%20Politico%20on%20Wednesday%20reported,%20%E2%80%9Cnew%20Chairman%20James%20Comer%20(R-Ky.)%20said%20the%20committee%20%E2%80%98is%20concerned%20that%20President%20Biden%20has%20compromised%20(intelligence)%20sources%20and%20methods%20with%20his%20own%20mishandling%20of%20classified%20documents.%27%E2%80%9DChairman%20Comer%20has%20even%20set%20up%20a%20microsite%20on%20the%20House%20Oversight%20Committee%E2%80%99s%20website,%20titled,%20%E2%80%9CBiden%20Family%20Investigation.%E2%80%9DOn%20it,%20he%20alleges,%20%E2%80%9CIf%20President%20Biden%20is%20compromised%20by%20deals%20with%20foreign%20adversaries%20and%20they%20are%20impacting%20his%20decision%20making,%20this%20is%20a%20threat%20to%20national%20security.%E2%80%9DDonald%20Trump%E2%80%99s%20tax%20returns%20show%20numerous%20foreign%20bank%20accounts,%20including%20in%20China,%20and%20there%20were%20reports%20of%20real%20estate%20deals%20in%20foreign%20countries%20while%20he%20was%20president,%20but%20Republicans%20ignored%20that.%E2%80%9CTwo%20years%20into%20his%20presidency,%E2%80%9D%20OpenSecrets%20reported%20in%202019,%20%E2%80%9CDonald%20Trump%20continues%20to%20make%20money%20from%20properties%20and%20licensing%20deals%20in%20nearly%20two%20dozen%20countries%20around%20the%20world,%20fanning%20the%20flames%20of%20concerns%20that%20the%20Trump%20administration%20is%20subject%20to%20unprecedented%20levels%20of%20foreign%20influence.%E2%80%9D%E2%80%9CTrump%20continued%20to%20hold%20more%20than%20$130%20million%20in%20foreign%20assets%20in%20a%20revocable%20trust%20as%20his%20second%20year%20in%20office%20came%20to%20a%20close,%20according%20to%20OpenSecrets%E2%80%99%20analysis%20of%20the%20president%E2%80%99s%20most%20recent%20annual%20personal%20financial%20disclosure%20released%20by%20the%20Office%20of%20Government%20Ethics%20last%20month,%E2%80%9D%20the%20website,%20which%20tracks%20money%20in%20politics,%20noted.%20%E2%80%9CTrump%E2%80%99s%20business%20entanglements%20continue%20to%20leave%20him%20with%20positions,%20assets,%20trademarks%20and%20other%20business%20interests%20in%20more%20than%2030%20countries.%E2%80%9DIn%20November%20of%20last%20year,%20CNN%20reported,%20%E2%80%9CThe%20governments%20of%20six%20foreign%20countries,%20including%20Saudi%20Arabia,%20Qatar%20and%20the%20United%20Arab%20Emirates,%20spent%20more%20than%20$700,000%20at%20then-President%20Donald%20Trump%E2%80%99s%20Washington,%20DC,%20hotel%20over%20the%20first%20two%20years%20of%20his%20presidency,%20according%20to%20newly%20released%20accounting%20documents.%E2%80%9DWatch%20the%20videos%20above%20or%20at%20this%20link.">https://www.alternet.org/james-comer/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">U.S. Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the Republican chair of the powerful House Oversight Committee is repeatedly pushing a baseless narrative that President Joe Biden, who has served his nation for 50 years, is “compromised.”</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chairman Comer, who has promoted the false theory of fraud in the 2020 election, blaming alleged “troubling reports of irregularities and improprieties” on Democrats, has been regularly criticized. He was deemed “a fundamentally unserious, dishonest, laughable caricature,” by Democratic strategist Sam Cornale on Wednesday, and<b> mocked by The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank last year.</b></font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">“In interviews with Fox News and other public pronouncements, Comer has alleged that the president’s son is responsible for just about everything,” Milbank wrote last year. “Why is fentanyl flowing into the United States? Hunter Biden. Why is President Biden pushing electric vehicles? Hunter Biden. Why isn’t the president tougher on Russian oligarchs? Hunter Biden. Why isn’t the administration pinning the pandemic on a Wuhan lab leak and battling China over currency manipulation? Hunter Biden and Hunter Biden. Why did the United States rejoin the Paris climate accord? Hunter Biden.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Tuesday, Fox News’<b> Sean Hannity </b>led a highly-criticized interview with Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, and Oversight Chair James Comer that was shockingly filmed inside the U.S. House of Representatives.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">READ MORE: ‘The Deep State’ Wants to ‘Wipe Out the American Cowboy’ Warns GOP Congressman in Conspiracy-Laden Rant (Video)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">New York University Professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert on fascism and authoritarian leaders, responded by declaring, “Americans, I give you…President Murdoch and the coronation of Fox News as state media.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity and the top Republicans were surrounded by dozens of House Republicans, sitting quietly, as the Fox News personality promoted their talking points.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition to posting video, journalist Matt Laslo tweeted, “Hannity noted to the lawmakers (who are obediently sitting and saying nothing which is WILD) that many of the lawmakers in attendance might not make it on TV tonight but they gave up an hour to support the Speaker.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Chairman Comer made news for two remarks (both seen in the clip below): calling Ukraine – which is fighting to protect democracy in Europe and thus around the globe – an “adversary” of the United States, and strongly suggesting President Joe Biden is “compromised.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">READ MORE: Watch: Democrats File Ethics Complaint Against George Santos After GOP Leadership Calls It an ‘Internal’ Matter</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“You know there’s a pattern here with Communist China, with Ukraine, with Russia, with our adversaries across the world,” he told Hannity. “And you look at the bad decisions that Joe Biden makes and this White House makes every day that has a detrimental effect on every American – you wonder, is this President compromised?”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity himself has promoted the baseless claim that President Biden may be “compromised.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a December interview with Comer, Hannity, known to have had nightly conversations advising Donald Trump when he was president, concluded with this question: “Do you believe it’s possible Joe Biden is compromised by Russia and China?” Comer dutifully replied, “I fear that he is.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That word, “compromised,” is now being used by Comer and his fellow House Republicans repeatedly against President Biden – and his family.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Monday, U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), the former chair of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, a former policy advisor to an anti-LGBTQ hate group, and an alleged co-founder of the Stop the Steal movement, called President Biden, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, and Hunter Biden, “compromised” – while making false claims about classified documents (and the Biden think tank) that were immediately handed over to the National Archives.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Wednesday, Chairman Comer again baselessly used the word “compromised” against President Biden.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating President Biden’s involvement in his family’s foreign business practices and international influence peddling schemes,” Chairman Comer wrote in an official letter published by ABC News, to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, making an unsubstantiated clam as if it were fact.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The Committee is investigating President Biden’s knowledge of and role in these schemes to assess whether he has compromised our national security at the expense of the American people,” Comer wrote.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ABC News adds that Comer “called the Biden probe a ‘top priority for House Republicans during the 118th Congress.'”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">READ MORE: GOP Congressman From Texas Calls for Defunding Homeland Security</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The American people must know the extent of Joe Biden’s involvement in his family’s shady business deals and if these deals threaten national security and his decision-making as president,” Comer told ABC.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Comer wasn’t done using the “compromised” word against President Biden.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“In a letter to the White House counsel today,” Politico on Wednesday reported, “new Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said the committee ‘is concerned that President Biden has compromised (intelligence) sources and methods with his own mishandling of classified documents.'”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chairman Comer has even set up a microsite on the House Oversight Committee’s website, titled, “Biden Family Investigation.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On it, he alleges, “If President Biden is compromised by deals with foreign adversaries and they are impacting his decision making, this is a threat to national security.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donald Trump’s tax returns show numerous foreign bank accounts, including in China, and there were reports of real estate deals in foreign countries while he was president, but Republicans ignored that.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Two years into his presidency,” OpenSecrets reported in 2019, “Donald Trump continues to make money from properties and licensing deals in nearly two dozen countries around the world, fanning the flames of concerns that the Trump administration is subject to unprecedented levels of foreign influence.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Trump continued to hold more than $130 million in foreign assets in a revocable trust as his second year in office came to a close, according to OpenSecrets’ analysis of the president’s most recent annual personal financial disclosure released by the Office of Government Ethics last month,” the website, which tracks money in politics, noted. “Trump’s business entanglements continue to leave him with positions, assets, trademarks and other business interests in more than 30 countries.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In November of last year, CNN reported, “The governments of six foreign countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, spent more than $700,000 at then-President Donald Trump’s Washington, DC, hotel over the first two years of his presidency, according to newly released accounting documents.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Watch the videos above or at this link.</font></div></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p></div></div><div style=""><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/lauren-boebert-hannity/">https://www.alternet.org/lauren-boebert-hannity/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an ah 12 22</font></div><div style=""><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After the 2020 presidential election, Fox News’ Sean Hannity was more than happy to have attorney Sidney Powell on his show and let her promote the false claim that the election was stolen from Donald Trump. Powell, Fox News, Newsmax TV, One America News (OAN) and former New York City Mayor <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-dominion-lawsuits-giuliani-powell-577808419035" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Rudy Giuliani</a> have all faced <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/jul/04/fox-oan-newsmax-lawsuits-election-fraud-claims" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">major defamation lawsuits</a> from Dominion Voting Systems, which many MAGA Republicans falsely accused of helping Democrats steal the election.</font></p><p style="font-size: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But when Hannity <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/12/22/23523385/sean-hannity-fox-news-defamation-dominion-lawsuit" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">sat for a deposition</a> on December 21 in connection with Dominion’s lawsuit against Fox News, he was in no hurry to promote the Big Lie. Hannity, under oath, was asked about Powell’s Dominion-related claims and admitted, “I did not believe it for one second.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">”</span></font></p><p style="font-size: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Dominion’s defamation lawsuits against Fox News and others are civil lawsuits, but lying under oath in a deposition is a criminal matter. And legal experts have argued that Hannity, during that deposition, obviously wasn’t about to risk criminal charges. Promoting nonsense on the air to drive ratings is one thing; lying under oath is quite another.</span></font></p><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>READ MORE:</strong> <a href="https://www.alternet.org/msn/dominion-voting-systems-2658999290/" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;"><strong>Sean Hannity — under oath — admits he 'didn’t believe' election lies 'for one second': deposition</strong></a></font></p><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity’s critics on the left, along with Never Trump conservatives, have been slamming the far-right Fox News host for giving Powell a platform in the first place. But Trump loyalists, according to the Daily Beast’s Zachary Petrizzo, are <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-and-maga-misfits-turn-on-trumps-bitch-sean-hannity?ref=home" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">lambasting Hannity</a> for rejecting the Big Lie during that December 21 deposition.</font></p><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Sean Hannity, once the most important mouthpiece for Donald Trump, seems to be increasingly on the MAGA World outs,” Petrizzo explains in an article published by the Beast on December 29. “And a new revelation that Hannity doesn’t buy the Big Lie isn’t helping. In a just-released deposition surrounding Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit, the Fox News star said he’d never believed — not ‘for one second’ — baseless election fraud claims stemming from the 2020 election. That stance, directly at odds with many of his prime-time segments and the beliefs of many of his closest allies, has put Hannity in an awkward position.”</font></p><p style="font-size: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The MAGA Republicans who believe that Hannity has betrayed Trump, Petrizzo reports, include attorney Lin Wood, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, radio host Stew Peters, and <a href="https://gettr.com/post/p22uzmdf25b" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Steve Bannon</a> (host of the “War Room” podcast and former White House chief strategist in the Trump Administration).</span></font></p><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wood told the Beast that he is “very disappointed” and “unhappy” with Hannity. And Lindell told the Beast, “Sean Hannity is disgusting. He’s a terrible journalist that does not do his job or his diligence…. He doesn’t seem to have any concern over any election problems in the country, and it’s disgusting.”</font></p><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>READ MORE: </strong><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/10/supreme-court-refuses-to-dismiss-dominions-1-3-billion-defamation-suit-against-mike-lindell" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;"><strong>Supreme Court allows Dominion’s $1.3 billion defamation suit against Mike Lindell to go forward</strong></a></font></p><p style="font-size: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Another far-right Trump devotee who is attacking Hannity is conspiracy theorist <a href="https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1606691091914391554" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Jack Posobiec</a>.</span></font></p><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Petrizzo observes, “Bannon wrote that Hannity should face ‘accountability’ for ‘TERRIBLE advice’ to Trump, while Posobiec has taken a series of jabs at the Fox News host, including posting a picture of Hannity alongside CNN host Don Lemon and Michael Avenatti. <a href="https://gettr.com/post/p22ocwv4f5f" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Trump superfan Bill Mitchell</a> responded to Hannity’s deposition remarks by writing, ‘And just like that, Hannity ends his career.’ Hannity’s also been called a ‘fraud’ by conservative commentators. Far-right radio host Stew Peters has labeled the Fox News host a ‘clown’ following his voter fraud boomerang. ‘He regularly washes and dries Reince Priebus and Sean Spicer’s jock straps,’ Peters told The Daily Beast.”</font></p><p style="font-size: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Even Trump himself, according to Beast sources, is apparently angry with Hannity. One source in “MAGA World,” Petrizzo reports, told the Beast, “In terms of direct contact with Sean, I think it’s been a while.”</span></font></p><p style="font-size: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A Trump adviser, also quoted anonymously, told the Beast, “Hannity was his lapdog for years, but just like everyone else who’s been Trump’s bitch at one point or another, the second Trump finds a reason to throw them in the garbage, he takes it.”</span></font></p><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>READ MORE: </strong><a href="https://www.alternet.org/sean-hannity-actively-misinforming-viewers/" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;"><strong>Sean Hannity was 'actively misinforming' Fox News viewers during Sidney Powell interview: columnist</strong></a></font></p></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an 12 22</font></div><div style=""><p style="font-size: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">When the U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren handed down its unanimous decision in <em style="">New York Times v. Sullivan</em> back in 1964, it established a tough standard that plaintiffs have to meet in defamation lawsuits. Plaintiffs, according to the Warren Court, have to prove “actual malice.” And that is what Dominion Voting Systems is trying to prove in the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/jul/04/fox-oan-newsmax-lawsuits-election-fraud-claims" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">defamation lawsuits</a> it filed against Fox News, Newsmax TV, One America News (OAN) and others in response to the false claims they promoted about the 2020 presidential election.</span></font></p><p style="font-size: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">After Donald Trump lost the 2020 election to now-President Joe Biden by more than 7 million votes, many far-right MAGA Republicans at Fox News, Newsmax and OAN promoted the false claim that Dominion’s voting equipment was used to help Democrats steal the election — a conspiracy theory</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> that has been repeatedly debunked. Fox News, in response to Dominion’s defamation lawsuit, has maintained that its hosts weren’t saying the claims about Dominion were true, and that they were just asking questions.</span></font></p><p style="font-size: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Dominion, meanwhile, is trying to show, in its $1.6 billion lawsuit, that hosts at Fox News acted with actual malice and promoted claims they knew were nonsense. And on Wednesday, December 21, attorneys for Dominion pointed to Fox News host Sean Hannity as an example of someone who knew that the Big Lie was a lie but promoted the claims of Trump attorney Sidney Powell anyway.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Powell, who is also facing a defamation lawsuit from Dominion, falsely accused Dominion of helping Democrats steal the election from Trump. <b>Another MAGA Republican who made that false claim and is being sued by Dominion is <a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/09/mike-lindell-dominion-false-narrative" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell</a>. Dominion has sued former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani as well.</b></span></font></p><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>READ MORE:</strong> <a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/10/supreme-court-refuses-to-dismiss-dominions-1-3-billion-defamation-suit-against-mike-lindell" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;"><strong>Supreme Court allows Dominion’s $1.3 billion defamation suit against Mike Lindell to go forward</strong></a></font></p><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reporting for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/21/business/media/sean-hannity-fox-trump-election.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">the New York Times</a> on December 21, journalist Jeremy Peters explains, “On November 30, 2020, Sean Hannity hosted Sidney Powell on his prime-time Fox News program. As she had in many other interviews around that time — on Fox and elsewhere in right-wing media — Ms. Powell, a former federal prosecutor, spun wild conspiracy theories about what she said was ‘corruption all across the country, in countless districts,’ in a plot to steal reelection from the president, Donald J. Trump. At the center of this imagined plot were machines from Dominion Voting Systems, which Ms. Powell claimed ran an algorithm that switched votes for Mr. Trump to votes for Joseph R. Biden Jr. Dominion machines, she insisted, were being used ‘to trash large batches of votes.’”</font></p><p style="font-size: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But when Hannity gave a deposition two years later on Wednesday, December 21, 2022 and was under oath, he admitted, “I did not believe it for one second.”</span></font></p><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to Peters, “The hearing was called to address several issues that need to be resolved before the case heads for a jury trial, which the judge has scheduled to begin in April. Mr. Hannity’s disclosure — along with others that emerged from court on Wednesday about what Fox News executives and hosts really believed as their network became one of the loudest megaphones for lies about the 2020 election — is among the strongest evidence yet to emerge publicly that some Fox employees knew that what they were broadcasting was false.”</font></p><p style="font-size: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Under the New York Times v. Sullivan standard established by the Warren Court 58 years ago, defamation is very difficult to prove. An honest mistake doesn’t fit the definition of defamation — the plaintiff has to show actual malice. <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/02/15/1080804339/nyt-sarah-palin-loses-lawsuit" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin</a> filed a defamation lawsuit against the Times and lost because Palin and her attorneys couldn’t prove actual malice.</span></font></p><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>READ MORE: </strong><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/12/lachlan-murdoch" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;"><strong>Fox News chief Lachlan Murdoch to be deposed in $1.6 billion dominion defamation case</strong></a></font></p><p style="font-size: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“The high legal standard of proof in defamation cases makes it difficult for a company like Dominion to prevail against a media organization like Fox News,” Peters notes. <b>“Dominion has to persuade a jury that people at Fox were, in effect, saying one thing in private while telling their audience exactly the opposite. </b>And that requires showing a jury convincing evidence that speaks to the state of mind of those who were making the decisions at the network. In </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Delaware</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Superior Court on Wednesday, Dominion’s lawyers argued that they had obtained ample evidence to make that case.”</span></font></p><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Peters adds, “One lawyer for Dominion said that ‘not a single Fox witness’ so far had produced anything supporting the various false claims about the company that were uttered repeatedly on the network. And in some cases, other high-profile hosts and senior executives echoed Mr. Hannity’s doubts about what Mr. Trump and his allies like Ms. Powell were saying, according to the<b> Dominion lawyer, Stephen Shackelford</b>. This included Meade Cooper, who oversees prime-time programming for Fox News, and the prime-time star Tucker Carlson, Mr. Shackelford said.”</font></p><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Citing Cooper and Carlson as examples, Shackleford told the court, “Many of the highest-ranking Fox people have admitted under oath that they never believed the Dominion lies.”</font></p><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>READ MORE: </strong><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/07/right-wing-media-dominion-defamation" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;"><strong>Right-wing media outlets continue to rage against Dominion’s defamation lawsuits: report</strong></a></font></p></div><div style=""><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an raw 12 22</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday said that former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani was wrong to accuse him of covering up data from Hunter Biden's laptop.</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huNbIuTFkpE" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">recent interview</a> with Newsmax, Giuliani claimed that Pompeo had "buried" the laptop's hard drive.</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><b>“I gave it to Hannity in early 2019,</b> then to John Solomon, then to <b>Mike Pompeo, who also buried it,"</b></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b> Giuliani said. </b>"And you should know that now that he’s running for president — and I will tell you the whole story about that at some point. I’ll write it out."</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On Tuesday, Pompeo told Real America's Voice host David Brody that he could not "make sense" out of Giuliani's claims.</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Not much to say," Pompeo told Brody. "I feel bad for Rudy. You know, Sean Hannity, John Solomon, Mike Pompeo: noted leftists. Right? I feel bad. I'll leave it there."</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The former secretary of state encouraged Giuliani to write out his grievances.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I can't — I don't know," Pompeo said. "I have no idea. First, he said I gave them everything and then he kind of said, well, I gave them half. I don't know how to respond other than to say that we never covered up anything that was important to American national security."</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I was the secretary of state," he pointed out. "I'm not sure why Hunter Biden's laptop would have been particularly relevant to my particular role at that time. But if he wants to write it out, I'm happy to respond to something once I can make sense of it."</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Watch the video below from Real America's Voice.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div></div><div style=""><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://boingboing.net/2022/12/07/hannity-doesnt-know-where-gop-voters-got-the-idea-that-mail-in-ballots-are-bad-while-gingrich-threatens-to-abolish-tiktok.html">https://boingboing.net/2022/12/07/hannity-doesnt-know-where-gop-voters-got-the-idea-that-mail-in-ballots-are-bad-while-gingrich-threatens-to-abolish-tiktok.html</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div style=""><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">// <a href="https://boingboing.net/2022/12/09/sean-hannity-has-no-idea-why-republicans-didnt-vote-early-so-heres-a-video-to-help-him-remember.html">https://boingboing.net/2022/12/09/sean-hannity-has-no-idea-why-republicans-didnt-vote-early-so-heres-a-video-to-help-him-remember.html</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">huh?</font></div><div><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A new montage is highlighting the irony of Fox News <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fox-news-daily-show-supercut-georgia_n_639437b2e4b0169d76d74d01" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">hosts' puzzlement</a> over Republican voters' apprehension about early voting and mail-in voting following Georgia Republican Senate hopeful Herschel Walker's runoff defeat.</font></p><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to HuffPost, the montage was featured on "The Daily Show" with Trevor Noah. In the clip, Fox News hosts Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Brian Kilmeade expressed frustration and concern as they discussed Walker, who was backed by former President Donald Trump.</font></p><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So, why were Republicans so reluctant? The montage also included contradictory clips that showed the hosts echoing Trump's remarks condemning mail-in voting amid his claims of widespread voter fraud.</font></p><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>READ MORE: <a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/03/ex-fox-news-editor-explains-how-and-why-he-spiked-the-stormy-daniels-story-weeks-before-trumps-election" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Ex-Fox News editor explains how and why he spiked the Stormy Daniels story weeks before Trump's election</a></strong></font></p><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The clip began with a current remark from Hannity who said, "I think Republicans have been unwilling, for whatever reason, reluctant, resistant to voting early and voting by mail."</font></p><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He continued, "We're going to bring you a critical warning that the rest of the media mob won't tell you about and that is mail-in voter fraud. It is real."</font></p><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Then the clip shifted to Ingraham highlighting how her remarks have shifted in wake of the Georgia Senate runoff upset.</font></p><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We just have to do better in terms of ballot harvesting and early voting to match the Democrat efforts," Ingraham said. "They want early voting because they want everyone to mail, mail and vote because I think that's going to help Democrats has nothing to do with this virus"</font></p><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>READ MORE: <a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/10/reefer-madness-fox-news-cannabis" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">'Reefer madness': Fox News freaks out after Joe Biden pardons thousands of federal cannabis convictions</a></strong></font></p><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lastly, the clip featured Kilmeade who recently said, "I think people are going to have to reevaluate the whole approach to early voting, the whole approach to the dropboxes and everything else."</font></p><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">However, the montage highlighted that he previously had a completely different perspective. "Putting dropboxes everywhere, being very loose with unrequested ballots, absentee ballots," Kilmeade previously said. The President tweeting that mail drop boxes used for the upcoming election could lead to fraud. Republicans in many states are reluctant."</font></p><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He added, "They are related, resistant to early voting or voting by mail. Republicans warning about the dangers of mass mail and ballots being sent to here, there everywhere warning about how it would inject more division chaos and opportunity for fraud in our elections."</font></p><p style="font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Watch the video below or <a href="https://www.alternet.org/fox-news-2658946786/" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">at this link.</a></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/herschel-walkers-runoff-defeat-its-time-point-and-laugh-sean-hannity">https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/herschel-walkers-runoff-defeat-its-time-point-and-laugh-sean-hannity</a></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">no lnx</span></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>fo<span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">x News host Sean Hannity pulled former NFL star Herschel Walker into the race for U.S. Senate in Georgia, served as his campaign’s biggest asset, and bears responsibility for Republicans ultimately failing to oust Sen. Raphael Warnock, who beat Walker in Tuesday’s runoff. </span></b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Walker’s loss is another embarrassing defeat for Fox.</b> The network’s influential prime-time hosts heavily promoted four unorthodox first-time candidates for U.S. Senate in the midterm elections — Walker, Blake Masters in Arizona, Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, and J.D. Vance in Ohio — helping them secure the Republican nominations for those races. Vance, the sole victor of the group, ran well behind the rest of his party’s slate in a red state; the other three lost winnable races in swing states, ensuring historic Democratic victories rather than a GOP “red tsunami.” </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity is a GOP kingmaker with the ear of top party leaders who spent Donald Trump’s presidency advising the White House. He is a relentless propagandist whose singular goal is electing Republican candidates. But when Hannity gets to pick those candidates, the results can be disastrous for his party.</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">For the last month, Hannity has been laser-focused on helping Walker to victory in the Georgia runoff. The Fox host has preached the importance of the race to his viewers, shielded the candidate from criticism, promoted his political ads, bolstered his fundraising, and savaged his opponent. </font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Walker has been a fixture on Hannity’s program even as he has hidden from credible journalists</span>.<b> Of Walker’s 12 weekday appearances on Fox since Election Day, 5 came on the host’s show — often, bizarrely, accompanied by Hannity regular Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).</b> The odd couple returned to the program on the eve of the runoff, with Graham using the opportunity to thank Hannity’s audience for their donations and promising them “a return on investment tomorrow.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It didn’t turn out that way. And Hannity, who was Walker’s most important press supporter throughout the race, is a big part of the reason why Democrats will have 51 seats in the Senate rather than 50 when it convenes in 2023.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Walker’s introduction to Republican politics came as a regular on Hannity’s show during the 2020 election cycle, when his pro-Trump takes made him a MAGA sensation. Then, after Trump lost and Hannity turned his attention to the 2022 midterms, the Fox host recruited Walker to run against Warnock. In a series of interviews, Hannity urged Walker to seek the Senate seat and pushed other Republicans to support his candidacy.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GOP leaders knew from the start that Walker was a terrible candidate whose nomination would make it harder to win the seat. As I noted on the day he announced his candidacy:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Republicans have plenty of reasons to worry about Walker’s chances of winning a general election in a swing state: He’s a first-time candidate who is moving to the state for the race, he’s a conspiracy theorist, and his wife is currently under investigation by state authorities for allegedly illegally voting in Georgia while living in Texas.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And last month, The Associated Press revealed that the candidate has “repeatedly threatened his ex-wife’s life, exaggerated claims of financial success and alarmed business associates with unpredictable behavior.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity endorsed Walker on-air that very night, and his show became ground zero for the campaign. The candidate made 38 weekday Fox News appearances between his August 25, 2021, launch date and Election Day; 19 of them came on Hannity, including a purported town hall that was functionally a televised rally for Walker. With Trump and Fox both behind Walker, the Georgia primary field cleared for him.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But as Hannity was propping up Walker’s candidacy, GOP fears that he hadn’t been fully vetted were being proved correct. Journalists detailed Walker’s history of domestic violence, his previously unrevealed children, reports that he had paid for abortions, his involvement in scams, and his false claims about his academic, business, and military background.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Election Day, Republicans won every statewide election in Georgia with at least 51% of the vote — except for the Senate race. There, Warnock secured a narrow lead that threw the race into a runoff, which he ultimately won.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Walker’s defeat makes his campaign the latest case study to demonstrate the limits of Fox’s influence. </b>Its hosts can get their chosen candidates through the party’s primaries. But the toxic extremists who attract Fox stars' interest are often deeply alienating to normal people, and that is making it harder for the GOP to win elections. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Meanwhile, the Fox personalities who wield the most influence over the party are pointing fingers at everyone but themselves.</span></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/despite-fox-news-claims-contrary-voters-are-concerned-about-climate-change">https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/despite-fox-news-claims-contrary-voters-are-concerned-about-climate-change</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx many no vid</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div><b>Despite Fox News' claims to the contrary, voters are concerned about climate change</b></div><div>Special PROGRAMS</div><div>CLIMATE & ENERGY</div><div>WRITTEN BY EVLONDO COOPER</div><div>RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM ALLISON FISHER & ILANA BERGER</div><div>
</div><div>PUBLISHED 11/17/22</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Despite Fox News’ claims to the contrary, climate change was among top voter concerns during the recent 2022 midterm elections. </span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The issue of climate change took center stage during the general election for the first time in 2020. Since then, poll after poll has found that climate change is top of mind for many voters, and exit polls found that it was a key issue for 2022 midterm voters. Even Fox had to briefly acknowledge this reality, though it won’t likely have any material impact on the network’s climate coverage.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>CNN’s exit poll found that 71% of voters stated that climate change is a “very serious” or “somewhat serious” problem, while 61% of voters in Fox News’ voter analysis survey were “very/somewhat concerned” about climate change</b>. Regarding whether climate has become a viable election issue, InsideClimateNews suggested that “the political dynamics around climate in the 2022 midterms could stand out as a milestone.” Or as The New Republic summarized:</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>This year, more “climate voters,” people whose top issue is the climate crisis, showed up to cast ballots than in any other election in U.S. history.</b> Exit polls show that, contrary to conventional Democratic consultant-class wisdom,<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 102);"> climate was the top issue for 8 percent of voters, a share surpassed only by “inflation/economy,” immigration, and abortion (the latter two are tied at second place</span>). You’d never guess it from media coverage, but climate and crime were tied for third place. <b>The percentage of voters prioritizing climate had jumped by four points from 2020, the first year that voters were even asked at the polls about “climate” as opposed to “environment.” There are probably several factors behind this impressive showing.</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>Climate could play an important role in the Georgia Senate runoff election,</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">especially among socially marginalized communities that have been bearing the brunt of climate-driven extreme weather events and environmental pollution. In addition to grassroots organizing efforts, Climate Monitor noted that “LCV [League of Conservation Voters] has already launched a new video ad supporting Sen. Raphael Warnock in his runoff election on December 6th. Environmental Voter Project is also already spending in Georgia’s Senate runoff.”</span></div><div>
</div><div>This belies Fox News’ attempts to downplay climate change as a concern for voters. This summer, the network, among other right-wing media outlets<b>, cherry-picked data from a Siena College and New York Times poll </b>to claim that Americans did not care about climate change. For example, the July 20 episode of America's Newsroom featured Kellyanne Conway, former White House counselor under President Donald Trump, claiming that President Joe Biden is focusing on climate and the poll shows voters “don't think that he's connected to them in a way that he is listening to them and hearing their concerns.”</div><div>
</div><div>Video file</div><div>Video CitationFrom the July 20, 2022, edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">During the July 24 episode of Fox & Friends Weekend, co-host Pete Hegseth claimed, “They're using the blue checkmark woke brigade to attempt to cudgel the White House to declare a crisis based on 1% of Americans who believe it’s their religion, which could change all of our lives, and change it rapidly, if he caves to groups like this.”</span></div><div>
</div><div>VideoCitationFrom the July 24, 2022, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends Weekend </div><div>
</div><div>In the months and weeks leading up to the November 8 midterm elections, Fox News continued to downplay voter concerns about climate change. For example, during the September 14 episode of The Story With Martha MacCallum, Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich led off a segment that attacked the climate provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act by using a Gallup poll to claim that “voters are far more concerned with the economy than they are with climate.” Fox News hosted commentator Angela Morabito on the September 27 episode of Fox News at Night, where she claimed that <b>climate change was a “luxury problem”</b> above a chyron that read “Midterm Motivators.”</div><div>
</div><div>VideoCitationFrom the September 27, 2022, episode of Fox News at Night</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">During the September 30 episode of Hannity, Fox News host </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 102);">Sean Hannity claimed that if the midterms are a “referendum on<b style=""> Joe Biden, the failed climate cult</b>, and their failed policies, and how <b style="">they’ve wrecked all the progress that we made in the four years under Donald Trump, </b>then they lose.”</span></div><div>
</div><div>Video Citation From the September 30, 2022, episode of Fox News' Hannity</div><div>
</div><div>After rattling off key provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><b>Fox News host Sandra Smith asked her guests during the October 6 episode of America Reports</b></span> if “Democrats may live to regret the day they pushed clean energy so hard in this moment when <b>we’re not ready for the transition.”</b></div><div>
</div><div>Video Citation From the October 6, 2022, episode of Fox News' America Reports</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">However, after the midterm elections, Fox News had to acknowledge that climate was an important issue for voters. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">During the November 9 episode of <b style="">America Reports, Smith</b> briefly bowed to reality when confronted with the results of Fox News’ own survey: “When asked how concerned about climate change voters were, 61% said very or somewhat concerned, 3</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">9% not too concerned or not at all concerned,” she said. “Climate change was up there, and it was on the mind of voters when they head to the ballot box. So, is this a missed opportunity for Republicans to have some sort of messaging there for voters who care about this issue?”</span></div><div>
</div><div>Video CitationFrom the November 9, 2022, episode of Fox News' America Reports</div><div>
</div><div>Despite years of climate science denial and obfuscation, Fox News had to face the fact that voters care about climate change. The network will likely continue running interference for the fossil fuel industry, denying or downplaying how climate is driving extreme weather, and undermining the Biden administration's climate and energy policies, because it is less a news outlet and more a key cog in the fossil fuel industry’s<b> disinformation network. Even though the veil of reality may slip on Fox News occasionally, it never stays down for long.</b></div></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p></div></div><div style=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mma 11 22</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">House Republicans appear set on spending the next two years firmly ensconced within the right-wing media bubble, focusing on creating content for its Fox News stars after garnering a slim majority in the midterm elections.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Thursday morning, just hours after news outlets had projected that Republicans would take control of the lower chamber, Reps. James Comer (R-KY) and Jim Jordan (R-OH) <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?524331-1/house-gop-plans-investigation-president-biden-familys-business-dealings&live=" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">held a news conference</a> detailing what will apparently be the party’s top priority. Their announcement had nothing to do with the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/08/politics/exit-polls-midterm-election-analysis" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">issues voters said they cared</a> the most about when they went to the polls, like inflation or abortion rights. Instead, the incoming chairs of the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees, with the <a href="https://twitter.com/GOPLeader/status/1593251548875739139" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">apparent approval</a> of likely Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), promised to be laser-focused on business deals President Joe Biden’s son Hunter was involved in years ago.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>As they spoke, the caucus’ official Twitter account was tweeting catchphrases that are incomprehensible to anyone who doesn’t spend a significant amount of time in the right-wing information ecosystem </b>[twt]</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">fox News hosts and their fellow travelers have been trying to use Hunter Biden’s business dealings as a cudgel against his father since <a href="https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/trump-s-story-of-hunter-biden-s-chinese-venture-is-full-of-holes-1.1326272.amp.html" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">before he launched</a> his run for president. That fixation ultimately triggered Fox’s obsession and then-President Donald Trump’s <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-got-cover-it-was-built-get" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">first impeachment</a> for <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/trumps-ukraine-scandal-fox-news-story" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">corruptly using his power</a> to try to force Ukraine to launch a spurious investigation into the Bidens. The story returned to the fore in the closing weeks of the 2020 presidential election as part of a <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/lachlan-murdoch/murdochs-desperate-final-push-use-hunter-biden-reelect-donald-trump" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">last-ditch effort</a> by Rupert Murdoch’s outlets to use <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/hunter-biden-laptop-investigation.html" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">revelations from the alleged</a> “Hunter Biden laptop” to keep Trump in office. And as Election Day 2022 approached, right-wing outlets were <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/ahead-midterms-right-wing-media-issue-marching-orders-potential-congressional#paragraph--section-heading--3440843" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">rife with demands</a> for Republicans to use the power they might gain to scrutinize <a href="https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1593272600003764226" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">what they term</a> the “Biden Crime Family.”</font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Indeed, Thursday’s event seemed made-to-order for the right-wing press, which rewarded the House Republican leaders with fawning coverage and airtime. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Fox prime time host <b style="">Sean Hannity <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/sean-hannity-time-hold-your-government-accountable" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">opened his program</a> that night</b> by crowing that “Republicans now have control of the House and soon, for the first time in two years, this administration will finally get their feet held to the fire” before spending several segments purporting to explain how “the big guy himself, Joe Biden” had “ended up using his crack-addicted son as a bag man.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">”</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> He aired clips from Comer and Jordan speaking at the news conference, then rewarded Comer with an interview, which he concluded by thanking the congressman “for your hard work and your willingness to take on a hard topic.” During the next hour, host<b> Laura Ingraham also touted the event and aired clips before bringing on Jordan.</b></span></font></p></div></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mma 922 <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-producer-lynda-mclaughlin-texted-trumps-chief-staff-push-debunked-claims"> </a><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-producer-lynda-mclaughlin-texted-trumps-chief-staff-push-debunked-claims">https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-producer-lynda-mclaughlin-texted-trumps-chief-staff-push-debunked-claims</a></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Newly released text messages show that the executive producer of Sean Hannity's radio show, Lynda McLaughlin, asked then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows for a meeting with President Donald Trump to share “hard data” that “show[ed] proof of the fraud” being pushed by the White House, Fox News, and the entire right-wing media in the 2020 election.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CNN’s Reliable Sources <a href="https://view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/16643270610489ce4ce24ba40/raw?utm_term=16643270610489ce4ce24ba40&utm_source=cnn_Reliable+Sources+-+September+27%2C+2022&utm_medium=email&bt_ee=kFbtKxM0YnBrYnhEL5iKAJJ9BK29ZEQFz6gzv6kC4%2BitC2SHl%2FcdlD9Dc353gmB3&bt_ts=1664327061051" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">newsletter</a> reported on the text messages, taken from a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/25/ex-staffers-unauthorized-book-about-jan-6-committee-rankles-members/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">new book</a> by former January 6 committee staffer (and former congressman) Denver Riggleman; as noted in the block quote below, CNN independently verified the messages as well.</font></p></div></div><blockquote class="block-quote block-quote--collapsable" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="block-quotequote" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity Producer's Big Ask: In early January 2021, during the politically turbulent time before Joe Biden assumed the office of the presidency, the executive producer of Sean Hannity's radio show sought to meet directly with then-President Donald Trump.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The producer, Lynda McLaughlin, texted Mark Meadows, the former acting chief of staff, with a big ask, claiming she had "hard data" which "show[ed] proof of the fraud" — evidently about the 2020 election. McLaughlin characterized the dubious information as "irrefutable" and wanted to take it straight to Trump.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Mark -- are we able to present our data to POTUS?" McLaughlin asked.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">…</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The messages underscore the intimate relationship that Hannity, his team, and the right-wing media writ large shared with the Trump White House. The cozy relationship exposed in the messages lays bare that in many cases, right-wing media outlets and personalities not only positively covered the Trump White House, but actively worked arm-in-arm with it.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">For instance, when McLaughlin texted Meadows introducing herself ("Hey it's Lynda from Hannity") and told Meadows she was "rallying the troops,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">" </span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Meadows replied by thanking her for her "wonderful" contribution and connecting her with the Trump-supporting Rep. Jim Jordan. "Jim Jordon [sic] will gladly coordinate with the House team," Meadows texted McLaughlin. "Do you need his contact?"</span></font></p></div></blockquote><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>CNN also reported that “Meadows seemed to stop responding to McLaughlin later in the conversation, after she asked to meet with Trump.”</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-impressed-his-producers-attempt-overturn-georgias-presidential-election" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">not the first time</a> McLaughlin has been directly involved in stoking right-wing conspiracy theories of election fraud. In December 2020, McLaughlin, as part of the so-called “Data Integrity Group,'' testified to the Georgia Senate Judicial Subcommittee that the group had proof of votes being taken from Trump and given to Joe Biden.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>During the hearing, McLaughlin never revealed her connection to Hannity.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity later lauded his producer for her strong efforts to overturn the election [audio]</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"> HANNITY (HOST): On December 30</span><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" line-height="line-height" position="position" relative="relative" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" top="top" em="em" margin-top="margin-top" px="px">th</span><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">, there is this really incredible group. Lynda McLaughlin works with them, our own Lynda, Data Integrity Group, they actually gave Senate testimony on December 30</span><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" line-height="line-height" position="position" relative="relative" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" top="top" em="em" margin-bottom="margin-bottom" px="px">th</span><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"> about Georgia for example, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Elections. Let's see, the people you have involved in this seem pretty impressive to me. You've got one guy is a data scientist with over a decade experience in a lot of industries, what we have here is fraud that we can prove in this election and then I begin to look at the background and the people, one is a nine-year veteran of the US Navy, worked as an electronic warfare technicians, cryptologic technician whatever the hell that is, Arabic linguist, worked at the NSA as a mission manager, later worked as a CIA contractor at the Counter-terrorism Center. And I'm like, "wow."</span></font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">On January 2, 2021, the claims were amplified by far-right The Epoch Times and its affiliated NTD YouTube channel.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>McLaughlin <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3924586" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">appeared</a> in an interview with The Epoch Times,</b> released on its site on January 5, 2021, in which she suggests election fraud occurred in Pennsylvania as well.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Justin Mealey and Dave Lobue, other members of the “Data Integrity Group,” also appeared on Lou Dobbs' Fox Business show on January 5: vi</span>d]</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">the claims from th<b>e Data Integrity Group </b></span><b><a href="https://nickdepsky.medium.com/the-data-integrity-group-and-its-claims-of-election-fraud-debunked-c8307867667c" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" background-image="background-image" initial="initial" background-position="background-position" background-size="background-size" background-repeat="background-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" transition="transition" box-shadow="box-shadow" s="s" ease-in-out="ease-in-out" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" rgba="rgba" px="px" inset="inset">have been debunked</a><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">.</span></b></font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">All together, this is another example of the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/watch-january-6-committee-read-evidence-hypocritical-and-revealing-texts-fox-news-hosts" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">close relationship</a> between Fox News personalities and the Trump White House.</font></p></div></div></div><div style=""><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">mma 922</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">not sure what to say beyond fox job 1 trash dems; tails you lose? if pandemic still, it is b/c dems failed to fix, or claim lockdn --> perm power tyranny</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>SEAN HANNITY (HOST): People on the left are freaking out because Biden claimed the pandemic is over, regarding covid. Pandemic's over.</b> We still have a problem with covid, we're doing a lot of work on it, but the pandemic is over.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Don't viruses mutate, and aren't there some things called new variants? Can anyone say scientifically with any degree of certainty that new variants, more virulent variants aren't possible?</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">I'm not so sure I'm trusting doctor Joe on anything, or the NIH, or Doctor Fauci, or the </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">CDC, which finally admitted, "We were wrong about those vaccine things </span><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">we were telling you to take day in and day out."</span></b></font></p></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div style=""><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mma 9 22</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Fox News host Sean Hannity loves to tout the ridiculous lawsuits that Donald Trump’s lawyers keep filing against the former president’s enemies. But when those suits fail — and they almost always do — he either ignores the results or denounces the judge dismissing the lawsuit.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/09/trump-hillary-clinton-lawsuit-2016-election/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">tossed</a> Trump’s lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and various other people and entities for purportedly conspiring to undermine his 2016 presidential campaign by tying him to Russia. In dismissing the lawsuit — in part <a href="https://lawandcrime.com/trump/judge-throws-out-trumps-rico-lawsuit-against-hillary-clinton-length-hyperbole-and-the-settling-of-scores-and-grievances-have-no-legal-merit/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">with prejudice</a> — Middlebrooks criticized its application of law and factual accuracy. He even <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/judge-threatens-sanctions-trump-lawyers-over-clinton-lawsuit-1741544" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">suggested</a> that Trump’s attorneys may face sanctions.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The lawsuit had drawn <a href="https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1507382100080668679" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">praise</a> on Hannity’s program the night it was initially filed for supposedly having “all the necessary predicates for a racketeering case.” When Middlebrooks dismissed the suit, the Fox host denounced his action as a symptom of a “two-tiered system of justice in this country” that is “undermining faith in our most important institutions.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Trump is <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/06/01/donald-trump-lawsuits-legal-battles/84995854/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">extraordinarily litigious</a> and regularly <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-22-times-trump-has-threatened-to-sue-someone-during-this-campaign/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">threatens dubious legal action</a> to garner attention. His ultimatums frequently fall apart in court, when they materialize at all. That trend has continued since Trump left office, with his lawyers repeatedly filing complaints that immediately meet with scorn and derision from the legal community.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Hannity is both a <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/trump-white-house-told-sean-hannity-what-say-then-he-said-it" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">close adviser</a> to Trump and one of his most obsequious supporters, so that history has not dissuaded him from credulously promoting the former president’s legal actions.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Fox host has propped up at least three Trump complaints that were tossed by federal judges this year. In addition to the Clinton lawsuit, Hannity’s program touted Trump’s ineffectual complaint against New York Attorney General Letitia James seeking to halt her investigation of his business empire, as well as a class action lawsuit he brought against Twitter, Facebook, and Google over their suspensions of his social media accounts. But in each case, he did not follow up when the cases were thrown out.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Hannity’s program, Trump’s lawyers and family members get softball interviews to lay out the complaints, while the host and his regular legal-issue guests tout their prospects. In some cases, Hannity has even drawn connections between the filings and the conspiracy theories featured on his show.</font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The “Russiagate” RICO suit</font></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity’s mood was celebratory on his March 24 broadcast as he <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/hannity-on-bidens-ukraine-war-response-domestic-woes" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">announced</a> the action Trump’s lawyers had taken just hours earlier.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Former President Trump filed an explosive lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, Christopher Steele, and others for their role in pushing their years-long Russian conspiracy hoax and lies, laying out evidence of racketeering, a conspiracy to commit injurious falsehood, among other claims,” Hannity said. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“As the lawsuit reads: ‘The defendants maliciously conspired to weave a false narrative that their Republican opponent Donald J. Trump was colluding with a hostile foreign sovereignty’ -- which, of course, we expose right here on this program,” he added. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity then turned to Trump lawyer <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/alina-habba-the-trump-lawyer-the-rest-of-trumps-legal-team-loathes" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Alina Habba</a> and Fox legal analyst <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/meet-gregg-jarrett-fox-news-analyst-whose-upcoming-book-trump-hawked-twitter-morning" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Gregg Jarrett</a>, to discuss the “very valid suit.” </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It's wonderful when you can actually file a suit that is in the most part proven, which is the situation that I find myself in,” Habba said, before praising Hannity for “calling it out from the beginning.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Indeed, Hannity had spent years helping to concoct the sprawling <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/obamagate-just-rebrand-rights-bogus-deep-state-conspiracy-theory" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">“Russiagate” conspiracy theories</a> at the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/09/trump-2016-russia-clinton/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">heart</a> of Trump’s complaint. But while he was cheering on Trump’s attempt to effectively take Fox monologues before a judge, legal experts were <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-lawsuit-hillary-clinton-reactions_n_623d2756e4b0def9daeb451b" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">mocking</a> the former president’s complaint and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/24/trump-clinton-lawsuit-mess/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">warning</a> that it would go nowhere. </b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Hannity claimed the lawsuit “has great merit,” then asked Jarrett for his opinion. Jarrett praised the complaint, saying that Habba and her co-counsel had provided “all the necessary predicates for a racketeering case.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">“This was a criminal enterprise run by Hillary Clinton, approved by Hillary Clinton, the false information disseminated by Hillary Clinton and her cronies,” Jarrett added. “And it's got everything in it, that is necessary to prove the case: obstruction of justice, fraud, conspiracy, theft of trade secrets. The list goes on and on."</font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[twt]</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>"I can't wait for discovery and depositions,” </b>Hannity said at the end of the segment, before asking Habba, “I hope we get to that point. You think we'll get there?”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We're going to get there,” she replied.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/09/politics/judge-throws-out-trumps-rico-lawsuit-against-hillary-clinton-and-democrats/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">They are not going to get there.</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity reconvened the panel on Friday night following the suit’s dismissal. The host introduced the segment by painting the judge’s action as evidence of the “two-tiered system of justice in this country” that is “undermining faith in our most important institutions” and “shredding our Constitution” before turning it over to his guests.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[vid 9/12]</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>habba blamed the suit’s failure on drawing “a Clinton judge …</b> who I had asked to recuse himself but insisted that he didn’t need to; he was going to be impartial.”</font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jarrett also took issue with the ruling, saying, “It appears to me here that this judge in Florida wanted to be both judge and jury. He wanted to be the trier of the fact here. And he simply states and declares that Trump hasn’t stated a cognizable claim under the law. Well, I think he has!”</font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The suit to stop New York’s Trump Organization probe </font></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity had already started his Christmas vacation on December 20, 2021, when Trump’s lawyers <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/20/nyregion/trump-lawsuit-letitia-james.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">filed suit</a> against James, seeking to force her to call off the state attorney general probe into the Trump Organization on the purported grounds that she had violated his constitutional rights by bringing the suit due to “political animus.” </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Hannity’s guest host, Tammy Bruce, filled in in his stead that night. While legal experts <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/donald-trump-s-lawsuit-against-new-york-ag-letitia-james-n1286569" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">had warned</a> the effort was far-fetched, Bruce gave Habba a friendly platform to <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/hannity-bidens-failures-dr-ozs-omicron-response" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">tout</a> the supposedly “pretty clean and cut” case. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“You can't scrutinize somebody,” Habba claimed. “It's called viewpoint discrimination. It's unconstitutional. The country doesn't allow it, and Letitia James has to be stopped.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">A few weeks later, Hannity hosted Trump’s adult son Eric, who <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/hannity-democrats-playing-politics-with-jan-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">brought up the suit</a>. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It's going to stop because frankly we've assembled the best legal, ethical minds, and <b>we're going to sue her for this abuse of power. </b>And that's the only way we can fight back, to sue her for this abuse of power,” Trump said. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We don't have equal justice under the law or application of our laws anymore, and I say that sadly. We're now criminalizing political differences. I say that sadly,” Hannity replied.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">A federal judge <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/27/nyregion/trump-letitia-james-ny.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">dismissed</a> Trump’s suit in May.</font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The class action suit to get back on social media</font></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“First tonight, President Trump is fighting back against Big Tech and today, he announced a brand-new class action lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter, and Google,” Hannity <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/hannity-on-the-biden-family-big-tech" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">said</a> at the top of his July 7, 2021, program. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Now, with a team of high-powered attorneys, President Trump is now taking aim at what we have discussed at length on this program,” Hannity explained. “That Section 230 protections. Now, it's enjoyed by many Big Tech giants because supposedly they don't involve themselves in editorial. But in reality, they do.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Legal experts <a href="https://www.axios.com/2021/07/08/trump-social-media-lawsuits-doomed-experts" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">scoffed</a> at the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/07/07/1013760153/donald-trump-says-he-is-suing-facebook-google-and-twitter-for-alleged-censorship" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">class action lawsuits</a> Trump’s lawyers filed, calling them <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-07-09/trump-twitter-lawsuit-is-doomed-by-first-amendment-but-raises-one-serious-issue" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">“sure losers”</a> due to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/12/us/politics/trump-tech-lawsuits.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">First Amendment protections</a> the platforms enjoy.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Hannity called it a “strong case,” and the people he turns to for discussions of legal issues were on board.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Alan Dershowitz, who served as one of Trump’s impeachment lawyers, called it “the most important First Amendment case of the 21st century,” adding, “There are cases, precedents going both ways and no one can predict what the outcome would be.”</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And Jarrett told Hannity that “the argument that Trump makes in his lawsuit is a compelling one” and that it was “a solid argument to be presented in court.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">It wasn’t. A judge <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/05/06/trump-twitter-lawsuit-dismissed/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">dismissed</a> the Twitter lawsuit in May.</font></p></div></div></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mma 9 22</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some of Fox News’ most influential commentators are misconstruing recent remarks from Vice President Kamala Harris and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, falsely claiming that the Biden administration is preparing for “war” against the Republican Party as Fox <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-laying-groundwork-next-insurrection-or-worse-telling-its-viewers-biden-waging-war" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">continues to push</a> the fallacy that conservatives are being persecuted.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox News has relentlessly attacked Harris since she joined President Joe Biden’s ticket in 2020. In addition to a constant stream of <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/newt-gingrich/newt-gingrich-attacks-kamala-harris-she-doesnt-know-anything-she-doesnt-know-how" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">racist</a> and <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/jesse-watters-calls-vice-president-kamala-harris-total-diva-who-comes-meghan-markle" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">sexist</a> remarks, the network has waged a war of manufactured outrage against Harris, either by <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/charles-payne/kamala-harris-laughed-meme-fox-disingenuously-suggested-she-was-laughing-gas-price" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">claiming</a> she was laughing at gas prices — when in reality she was just laughing at a meme — or by inexplicably <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/russias-invasion-ukraine/how-fox-news-lying-about-vp-kamala-harris-visit-poland" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">blaming</a> the vice president for Russia’s violent escalations against Ukraine.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">During the September 11 edition of NBC’s<b> <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Meet the Press</span></b>, host Chuck Todd <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2022/09/11/full_replay_vp_kamala_harris_rare_extended_interview_with_meet_the_press.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">asked</a> Harris, “We are now as a nation battling a threat from within. Is the threat equal or greater than what we faced after 9/11?” Harris replied that she had taken an oath to “defend and uphold our constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic” and that “we don’t compare the two in the oath, but we know they both can exist.” Harris also noted that she wished that domestic threats were not filtered through “some partisan lens,” but notably did not say domestic threats were more dangerous than the threat of terrorism during and after 9/11.[dan ball Hoe?]</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Similarly, during an appearance on CNN’s <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">State of the Union</span> on September 11, Clinton <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3993736" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reflected</a> on “how important it is to try to deal with extremism of any kind, especially when it uses violence to try to achieve political and ideological goals.” (The network’s <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannitys-hillary-clinton-obsession-numbers" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">obsession</a> with Clinton is <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/murdoch-outlets-use-new-filing-flat-out-lie-about-clinton-campaign-and-durham" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">well</a>-<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/fox-news-promotes-bombshell-book-founder-anti-hillary-clinton-group-cunt-and-writer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">documented</a>.)</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It didn’t take long for Fox News to latch on to the narrative that Harris, Clinton, and the Democratic Party writ-large had issued a “declaration of war” against MAGA Republicans.</font></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">During his prime-time show on <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Fox, Jesse Watters falsely claimed that the “Biden White House used this day to politicize the worst terrorist attack in American history and declare war on you.” </span></strong>He then baselessly characterized Harris’ vow to “defend against all enemies foreign and domestic” as a “declaration of war,” saying, “Make no mistake, the Democratic Party, the media, and obviously the<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> FBI have designated the Republican Party as a terrorist group.”</span> [Fox News, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Jesse Watters Primetime</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3993709" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">9/12/22</a>]</font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Tulsi Gabbard claimed that the Biden administration and the Democratic Party are “pushing our country to the brink of civil war.”</strong> Gabbard also claimed that Harris and others were “demonizing, targeting our fellow Americans as worse than Al-Qaeda terrorists” as a ploy to “hold on to their power</span>.” [Fox News, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Jesse Watters Primetime</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3993711" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">9/12/22</a>]</font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox host Tucker Carlson claimed that Harris’ comments about defending the constitution against domestic enemies amounted to a declaration of war against “you and anyone else in the way of the Biden administration.”</strong> Carlson also referred to the January 6 insurrection as an “election injustice protest” and called Todd a “freaking lunatic” for suggesting the United States has a “threat within.” [Fox News, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Tucker Carlson Tonight</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/tucker-carlson-says-there-are-reasons-doubt-2020-vote-total-and-joe-biden-will-send" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">9/12/22</a>]</font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">On <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hannity</span>, former Trump press secretary Kayleigh McEnany claimed that Clinton had compared Republicans to terrorists during her appearance on CNN’s <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">State of the Union</em>.</strong> “Drawing a comparison between American citizens and the heinous monsters who committed one of the most evil acts in our country's history. That is despicable,” McEnany</span> said. [Fox News, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hannity</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3993713" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">9/12/22</a>]</font></li></ul></div></div><div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ref 1</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannitys-hillary-clinton-obsession-numbers">https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannitys-hillary-clinton-obsession-numbers</a></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx gfx vid</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Sean Hannity’s Hillary Clinton obsession, by the numbers</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During Trump’s presidency, Hannity has mentioned his 2016 opponent on 86% of his episodes</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">WRITTEN BY MATT GERTZ</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PUBLISHED<b> 09/10/19 </b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Fox News host Sean Hannity called his show “the stop-Hillary express” during the 2016 presidential campaign because of its relentless focus on defeating Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. But more than two years after President Donald Trump took office, that train is still running.</b></font></p><p style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="">Hannity mentioned Clinton on 505 of the 587 episodes of his Fox show that he hosted between Trump’s inauguration and the end of August 2019 -- 86% of the total --</b> according to a Media Matters review. <b style="">On 31 additional broadcasts, Hannity did not mention Clinton, but one of his guests did.</b> Altogether, that means that the former secretary of state was mentioned on 91% of the episodes Hannity hosted during that period, a total of 536 editions of the program.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Fox host’s Clinton fixation is largely a reflection of his show’s focus on the dizzying conspiracy theory he constructed to defend Trump from the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. </b></font></p><p style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="">Hannity places Clinton at the center of several key strands of that web.</b> In his telling, 1) federal investigators should have been charging Clinton for crimes related to her email server rather than looking into Trump’s associates; 2) some of the attorneys involved in the probe had conflicts of interest because they supported her election; and 3) the investigators ignored the “real” collusion with Russia that she supposedly engaged in through the Uranium One pseudo-scandal and via an anti-Trump dossier that became part of the investigation. </font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As one might expect given Clinton's recession from the political stage, Hannity’s references to the former candidate decreased in each of the first four months of Trump’s administration. In 2017, he mentioned her in 88% of episodes he hosted in January after Trump’s inauguration, 76% in February, 70% in March, and a mere 39% in April, the lowest total over the course of the study. </font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In May 2017, however, the figure jumped to 79%, reflecting the host’s response to a spate of damaging stories about Trump and Russia and Robert Mueller’s appointment as special counsel. Hannity’s mentions haven't dropped below 60% in any month since October that year.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hillary Clinton mentions on Hannity's Fox News show</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity also takes every opportunity to lash out at Clinton whenever she speaks publicly. In October 2017, for example, in addition to airing several segments about Clinton’s links to either the dossier or Uranium One, Hannity also criticized Clinton’s comments responding to the Las Vegas mass shooting, her denunciation of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, and her support for NFL players who knelt during the national anthem to protest police brutality. </font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Fox host’s Clinton obsession generates some truly gob-smacking statistics, including:</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity mentioned Clinton on every episode he hosted in nine separate months: June 2017, March 2018, May 2018, June 2018, August 2018, November 2018, December 2018, May 2019, and June 2019. </font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Clinton was mentioned (by Hannity or a guest) on every episode he hosted in 11 separate months -- all the months above plus February 2017 and March 2019.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity referenced Clinton on 60 consecutive episodes that he hosted between April 8, 2019, and July 12, 2019 -- the longest streak we observed. During the same stretch, he mentioned Vice President Mike Pence in two episodes.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity mentioned Clinton on every single show he hosted from April 16, 2018, through June 28, 2018 -- a total of 47 consecutive episodes. He then went on vacation, with his show anchored by guest hosts other than a July 4 pretaped special on Trump's accomplishments in which Hannity did not mention Clinton. When he came back from the holiday, Hannity mentioned Clinton in the next 12 episodes. </font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The longest consecutive streak in which Hannity did not mention Clinton on shows he hosted was five -- from April 26, 2017, through May 2, 2017. His most recent consecutive nights during the study without mentioning her were February 21 and 22 of this year.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When Hannity takes a night off, the “stop-Hillary express” rolls on, as the show typically features the same guests and themes, including the Clinton-focused anti-Mueller conspiracy theory. His guest hosts mentioned Clinton in 63% of their episodes, and she was mentioned in 85% of the episodes they hosted during the period of the study.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Methodology</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Media Matters reviewed transcripts via the Nexis database of every episode of Fox News’ Hannity between January 20, 2017, and August 31, 2019, and coded for whether Hillary Clinton was mentioned, whether Sean Hannity or a guest host moderated the program, and whether Hannity mentioned Clinton. Media Matters reviewed the iQ media video database in cases where Nexis transcripts were unavailable.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">----</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ref 2 2015</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/fox-news-promotes-bombshell-book-founder-anti-hillary-clinton-group-cunt-and-writer">https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/fox-news-promotes-bombshell-book-founder-anti-hillary-clinton-group-cunt-and-writer</a></font></p><div class="editorial-fullsummary" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 2.25rem; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 212, 221); border-top: 1px solid rgb(204, 212, 221); padding: 1.5rem 0px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-content-summary field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox News is promoting<b> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px;">The Clintons' War On Women</span> </b>as a “bombshell” despite the authors' history of dirty tricks and misogyny. Roger Stone is “America's most notorious political hatchet man” who formed an anti-Hillary Clinton group called “C.U.N.T.” Co-author Robert Morrow has wished death on Hillary Clinton and been visited by the Secret Service, posted bizarre sexual writings about the Clinton family, and called Chelsea Clinton a “slut” who might “have sex one day” with Bill Clinton.</font></p></div></div><div class="editorial-fullarticle" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 2.25rem;"><div class="field field--name-field-stories-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Roger Stone And Robert Morrow Wrote <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Clintons' War On Women</em></strong></font></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Stone And Morrow Are Authors Of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Clintons' War On Women</em>, A Book “Designed To Smear The Clintons.” </strong>Roger Stone and Robert Morrow are the authors of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Clintons' War On Women</em>, which was released by Skyhorse Publishing on October 13. Veteran <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Mother Jones</em> journalist David Corn noted that promotional material shows the book goes “real dirty” and is “apparently designed to smear the Clintons -- by depicting Bill as a serial rapist, Hillary as an enabler, and both members of the power couple as a diabolical duo bent on destroying anyone who stands in their way.” [SkyhorsePublishing.com, accessed <a href="http://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/book/?GCOI=60239109951690&" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">10/13/15</a>; <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Mother Jones</em>, <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/09/roger-stone-book-trump-bill-clinton-hillary-rapist" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">9/18/15</a>]</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Roger Stone Is A Notorious Republican Dirty Trickster Who Has Smeared The Clintons For Years.</strong> Numerous media outlets have referred to Stone as a “dirty trickster.” He has a long history of smearing Hillary Clinton, including forming the anti-Clinton group “C.U.N.T.” (“Citizens United Not Timid”), because he couldn't find the right words for “B.I.T.C.H.” Stone previously worked as a top political aide to Donald Trump's presidential campaign before exiting in August. Stone says he and Trump are “on cordial terms. We talk ... Trump has been my friend for 35 years. He's still my friend.” [<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Media Matters</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2014/06/05/did-fox-news-just-hire-this-misogynistic-profes/199618" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">6/5/14</a>; Talking Points Memo, <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/roger-stone-donald-trump-tpm-interview?utm_content=buffere7f9d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">9/2/15</a>] </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Robert Morrow Is An “Alternative Historian</span>” Who Has Posted Bizarre Sexual Writings About The Clintons And Wished Death On Hillary. </strong>Morrow has an extreme history against the Clintons. He has wished death on Hillary Clinton and been visited by the Secret Service; posted bizarre sexual writings about the Clinton family; called Chelsea Clinton a “slut” and imagined how she would “have sex one day” with Bill Clinton; and claimed the Bush and Clinton families were involved in murders.<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"> The Tampa Bay Times</em> wrote that Morrow “pretty much devotes his life to hating the Clintons and spreading wild, unsubstantiated allegations about them.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MSNBC reporter Alex Seitz-Wald wrote that Morrow is “well-known to reporters who have covered the Clintons, thanks to his tendency to flood their inboxes with incredible and incredulous fables of the couple's alleged criminal exploits,” while The Daily Beast's Andrew Kirell wrote that “Many political journalists can attest to having received a blaring email from the right-wing author claiming the Clintons forced Chelsea to undergo plastic surgery” to cover up that she's purportedly not Bill Clinton's real daughter. [<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Media Matters</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/research/2015/09/03/anti-clinton-author-robert-morrow-posted-bizarr/205294" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">9/3/15</a>; <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Tampa Bay Times</em>,<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"> </strong><a href="http://www.sptimes.com/2008/02/29/Worldandnation/Some_people_just_love.shtml" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">2/29/08</a>; MSNBC.com, <a href="http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/latest-anti-clinton-book-promises-be-most-fantastic-yet" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">9/3/15</a>; The Daily Beast, <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/10/13/inside-the-slimy-world-of-chelsea-clinton-conspiracy-theories.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">10/13/15</a>] </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Trump Promoted Stone And Morrow's Book On Twitter.</strong> Trump wrote in an October 14 tweet that linked to the book's Amazon.com page: “The latest book on Hillary--Wow, a really tough one! http://www.amazon.com/dp/151070678X @RogerJStoneJr.” [Twitter.com, <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/654309447381188608" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">10/14/15</a>] </font></p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox News On <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Clintons' War On Women</em>: “Bombshell,” “Needs To Be Read”</strong></font></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hannity Endorses Stone And Morrow's Book: “This I Think Needs To Be Read By Anybody That Thinks Hillary Is A Champion Of Women's Rights.” </strong>During an October 13 interview on his Fox News program, Hannity said the “explosive new book completely destroys” the narrative that the Clintons are champions of women's rights. Hannity concluded that the book “needs to be read by anybody that thinks Hillary is a champion of women's rights.” [Fox News, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hannity</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/embed/clips/2015/10/14/42535/fnc-hannity-20151013-stone" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">10/13/15</a>] </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hannity: “It's Really Worth Reading.”</strong> Hannity hosted Stone for a later panel discussion about the Democratic presidential debate and introduced his book by stating: “I tell you, it's really worth reading. A lot of interesting information.” [Fox News, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hannity</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/embed/clips/2015/10/14/42538/fnc-hannity-20151014-stone" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">10/14/15</a>] </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hannity Also Hosted Stone On His Radio Show</strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">. </strong>[<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Sean Hannity Show, </em><a href="http://www.hannity.com/onair/the-sean-hannity-show-55176/details-from-the-clintons-war-on-14030680" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">10/13/15</a>]</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox & Friends</em></strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"> Promoted The Book As A “Bombshell.”</strong> During <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox & Friends Sunday</em>, co-host Anna Kooiman promoted “the allegations” from Stone's “bombshell” book that Clinton has “a dark and violent past.” [Fox News, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox & Friends Sunday</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/embed/clips/2015/10/04/42364/fnc-ffsun-20151004-clintonbook" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">10/4/15</a>]</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="box-sizing: border-box;"><i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox & Friends </i>Hosted Stone To Push The Allegation That Bill Clinton </b><b style="box-sizing: border-box;">Sexually Assaulted “Hundreds Of Women ... And Hillary Runs The Cover-Up.” </b>From the October 16 edition of <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox & Friends: </i></font></p><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 1.5rem;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">STEVE DOOCY (HOST)</span><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">: A brand-new book taking aim at Hillary Clinton's hypocrisy targeting her war on women campaign, even highlighting how she and her husband, Bill Clinton, systematically abused women during their time in the White House. Joining us right now the author of </span><i style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">The Clintons' War on Women</i><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">, Roger Stone. Roger, good morning to you.</span></font></font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>ROGER STONE:</b> Steve, great to be with you. </font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">DOOCY: What do we find out about the Clintons in your book? </font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">STONE: Hypocrisy. “H” stands for both hypocrisy and Hillary. She says she's an advocate for women and that's true, as long as you're not one of those women unlucky enough to have been sexually assaulted by her husband. It's very much like the Bill Cosby story. If it's sort of one or two women, you might say “well, it's some woman looking for a payday or the limelight.” But this is systematic. There are literally hundreds of women who have been sexually assaulted by Bill Clinton and Hillary runs the cover-up. </font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">DOOCY: What do you mean she runs the cover-up? </font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">STONE: Well, she hires Jack Palladino. She hires Anthony Pellicano. She hires Ivan Duda, private detectives and then they take on the mission of silencing these women, lest they get in the way of the Clintons' rise to power. [Fox News, <i style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px;">Fox & Friends, </i><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2015/10/16/fox-still-promoting-founder-of-anti-clinton-hat/206207" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; margin-bottom: 0px;">10/16/15</a>]</font></p></div></blockquote></div><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Roger Stone's Latest Book Continues His History Of Dirty Tricks</strong></font></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Stone Is A “Dirty Trickster” And “America's Most Notorious Political Hatchet Man.”</strong> <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Miami Herald</em> wrote that “Stone has become America's most notorious political hatchet man.” Numerous outlets have referred to Stone as a “dirty trickster,” including <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The</em> <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Weekly Standard</em>, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">New Yorker</em>, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Tampa Bay Times</em>, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">New York Times</em>, CNN, and <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Washington Post</em>. [<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Miami Herald</em>,<a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article2766816.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">10/14/14</a>; <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Weekly Standard</em>, <a href="http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/617oiaek.asp" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">1/28/08</a>; <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">New Yorker</em>, <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/06/02/the-dirty-trickster" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">6/2/08</a>; TampaBay.com, <a href="http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/trump-ally-roger-stone-publishing-books-attacking-hillary-clinton-and-jeb/2245763" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">9/16/15</a>; <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">New York Times</em>, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/24/movies/24client.html?r=0" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">10/22/10</a>; CNN, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0805/29/ltm.02.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">5/29/08</a>; <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Washington Post</em>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1986/06/16/the-rise-and-gall-of-roger-stone/d8ce308b-7055-4666-860e-378833f46e17/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">6/16/86</a>]</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Stone's Website Features Quotes Calling Him A “Master Of Right-Wing Political Hit Jobs,” “The High Priest Of Political Hijinks,” And “Master Of The Black Arts Of Electioneering.” </strong>The quotes featured on Stone's website come from, respectively, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Politico</em>, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Weekly Standard</em>, and Scotsman.com. <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Politico</em> notes that Stone “publicly embraces his image as a dirty trickster.” [StoneZone.com, accessed <a href="http://stonezone.com/about.php" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">10/13/15</a>; <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Politico</em>, <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/donald-trumps-debate-dirty-trickster-121098" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">8/6/15</a>]</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Stone Became “The Youngest Watergate Dirty Trickster.” </strong>A 1985 <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">New Republic</em> profile of Stone reported:</font></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He says he became a Republican at age 12, after a neighbor in Norwalk, Conn., gave him a copy of Barry Goldwater“s ”Conscience of a Conservative." Stone was devastated by Goldwater's defeat, but remained fully devoted to the party, rising through the ranks of youth groups like Teenage Republicans, College Republicans, Young Republicans, and the Young Americans for Freedom. As a 19-year-old student at George Washington University, Stone was the youngest Watergate dirty trickster. On orders from Creep boss Bart Porter, Stone hired Michael McMinoway -- known as “Sedan Chair II” -- to infiltrate the McGovern campaign and report back. Using the pseudonym “Jason Rainier,” Stone made contributions to the New Hampshire McCloskey campaign in the name of supposed left-wing groups like Young Socialist Alliance. He then sent the receipts along with an anonymous letter to The Manchester Union-Leader. He also recommended that Creep hire a fellow student named Theodore Brill, who was subsequently paid $130 a week to spy on “radical groups.” Stone says the ideas for this “kid stuff” -- none of which was actually illegal at the time -- emanated from Charles Colson, and that if he had refused to do it, Creep would have fired him and gotten someone else. [NYTimes.com, <a href="http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/22/a-political-operatives-career-the-stone-zone/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">8/22/07</a>]</font></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Stone Was Heavily Fined For Ethical Violation.</strong> <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The New York Times</em> reported in 2000 that Trump and his associates, including Stone, “have agreed to pay $250,000 in fines and to issue a public apology because they failed to disclose to the state lobbying commission that he had secretly financed newspaper advertisements opposing casino gambling in the Catskills.” Stone reportedly paid $100,000. [<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">New York Times</em>, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/06/nyregion/trump-and-others-accept-fines-for-ads-in-opposition-to-casinos.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">10/6/00</a>]</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">“A Stone-Led Squad Of Pro-Bush Protestors Stormed The Miami-Dade County Election Board, Stopping The” Florida Recount. </strong>Benjy Sarlin wrote in The Daily Beast:</font></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The capstone of Stone's career, at least in terms of results, was the “Brooks Brothers riot” of the 2000 election recount. This was when a Stone-led squad of pro-Bush protestors stormed the Miami-Dade County election board, stopping the recount and advancing then-Governor George W. Bush one step closer to the White House. Though he is quick to rebut GOP operatives who seek to minimize his role in the recount, Stone lately has been having second thoughts about what happened in Florida. [Daily Beast, <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2008/11/20/a-gop-dirty-trickster-has-second-thoughts.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">11/20/08</a>] </font></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Stone Established Anti-Hillary Clinton Group Called “C.U.N.T.” </strong>In 2008, Stone established the anti-Hillary Clinton 527 group Citizens United Not Timid. The group -- now defunct -- emphasized the acronym by bolding the first letter in each word. The group claimed to “educate the American public about what Hillary Clinton really is.” Stone said also he spent “hours trying to come up with words for B.I.T.C.H. and just couldn't do it.” [<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Media Matters</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/research/2008/02/20/days-after-today-apology-for-fonda-comment-msnb/142621" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">2/20/08</a>; <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Weekly Standard</em>, <a href="http://www.weeklystandard.com/print/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/617oiaek.asp" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">1/28/08</a>] </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Stone Founded “C.U.N.T.” Because That's The Description He Heard Of Clinton From Males In Bars.</strong> <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Weekly Standard</em> wrote of Stone's group in 2008:</font></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Even among fellow mercenaries, good help can be hard to find. A few nights prior, Stone had been interviewing a sinister Italian gentleman for the front man gig. It was a two-question interview. Stone kicked things off with, “Let me ask you, Angelo: I say 'Hillary Clinton.' Tell me the first word that comes to your mind, even if it's risqué.” "[Special flower]," Angelo immediately replied. To which Stone followed with, “Would you be willing to tell other people you think that?” Angelo assented: “Abso-f'in'-lutely.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With the interview concluded, Angelo excused himself to the restroom, at which time one of Stone's friends asked, “Do you know who that is?” “No,” Stone said, “Who is he? Nice guy.” His friend explained, “He's one of the soldiers of the Lucchese family, has a record as long as your arm. I don't think he's the guy you want.” Advantage: Noodles.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone says Angelo's is a sentiment you regularly hear, particularly from males, if you casually focus-group Hillary Clinton in bars--where this and “all good ideas” are hatched. The operation's genesis occurred when Stone was standing around with friends at a bar, Clinton appeared on television, and someone said “What a [special flower].” Everyone immediately concurred. [<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px;">Weekly Standard</em>, <a href="http://www.weeklystandard.com/print/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/617oiaek.asp" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; margin-bottom: 0px;">1/28/08</a>]</font></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Stone Referenced “C.U.N.T.” Group In 2015.</strong> [Facebook, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/R.Stone.Zone/photos/a.145409832281070.32433.131310460357674/512947432193973/?type=1" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">8/16/15</a>]</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Stone Lobs Misogynistic Insults At Women On Twitter. </strong><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Sun-Sentinel</em> wrote of Stone:</font></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone on Twitter called [political opponent Judy] Stern's daughter a “self-important, nasty c--,'' Tweeted ”DIE B-TCH!'' to former New York Times editor Jill Abramson, whom he called a “snot-nosed, arrogant, biased liberal -- and all around b-tch'' on Twitter for not reviewing his JFK book, and in another publicly viewable Tweet called actress Sofia Vergara a ”self-centered b-tch.'' [<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px;">The Sun-Sentinel</em>, <a href="http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2014-08-16/news/fl-roger-stone-sheriff-israel-20140809_1_roger-stone-sheriff-scott-israel-unqualified-punk/2" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; margin-bottom: 0px;">8/16/14</a>]</font></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Stone: “Hillary Is A Pathological Liar And A Cold Bitch.”</strong> [Twitter.com, <a href="https://twitter.com/rogerjstonejr/status/584899364725907456" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">4/5/15</a>]</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Stone: "</strong><a href="https://twitter.com/ChelseaClinton" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">@ChelseaClinton</strong></a><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"> Is A Total Bitch ? Now There's A Surprise."</strong> [Twitter.com, <a href="https://twitter.com/RogerJStoneJr/status/601214188711731200" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">5/20/15</a>]</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Stone: “SHAME ! Bill And Hillary Clinton Pimp Their 'Daughter' Out To Media To Defend Their Rampant Corruption.”</strong> [Twitter.com, <a href="https://twitter.com/RogerJStoneJr/status/592007819982811137" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">4/25/15</a>]</font></p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Robert Morrow Wishes Death On Hillary Clinton, Posted Bizarre Sexual Writings About Clintons</strong></font></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Morrow Hopes For Hillary Clinton's Death.</strong> Morrow has written that “The Taliban was created to deal with people like Hillary Clinton”; wondered if “all your sexual fantasies about Hillary Clinton involve 'snuff films?' Probably not good for most of you to answer that question”; and said “I hope Bill Clinton talks Hillary into running in 2016 ... and she loses and or both of them die from medical complications of the campaign trail begging folks to vote for Hillary. That would be nice.” Morrow told a Florida newspaper in 2008 that the Secret Service visited him about his Clinton writings but nothing came of it. [<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Media Matters</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/research/2015/09/03/anti-clinton-author-robert-morrow-posted-bizarr/205294#death" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">9/3/15</a>]</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Morrow Has Posted Bizarre Sexual Writings About Hillary Clinton</strong>. Morrow has posted bizarre sexual writings about Hillary Clinton, including referencing “my Hillary Clinton blow up doll,” “Clinton's vaginal odor,” when “maggots started coming out of her pussy,” and a “Hillary Clinton Excessive Masturbation Fantasy support group.” [<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Media Matters</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/research/2015/09/03/anti-clinton-author-robert-morrow-posted-bizarr/205294#bizarre" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">9/3/15</a>]</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Morrow On Chelsea Clinton: “Slut,” Incest, A Dog. </strong>Morrow relayed that someone told him “Chelsea was the slut” in college. Morrow has also compared her to a dog and wondered whether she would “have sex one day” with Bill Clinton. [<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Media Matters</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/research/2015/09/03/anti-clinton-author-robert-morrow-posted-bizarr/205294#chelsea" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">9/3/15</a>]</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Morrow Approached Chelsea Clinton And Asked Her: “Has Your Mother Ever Told You That You're The Daughter Of Webb Hubbell And Not Bill Clinton?”</strong> [Facebook.com, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Robert.Morrow.888/posts/899072623473784?pnref=story" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">10/9/15</a>] </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Morrow Has Posted Outlandish Conspiracies About A Variety Of Topics</strong>. Morrow has claimed George H. W. Bush “murdered JFK” and “is a homosexual pedophile”; wrote President “Obama smoked crack with and had a blowjob” with his “gay lover”; and claimed “Jeb Bush murdered Barry Seal. He was a 1980's CIA drug smuggler.” [<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Media Matters</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/research/2015/09/03/anti-clinton-author-robert-morrow-posted-bizarr/205294#bizarre" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">9/3/15</a>]</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Morrow Posted Slurs In Online Rants</strong>. Morrow has written against “pro-faggot JUDICIAL ACTIVISM” and used the slur “nigger” when complaining about political correctness. [<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Media Matters</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/research/2015/09/03/anti-clinton-author-robert-morrow-posted-bizarr/205294#facebook" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">9/3/15</a>]</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Morrow On <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Media Matters</em>' Piece About Him: “Everything I Talk About Is True.” </strong>Morrow posted a link to a September 3 <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Media Matters</em> post about him and wrote, “The greatest tweets and Facebook posts of Robert Morrow. Please share and comment!” When someone asked him for a response to <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Media Matters</em>' criticism, Morrow wrote: “My response? Everything I talk about is true.” [Facebook, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Robert.Morrow.888/posts/883649081682805" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">9/3/15</a>]</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Morrow To <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Media Matters</em> President: “Go Fuck Yourself” For Covering For “Angry Bull Dyke Handler Hillary.” </strong>After <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Media Matters</em> president Bradley Beychok criticized him on Twitter, Morrow responded: “go fuck yourself. You cover for a serial rapist and his angry bull dyke handler Hillary.” [Twitter.com, <a href="https://twitter.com/RobMorroLiberty/status/644917149144735745" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">9/18/15</a>] </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Stone Defends Morrow: “Morrow Is An Extraordinary Researcher.”</strong> Stone has defended his co-author when asked about his background. MSNBC's Alex Seitz-Wald reported:</font></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone said he met Morrow while promoting his first book, which alleges that former President Lyndon Johnson killed former President John F. Kennedy. “Morrow is an extraordinary researcher,” Stone said.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone added, “He's absolutely an eccentric character, to say the least, but when you double-check his research, it checks out.” [MSNBC.com, <a href="http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/latest-anti-clinton-book-promises-be-most-fantastic-yet" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">9/3/15</a>]</font></p></blockquote></div></div></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/08/sean-hannity-threatens-to-sue-lying-john-fetterman-for-calling-him-a-liar/">https://www.alternet.org/2022/08/sean-hannity-threatens-to-sue-lying-john-fetterman-for-calling-him-a-liar/</a></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wapo</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">The eventual rejection of the proposed Super Bowl commercial resulted in “by far” the most successful marketing effort in the company’s history, Hunter said during the deposition. “Nothing’s even close,” he said.</span></font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">The online commentator’s video fiercely criticizing the NFL went viral, and the story about the banned Super Bowl ad reached tens of millions of people after it was featured on Fox News’s signature programs, such as <b>“The Sean Hannity Show”</b> and “The Five,” Hunter recounted in the deposition.</span></font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Within Daniel Defense, the publicity generated by the rejected Super Bowl ad was seen as a marketing coup that the owners sought to replicate, according to Thomas Carlson, who led the manufacturer’s marketing and communications from 2015 to 2017 and reported to Cindy Daniel, co-owner with her husband and CEO Marty Daniel.</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Cindy was always trying to figure out that kind of thing - what kind of PR stunt can we do to get a little more notoriety,” he told The Post.</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Another key element of the company’s marketing strategy, he added, was to use images of military and tactical units holding Daniel Defense rifles. The AR-style rifles closely resemble their military counterparts, though the military version allows the shooter to fire more than one round with each pull of the trigger....</b></font></div><div style=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">escalator for huckabee?</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">oddly high soc media rank for geezer? boost by twit? other rw celebs?</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">note ~ soc media bias BS mma 7 22</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><ul class="field field--name-field-stories-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden l--gutter-pull narrative-list" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px -56.2625px 1.5em; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li id="paragraph--section-heading--3436376" class="narrative-listitem-divider narrative-listitem" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; padding: 0px 56.2625px 3rem; position: relative;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--section-heading paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px;"><h2 class="field field--name-field-section-heading-text field--type-string field--label-hidden section-heading" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.33333; margin: 0px -112.525px; background-color: rgb(229, 251, 255); padding: 2.1rem 112.525px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px;">...Out of the top 10 posts with the most interactions that Media Matters analyzed, 6 were from right-leaning Facebook pages</span></font></h2></div></li><li class="narrative-listitem-bullet narrative-listitem" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; padding: 0px 56.2625px 3rem; position: relative;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.38;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">These 6 posts were from Newsmax, Ben Shapiro, Sean Hannity, <b>Mike Huckabee</b>, and Fox News, which had 2 posts</span>. Out of these 6 posts, half contained industry talking points or attacked the administrative state and federal agencies that the right has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/supreme-court-rules-against-bidens-epa-says-agency-does-not-have-authority-to-regulate-carbon-dioxide-emissions" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">villainized</a> for <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/10/legal-challenges-cdc-public-health-policy-00031253" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">enforcing</a> lockdowns and <a href="https://cei.org/opeds_articles/the-supreme-courts-vaccine-decisions-are-a-blow-to-the-administrative-state/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin-bottom: 0px; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">vaccine mandates</a>. These reactions and the sources cited in them further demonstrated the decision as a victory for the fossil fuel industry and its conservative allies which helped orchestrate this result to line their pockets and hinder progress on climate action.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Among the top examples from right-leaning pages that contained misinformation was a post from Ben Shapiro with nearly 22,000 interactions that linked to an article from the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/supreme-court-rules-against-bidens-epa-says-agency-does-not-have-authority-to-regulate-carbon-dioxide-emissions" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin-bottom: 0px; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Daily Wire</a>. The article quoted Heritage Foundation research fellow Daren Bakst, who claimed that the court had rightfully blocked the EPA from overstepping its boundaries and that only Congress can make certain regulatory decisions under the Constitution. </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">The <a href="https://www.desmog.com/heritage-foundation/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Heritage Foundation</a> has received millions of dollars in funding from Koch-connected organizations, as well as considerable funding from the fossil fuel industry, while outwardly denying the scientific consensus on climate change. The foundation has also played a major role in moving courts to the right, and even created a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/18/us/politics/heritage-foundation-clerks-judges-training.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin-bottom: 0px; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">secretly financed program</a> to train law clerks to elevate its views</span>. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to The New York Times, Heritage helped the Federalist Society compile the lists of potential Supreme Court nominees from which President Donald Trump chose to appoint Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. Both justices voted to stifle the EPA. However, the Daily Wire article ignored these connections between the conservative think tank, its financial backers in the fossil fuel industry, and the court’s ruling. </span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The article also quoted Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who baselessly claimed that the Clean Power Plan would “lead to higher utility bills, job loss and overall increased energy prices.” While these regulations were never implemented, the plan was <a href="https://archive.epa.gov/epa/cleanpowerplan/fact-sheet-clean-power-plan-keeping-energy-affordable-and-reliable.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">predicted</a> to have cut electricity bills by 7% and deliver up to $34 billion in <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/stories/how-clean-power-plan-works-and-why-it-matters#::text=Economists%20believe%20that%20in%202030,its%20electricity%20bills%20in%202030." style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin-bottom: 0px; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">health benefits</a></span>.</font></p></div></div></li><li class="narrative-listitem-bullet narrative-listitem" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; padding: 0px 56.2625px 3rem; position: relative;"><div data-align="center" class="l--gutter-pull paragraph paragraph--type--stories-image paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><div class="field field--name-field-stories-image field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px;"><figure class="media media--image" role="group" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[twt ben shapiro]</font><figcaption class="media-playercaption block-quote block-quote--minor" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);" /></figure></div></div></li><li class="narrative-listitem-bullet narrative-listitem" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; padding: 0px 56.2625px 3rem; position: relative;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px;"><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><b>Many of the top 10 posts, particularly those from right-leaning pages, framed the decision primarily as a victory against the EPA’s ability to enforce regulations – or what <a href="https://www.facebook.com/100044545174732/posts/601740694654098" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Mike Huckabee</a> referred to, in a post that received more than 11,000 interactions, as “the reign of tyranny by unaccountable bureaucrats.”</b> A post from <a href="https://www.facebook.com/100047112765345/posts/606306527616434" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Sean Hannity</a> that garnered 14,000 interactions also linked to <a href="https://hannity.com/media-room/unleash-american-energy-scotus-deals-blow-to-climate-extremists-epa-cant-cap-emissions/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">an article</a> on his website describing the decision as a “blow to climate extremists” and calling to “unleash American energy.</span>”<span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">[twt]</span></font></p></div></div></li><li class="narrative-listitem-bullet narrative-listitem" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; padding: 0px 56.2625px 3rem; position: relative;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The top left-leaning post, which was from historian <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3990723" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Heather Cox Richardson</a> and had over 61,000 interactions, provided an overview of several recent and upcoming Supreme Court decisions and pointed out that the court set a precedent in <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">West Virginia v. EPA</em> using legal reasoning that was even rejected by conservative Justice Antonin Scalia in 2001</span>. She also highlighted excerpts from Justice Elena Kagan’s <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/20-1530#writing-20-1530_DISSENT_6" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin-bottom: 0px; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">dissent</a> pointing out that Congress already delegates power to federal agencies to address issues where it does not have expertise. </font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Another popular left-leaning post about the case from former President Barack Obama, </b>which had over 55,000 interactions, mentioned climate impacts on vulnerable populations and urged Congress to “pass President Biden’s climate and clean energy investments.” Though right-leaning posts received more engagement overall, Richardson and Obama’s posts each had twice as many interactions as the top right-wing misinformation posts.</font></p></div></div></li><li class="narrative-listitem-bullet narrative-listitem" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; padding: 0px 56.2625px 3rem; position: relative;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.38;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the top Facebook posts about the ruling from left-leaning pages, which accounted for 3 of the top 10 posts, criticized the decision while highlighting various grievances with how the court came to its decision and what impact the ruling will have on the communities being affected by the climate crisis. <span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">[twt]</span></font></p></li><li class="narrative-listitem-bullet narrative-listitem" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; padding: 0px 56.2625px 3rem; position: relative;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The only post about the case from an ideologically nonaligned Facebook page in the top 10 came from CNN</b>. It received just over 12,000 interactions and linked to a fairly <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/30/politics/supreme-court-climate-change-epa-regulations/index.html?utm_term=link&utm_medium=social&utm_content=2022-06-30T14%3A08%3A51&utm_source=fbCNN&fbclid=IwAR0da4pzRAZt7PNKqUsk0H6lmQQcRwZFLrcVahXV03HNcIvIYczvxuSTFMU" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">detailed article</a> putting the decision in the context of urgent calls from scientists to cut emissions and transition away from fossil fuels, and citing the 2021 <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/08/1097362" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin-bottom: 0px; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">report</a> from the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which called the climate crisis a “code red” for humanity. </font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Although left-leaning and nonaligned pages were vocal about the gravity of the Supreme Court’s decision, the right was was still able to co-opt much of the conversation on Facebook, shifting attention and blame away from the small group of right-wing figures and industry executives who benefit from the ruling to hamstring environmental protections in the face of the worsening climate crisis, leaving the rest of us to grapple with an uncertain future.</font></p></div></div></li><li class="narrative-listitem-bullet narrative-listitem" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; padding: 0px 56.2625px 3rem; position: relative;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.38;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">none of the top 10 posts outlined how, as The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/19/climate/supreme-court-climate-epa.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">New York Times</a> puts it, the case “is the product of a coordinated, multi-year strategy by Republican attorneys general, conservative legal activists and their funders, several with ties to the oil and coal industries.” Some only mentioned the court case in passing – for example, a popular post with more than 16,000 interactions from controversial documentarian <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3990722" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin-bottom: 0px; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Michael Moore</a> referenced the case once among a host of other political grievances in a “declaration.”...</font></p></li></ul></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div style=""><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/january-6-insurrection/newly-released-text-messages-reveal-just-how-many-people-trump-white-house">https://www.mediamatters.org/january-6-insurrection/newly-released-text-messages-reveal-just-how-many-people-trump-white-house</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>on Friday, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/29/politics/hannity-text-messages-meadows-trump-white-house/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">CNN reported</a> on a newly unearthed set of text messages between former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and multiple Fox News hosts, exchanged during the two-and-a-half months between Election Day 2020 and President Joe Biden’s inauguration in January 2021.</b> The texts further reveal the extent to which Fox was integral to Trump’s plot to illegally hold onto power after losing the election.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> The texts also prove yet again that Fox operates day-to-day as a propaganda arm for the Republican Party, not as a news organization.</span></font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Supposed “news” side anchor Maria Bartiromo gave Trump her questions and messaging guidance in advance of an interview</font></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">CNN reported that Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo gave Meadows the questions in advance of her interview with President Donald Trump on the November 29, 2020, edition of her weekend show on Fox News, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Sunday Morning Futures</em></span>.<b> The texts reveal that Bartiromo also provided Trump with explicit messaging guidance and <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">instructions on how to respond to her softball questions, which she intended to help him better make his case that the election outcome was illegitimate</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">. The segment was Trump’s first TV interview since the election, and it aired roughly three weeks after all the major media outlets, including Fox News, had projected Biden as the winner.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bartiromo texted Meadows that morning, hours before the interview with Trump, to claim that “the public wants to know he will fight this,” and that people “want to hear a path to victory” and that “he's in control.” (The entire premise of Bartiromo’s line of questioning was false, because a majority of “the public” had just voted for Biden.)</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">She then laid out the first question she would ask: “1Q You've said MANY TIMES THIS ELECTION IS RIGGED... And the facts are on your side. Let's start there. What are the facts? Characterize what took place here. Then I will drill down on the fraud including the statistical impossibilities of Biden magic (federalist).” (Based on Bartiromo’s word choice, it is possible that she was referring to a piece from a week earlier in the right-wing site <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/%E2%80%9Dhttps%3A//archive.ph/Gn0yn#selection-251.0-251.59%22" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">The Federalist</a>, titled “5 More Ways Joe Biden Magically Outperformed Election Norms.”)</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Surely enough, the interview began exactly with that question: “Mr. President, you have said many times that this election was rigged, that there was much fraud, and the facts are on your side. Let's start there. Please go through the facts, characterize what took place."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">throughout the rest of the interview, Bartiromo provided Trump with a platform to</span><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"> </span><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/maria-bartiromo/fox-anchor-maria-bartiromo-abets-trumps-lies-undermine-democracy" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" background-image="background-image" initial="initial" background-position="background-position" background-size="background-size" background-repeat="background-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" transition="transition" box-shadow="box-shadow" s="s" ease-in-out="ease-in-out" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" rgba="rgba" px="px" inset="inset">air a litany of lies</a><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"> </span><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">about the election results,</span><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"> </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2020/11/29/trump-fox-bartiromo-interview/" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" background-image="background-image" initial="initial" background-position="background-position" background-size="background-size" background-repeat="background-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" transition="transition" box-shadow="box-shadow" s="s" ease-in-out="ease-in-out" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" rgba="rgba" px="px" inset="inset">going on for 45 minutes</a></b><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><b>, including his outlandish claims about voting machines being used to change the results. Dominion Voting Systems</b> is currently</span><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"> </span><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/16/fox-news-loses-bid-to-dismiss-dominions-1point6-billion-defamation-lawsuit-on-election-coverage.html" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" background-image="background-image" initial="initial" background-position="background-position" background-size="background-size" background-repeat="background-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" transition="transition" box-shadow="box-shadow" s="s" ease-in-out="ease-in-out" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" rgba="rgba" px="px" inset="inset">suing Fox News for $1.6 billion</a><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"> </span><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">for the network’s role in Trump’s defamation campaign against the voting machine company. Another voting technology firm, Smartmatic, is suing Fox News for $2.7 billion and has also</span><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"> </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/03/09/smartmatic-fox-lawsuit-not-dismissed/" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" background-image="background-image" initial="initial" background-position="background-position" background-size="background-size" background-repeat="background-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" transition="transition" box-shadow="box-shadow" s="s" ease-in-out="ease-in-out" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" rgba="rgba" px="px" inset="inset">named Bartiromo as a defendant</a><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"> </span><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">for her role in</span><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"> </span><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/maria-bartiromo/maria-bartiromo-one-fox-news-worst-conspiracy-theorists-she-may-soon-get-promotion" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" background-image="background-image" initial="initial" background-position="background-position" background-size="background-size" background-repeat="background-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" transition="transition" box-shadow="box-shadow" s="s" ease-in-out="ease-in-out" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" rgba="rgba" px="px" inset="inset">promoting conspiracy theories</a><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"> </span><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">that the company played a role in altering the election result.</span></font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Separately, ABC News’ chief Washington correspondent, Jonathan Karl, reported last year that Bartiromo had called then-Attorney General Bill Barr in mid-November 2020, complaining to him that the Justice Department had not taken action against supposed voter fraud. </span>“She called me up and she was screaming,” <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/14/media/bill-barr-maria-bartiromo-fox-news/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Barr told Karl</a>. “I yelled back at her. She’s lost it.” Fox News <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/maria-bartiromo/fox-furiously-denies-maria-bartiromo-told-trump-ag-bill-barr-election-lies-she" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">denied the reports</a> of Bartiromo’s unprofessional conduct — though this wasn’t exactly convincing, because Bartiromo had publicly stated <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/voter-fraud-and-suppression/fox-business-maria-bartiromo-i-have-not-given-bill-barr-investigating" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">her hopes for Barr to intervene</a> and help reverse the election results.</font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sean Hannity was “at war with” Chris Wallace and Fox’s supposed news side</font></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Another Fox News host who is heavily implicated in the latest texts is Sean Hannity, who was already known to have functioned as Trump’s “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/hannitys-rising-role-in-trumps-world-he-basically-has-a-desk-in-the-place/2018/04/17/e2483018-4260-11e8-8569-26fda6b404c7_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">shadow” chief of staff</a> and as a constant sounding board for the disgraced former president</span>. Previously released texts had shown that Hannity tried to <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/january-6-insurrection/sean-hannitys-texts-should-remind-everyone-he-was-trumps-shadow-chief-staff" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">work on damage control</a> after the failed coup attempt on January 6, and that he had urged the White House to have Trump call off his supporters from attacking the Capitol. (In public, Hannity <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/january-6-insurrection/fox-news-delivers-deafening-silence-network-hosts-texts-mark-meadows-january" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">claimed</a> the attackers were left-wing infiltrators.) Other texts show that Hannity <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/trump-white-house-told-sean-hannity-what-say-then-he-said-it" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">took instructions from Meadows</a> on coordinating get-out-the-vote messaging on Election Day in 2020. The <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/29/politics/mm-sh-texts/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">latest revelations</a> demonstrate the extent of Hannity’s efforts to keep Fox News from straying away from the administration’s illegal efforts to cling to power.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On December 6, 2020, Meadows sent Hannity a link to an article in <a href="https://archive.ph/DQfOP" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">The Hill</a>, highlighting a segment from that morning’s edition of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox News Sunday</em> in which the show’s then-host Chris Wallace pointedly interrupted Trump’s former secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, after Azar had referred to Joe Biden as “Vice President Biden.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">“He's the president-elect, sir,” <a href="https://twitter.com/tommyxtopher/status/1335592574040596481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Wallace replied</a>, repeating <a href="https://twitter.com/tommyxtopher/status/1335593154888798210" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">that point again</a> in their conversation.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In texts to Hannity, Meadows castigated Wallace and Fox, writing, “Doing this to try and get ratings will not work in the long run and I am doubtful it is even a short term winning strategy.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I've been at war with them all week,” Hannity replied.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Meadows later asked on December 11, 2020, for Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott’s direct phone number</b> — noting that he wished to avoid making a call to the network’s main switchboard. Hannity asked the next day whether Meadows had gotten through to Fox executives, again declaring, “I’ve been at war with them.” (As it turned out, Meadows had not yet called Scott, as he had been too busy working on the Trump administration’s lame-duck pardons.)</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Keep in mind that the major news networks had all projected Biden as the winner a month before, on November 7 — and yes, that <a href="https://archive.ph/xsRhv" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">included Fox</a>. The network, however, undermined its own decision desk’s projections by <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/voter-fraud-and-suppression/donald-trump-trying-subvert-election-here-list-right-wing-media-voices" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">attempting to subvert</a> the election results nearly <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-has-cast-doubt-or-pushed-conspiracy-theories-about-election-results-nearly-600" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">600 times</a> in just the two weeks after the election call.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">To the degree that tension existed between the opinion and alleged “straight news” sides at Fox, that conflict has since been resolved by Chris Wallace’s decision a year later to <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/chris-wallace/media-matters-chris-wallace-quitting-fox-news" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">quit the network</a>. Wallace said recently that he had been fine with opinion content on the channel, but he had <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-vets-keep-leaving-network-and-saying-it-propaganda" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reached his limit</a>. “When people start to question the truth — Who won the 2020 election? Was Jan. 6 an insurrection? — I found that unsustainable.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity, of course, is still at Fox, where he is <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/sean-hannity-and-josh-hawley-launch-vile-smear-supreme-court-nominee-ketanji-brown-jackson" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">launching smear campaigns</a>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/sean-hannity-cites-kremlin-spokesperson-attack-joe-biden" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">parroting Kremlin spokespeople</a>, and helping Trump to <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/donald-trump-uses-fox-news-interview-push-his-big-election-lie" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">continue pushing the Big Lie</a>.</font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sean Hannity wrote one cheesy Trump campaign ad — and he may have written yet another one that never aired</font></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This latest batch of text messages also reveals that Hannity lied last year about the extent of his connections to the Trump campaign — seemingly confirming a story that Hannity had previously described as being “full of shit.</span>”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last year, Wall Street Journal senior White House reporter Mike Bender published a book about the 2020 election and its aftermath, titled <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost</em>. The book revealed that Hannity had actually written a Trump campaign ad, which insiders even referred to as “the Hannity ad” and “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/01/sean-hannity-fox-news-trump-campaign-ad" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">the one Hannity wrote</a>.” The <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/media/2021/06/01/brian-stelter-fox-news-hannity-trump-ad-nr-vpx.cnn" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">specific ad in question</a> was an attack spot that seemed to deploy every anti-Biden talking point at once, referring to him as a “47-year swamp creature” who had “accomplished nothing,” and tying him to the so-called “radical, socialist Green New Deal.” Trump’s campaign staff reportedly ridiculed it.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“Inside the campaign, the spot was mocked mercilessly, mostly because of the dramatic, over-the-top language and a message that seemed to value quantity over quality,”</b> Bender wrote. The campaign came up with a solution to the problem, by running the ad only during Hannity’s own show on Fox News: “If Trump and Hannity watched the spot on television – and were satisfied enough to stop asking about the commercial – that seemed to be the best result of the ad. The cost of that investment: $1.5m.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity, however, denied the story in very strong terms. “The world knows that Sean Hannity supports Donald Trump,” he told Bender. “But my involvement specifically in the campaign — no. I was not involved that much. Anybody who said that is full of shit.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On December 8, 2020, however, as Hannity and Meadows commiserated via text, Hannity bemoaned that the campaign had not done more on the topic of election fraud during the campaign — including regarding an ad he had written for them.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I was screaming about no ads from Labor Day on,” he wrote. “I made my own they never ran it. I'm not pointing fingers. I'm frustrated.” It is possible here that Hannity may have been referring to yet another campaign ad that he wrote, but which still went unaired.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity’s vulgar denial to Bender of the earlier campaign ad not only reveals that he is a liar, but there’s more. In this instance, he also lied to a news reporter at The Wall Street Journal, the most prominent of the Murdoch media empire’s journalistic front operations and a <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/wall-street-journal/wall-street-journal-reporters-letter-reveals-farce-conservative-news-outlets" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">perpetual doormat</a> for the opinion side. The fact that he would lie to one of his colleagues from another Murdoch publication clearly demonstrates the sense of leverage Hannity has over anyone who thinks they really can report news while working at a Murdoch outlet.</font></p></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/trump-white-house-told-sean-hannity-what-say-then-he-said-it">https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/trump-white-house-told-sean-hannity-what-say-then-he-said-it</a></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div style=""><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Sean Hannity sought, received, and carried out marching orders from the Trump White House on what to say on Election Day 2020.</b> At a normal news outlet, this would be cause for alarm and would trigger an internal investigation into how often such behavior was going on – but Hannity works for Fox News, which long ago accepted his sidegig as a Republican political operative whose primary loyalty is to Donald Trump.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity’s communications with then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows are included in a trove of 2,319 text messages Meadows sent or received between November 3, 2020, which was Election Day, and President Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20, 2021. The texts were selectively provided by Meadows to the January 6 select committee and obtained by CNN, which <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/25/politics/mark-meadows-texts-2319/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reported</a> on them on Monday.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The texts <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/25/politics/read-mark-meadows-texts-sean-hannity-ivanka-trump-marjorie-taylor-greene/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">show</a> Hannity reaching out to Meadows and receiving instructions on what to tell his audience on the afternoon of Election Day</b>. After Hannity asked Meadows about whether Trump would win the chief of staff’s home state of North Carolina, Meadows told Hannity to use his radio show to “Stress every vote matters. Get out and vote.” Hannity responded, “Yes sir[.] On it. Any place in particular we need a push[?]” Meadows wrote back, “Pennsylvania. NC AZ,” then added “Nevada,” to which Hannity replied, “Got it. Everywhere[.]”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity followed through on his pledge to Meadows to exhort his radio audience to the polls in those key states, as The Washington Post’s Philip Bump <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/04/25/hannity-apparently-asked-what-say-election-day-then-he-said-it/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">noted</a> after reviewing that day’s edition of Hannity’s radio show, which airs from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET:</font></p></div></div><blockquote class="block-quote block-quote--collapsable" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);"><div class="block-quotequote" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I am acting as though and knowing that <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">every single, solitary vote matters</strong>,” Hannity said near the top of the show. He added that he was sharing insights after having “been on the phone all day with people all over the country.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A bit later: “<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px;">Every single vote</strong> in every one of these states that I have just mentioned absolutely, positively <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px;">matters</strong>.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And later still: “If you’re going to be voting, you know, please, if you’re online, please don’t say, oh, this is going to take too long. Your vote is necessary. <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">Every vote matters</strong>.”</font></p></div></blockquote><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bump also noted that three states Hannity mentioned most frequently on that broadcast were Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Arizona – the three states Meadows first indicated to Hannity as priorities.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In short, Hannity appears to have said what the Trump White House told him to say. And there’s no reason to think this was the first time that happened – the exchange between Meadows and Hannity is casual, with no indication from either party that anything untoward was happening.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Such behavior would generally be interpreted by a responsible news outlet as a massive ethical breach. But Fox is a Republican propaganda outlet that has <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/there-are-no-rules-sean-hannity-fox-news" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">completely given up on enforcing</a> anything resembling rules or journalistic ethics for Hannity, allowing him to <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/presidential-adviser-sean-hannity-reportedly-scripted-trump-campaign-ad" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">moonlight as a key Trump adviser</a>. </b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity appeared in a promotional video for Trump’s campaign, was revealed as a <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-trump-lawyer-michael-cohens-secret-client" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">secret client</a> of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and a <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/sean-hannity-trump-political-operative-and-fox-news-doesnt-care" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">back channel</a> between Trump and his embattled associates, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-and-end-fox-news-standards-charade" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">spoke</a> at a Trump political rally, and reportedly <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/presidential-adviser-sean-hannity-reportedly-scripted-trump-campaign-ad" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">wrote</a> one of his campaign ads. News reports indicated he was providing the president with political advice and receiving notes on his show in <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/05/sean-hannity-donald-trump-late-night-calls.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">near-nightly conversations</a>, and was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/hannitys-rising-role-in-trumps-world-he-basically-has-a-desk-in-the-place/2018/04/17/e2483018-4260-11e8-8569-26fda6b404c7_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">so influential at the White House</a> that aides called him “the ‘shadow’ chief of staff.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Through it all, while journalists noted that such behavior would constitute firing offenses at other outlets, Fox stood by their man. At this point, there’s no question that Hannity does Trump’s bidding because that’s what the network wants him to do.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There are no rules for Sean Hannity at Fox News</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">04/17/18 11:28 AM EDT</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Presidential adviser reportedly scripted campaign ad</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">06/01/21 10:44 AM EDT</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sean Hannity is a Trump political operative and Fox News doesn’t care</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">01/21/20 4:08 PM EST</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div></div></div></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">new</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx twt</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>Sean Hannity echoed dangerous Kremlin claim pointing figured about the Russian-Ukrainian war</div><div>Fox News' Sean Hannity speaking at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, Gage Skidmore</div><div>Meaghan Ellis March 19, 2022</div><div> </div><div>Fox News' Sean Hannity added to the conservative misinformation dumpster fire when he attempted to criticize President Joe Biden by echoing claims similar to Russian government officials.</div><div>
</div><div>On Friday, March 18, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov spoke to a group of reporters where he appeared to share his reaction Biden describing Russian President Vladamir Putin as a "war criminal." Peskov argued that the description is a "personal insult" to the Russian authoritarian.</div><div>
</div><div>"We hear and see statements that are actually personal insults to President Putin," Peskov told reporters.</div><div>
</div><div>"Given such irritability from Mr. Biden, his fatigue and sometimes forgetfulness ... fatigue that leads to aggressive statements, we will not make harsh assessments, so as not to cause more aggression,” Peskov added.</div><div>
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</div><div><b>Later that evening, Hannity highlighted Peskov's words on the screen as he echoed similar sentiments saying, “Like I’ve been saying, Biden’s weakness on the world stage is emboldening bad actors all across the globe."</b></div><div>
</div><div>Hannity's segment also came hours after Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov actually praised Fox News for echoing Fussian propaganda. According to Lavrov, Fox News is the only television network focused on presenting an "alternative point of view."</div><div>
</div><div>“We know the manners and the tricks that are being used by the Western countries to manipulate media,” said Lavrov. “If you take the United States, only Fox News is trying to present some alternative point of view."</div><div>
</div><div>For months now, far-right Republican lawmakers and conservative Fox News hosts have had what is being described as a "lovefest" with Russia. Despite their opposition, the Democrats and Biden administration have made it a point to push back against Putin as his military continues its invasion of Ukraine.</div></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</a></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/flashback-sean-hannity-spent-months-aggressively-defending-president-trump-withholding">https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/flashback-sean-hannity-spent-months-aggressively-defending-president-trump-withholding</a></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/hannity-speculates-his-call-assassination-has-had-psychological-impact-vladimir-putin">https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/hannity-speculates-his-call-assassination-has-had-psychological-impact-vladimir-putin</a></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/free-base-pipe/">https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/free-base-pipe/</a></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx vid twt?</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>Right-wing website made up viral fake claim Republicans like Marco Rubio are now pushing: report</div><div>[Marco Rubio embarrasses himself again by doubling down on false attack of defense secretary]</div><div>
</div><div>David Badash and The New Civil Rights Movement February 10, 2022</div><div> </div><div><b>This week Republican lawmakers and voters have had a great time pushing a false claim that the Biden administration is spending tens of millions of dollars to pay for "free crack pipes" for drug abusers</b>.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> The claim came from a report by the right-wing website Washington Free Beacon</span>, including a quote falsely attributed to an HHS spokesperson, according to The Daily Beast.</div><div>
</div><div>It's no surprise The Daily Beast is calling "a lie" made its way to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives and a U.S. Senator's Twitter account.</div><div>
</div><div><b>"The Washington Free Beacon seemed to take a big leap to assert that free crack pipes would be part of a harm reduction package</b>," The Daily Beast's Roger Sollenberg reports, calling it "a lie rocketed around conservative media."</div><div>
</div><div>The report, published Monday and titled <b>“Biden Admin To Fund Crack Pipe Distribution To Advance ‘Racial Equity,’” cited an HHS spokesperson as confirming that a sweeping harm reduction package “will provide pipes” to smoke, quote, “any illicit substance.”</b></div><div>
</div><div>The Free Beacon's article reads: <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“A spokesman for the agency told the Washington Free Beacon that these kits will provide pipes for users to smoke crack cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, and ‘any illicit substance.’”</span></div><div>
</div><div>The Daily Beast reviewed the email chain between the Washington Free Beacon and HHS. <b>It's unclear how the Free Beacon made the "any illicit substance" claim, given the HHS email specifically states no federal laws would be broken.</b></div><div>
</div><div><b>In fact, The Daily Beast reports the HHS spokesperson says the Free Beacon “omitted the information shared with him about the grantees needing to comply with federal, state, and local laws—the very language that would prohibit crack pipes.</b>”</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">The damage has already been done. The "free crack pipes" claim is now one more myth in conservatives' false reality.</span></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Arizona far-right Republican U.S. Congresswoman Debbie Lesko made the false claim on the floor of the House of Representatives:</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Florida Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, linking to an article literally titled: "Biden administration denies funding programs that hand out crack pipes to prevent infection and promote 'racial equity'" says in a video posted to his Twitter account, "The Biden administration is going to be sending crack pipes and meth pipes, targeting minority communities," a claim he knows is a lie.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Fox News entertainers Tucker Carlson and </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">Sean Hannity</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> both made the most of the claim, with The Daily Mail reporting: "Tucker Carlson slams policy to hand out free crack pipes and needles warning it 'will result in addicts shooting up on the streets.'"</span></div><div>
</div><div>The genie is out of the bottle, and no one on the right has any intention or desire to put it back.</div></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</a></font></div><div style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/08/fox-news-media/">https://www.alternet.org/2021/08/fox-news-media/</a></font></div><div style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>i </b></font><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>am sorry to report I've had more than one conversation with progressives who, despite being savvy and well-read, are under the mistaken impression that Fox News has seen the light and has started to promote the COVID-19 vaccine.</b> I've even witnessed speculation that Rupert Murdoch,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-murdoch/murdoch-receives-covid-19-vaccine-as-fox-news-host-casts-suspicion-on-campaign-idUSKBN28S2J7" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">who is himself vaccinated</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, had a come-to-Jesus meeting with the Fox News brass about the wisdom of encouraging their own audience to contract a dangerous disease. And while I always enjoy a cheeky opportunity to tell folks</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><a href="https://www.salon.com/2021/07/21/why-republicans-suddenly-seem-to-be-taking-covid-seriously/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">they should be reading my work more</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, overall, it's distressing to see that people are buying into the myth that Fox News has "pivoted" to being pro-vaccine.</span></font></div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But can you blame folks for believing this? Someone who prides themselves on a responsible, fact-based diet of mainstream media sources like <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/media/2021/07/20/sean-hannity-vaccines-covid-19-vpx-new.cnn" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">CNN</a>, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/sean-hannity-who-downplayed-covid-urges-viewers-take-it-seriously-n1274470" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">NBC News</a> and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/07/20/1018501257/i-believe-in-the-science-of-vaccination-fox-hosts-like-sean-hannity-change-tune" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">NPR</a> likely got exposed in mid-to-late July to misleading stories hyping an out-of-context clip of Fox News host Sean Hannity saying, "I believe in the science of vaccination" and urging viewers to "take COVID seriously." The clip also got shared widely on social media.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Everyone likes a "scared straight" story, and it just felt <em>good </em>to believe conservatives were on the verge of giving up this anti-vaccination nonsense. Unforutantely, the <a href="https://www.salon.com/2021/07/21/why-republicans-suddenly-seem-to-be-taking-covid-seriously/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">story was B.S.</a></b></font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.salon.com/2021/07/21/why-republicans-suddenly-seem-to-be-taking-covid-seriously/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">As I </a>and reporters who cover right wing media for <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/fox-news-anti-vaccine-campaign-isnt-over" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Media Matters</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/22585354/hannity-fox-news-covid-19-coverage" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Vox</a> pointed out at the time, Hannity's show that night was not only bookmarked by two other shows — Laura Ingraham's and Tucker Carlson's — that openly discouraged vaccination, but his supposedly "pro-vaccine" comments came in the middle of a segment that overall portrayed vaccines as dangerous and a threat to freedom</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. <b>Even in the edited clip, Hannity instructed his viewers to "research like crazy," which is </b></span><a href="https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Do_your_own_research" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;"><b>a common anti-vaxx rhetorical trick</b></a><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> As with creationists claiming they want to "<a href="https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Teach_the_controversy" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">teach the controversy</a>," it's a way to seem reasonable while slyly directing people to engage conspiracy theories and suggesting those conspiracy theories are on equal footing, credibility-wise, as scientific fact. <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-08-04/gop-covid-vaccines" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;"><b>As Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times</b> wrote</a>, Hannity was basically "encouraging listeners to expose themselves to the wide variety of <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-07-22/ivermectin-another-bogus-covid-treatment" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">anti-vax conspiracy mongering</a> accessible on social media via 'research.'"</span></font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But in case there was any doubt, a perusal of Hannity's programming in the weeks since his supposed conversion shows that, actually, Hannity is still largely focused on stoking confusion, spreading misinformation, and portraying vaccination efforts as a liberal conspiracy against his audience</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/hannity-hosts-anti-vax-conspiracy-theorists-provide-special-hour-medical-advice" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">As Media Matters documented</a> on Tuesday, Hannity gave an entire hour of his radio show over to two anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists — men who use phrases like "<b>the demon needle" and "poisonous jabs</b>." Hannity presented them falsely as medical experts to people calling in looking for advice. He also sneered at Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden's chief medical advisor, calling him "flip-flop Fauci" and declaring that his anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists were better experts. The conspiracy theorists <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3960486" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">discouraged vaccines for young people</a>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3960481" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">implied that dangerous and unproven drugs</a> are superior prevention to the vaccine, and lied about the breakthrough infection rate, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/04/delta-variant-risk-assessment-leana-wen/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">implying it's high when it is not</a>.</span>
</font></p><p style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">This in in line with the general approach to the vaccine question on Hannity's show. From the moment that his misleading "pro-vaccine" clip went viral, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-i-have-never-told-anyone-get-vaccine-i-have-been-very-clear" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Hannity has aggressively downplayed </a>the claim that he's promoting the vaccine, <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/sean-hannity-pretty-much-walks-back-his-pro-vaccine-comments-audio/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">declaring two days after the initial clip </a>that, "I'm not urging people to get the COVID-19 vaccine" and "I have never told anyone to get a vaccine." In the past few weeks, he's attacked <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/hannity-new-york-city-vaccine-passport-protocol" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">vaccine passport programs</a>, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/hannity-on-covid-mandates-spike-at-border" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">portrayed vaccine advocacy as "threats coming from Democrats,"</a> <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/hannity-on-breakthrough-covid-cases-foreign-policy-dealings" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">exaggerated the risks of breakthrough infections</a>, and even <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/hannity-on-gov-cuomos-sexual-harassment-allegations-covid-vaccinations" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">claimed that vaccine passport programs are racist</a> against Black people. (In reality, Black people are at a higher risk of dying of COVID-19, which is one reason why aggressive public health measures are necessary.)</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>A visit to Hannity's Facebook page is more of the same</b>. It features a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SeanHannity/posts/377809167132839" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">post mocking New York City mayor Bill De Blasio for supposedly playing doctor</a> by instituting a vaccine passport system, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SeanHannity/posts/377810013799421" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;"><b>Blames undocumented immigrants for the COVID-19 spread</b></a> when the medical establishment is quite clear that the problem is willfully unvaccinated people, and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SeanHannity/posts/377365483843874" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">celebrates Florida's Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis</a>, who is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/13/desantis-fauci-florida/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">selling merchandise mocking vaccine advocates</a> and whose state is paying the price for his idiocy with <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/02/health/us-coronavirus-monday/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">some of the highest rates of COVID-19 in the country</a>.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Overall, Hannity viewers get a strong message that vaccines are ineffective, dangerous, and getting one is just giving into those damn Democrats. And his firehose of anti-vaccination demagoguery is in line with the rest of Fox News, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">which continues to take the stance that vaccines are "a menace"</a>, ineffective, and that refusing vaccination is a good way to prove one's right wing bona fides.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>And yet, this notion that the network has changed its tune has become received wisdom in much of the mainstream media.</b></font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Googling "<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=hannity+vaccines&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS792US792&tbm=nws&sxsrf=ALeKk02A7AzjJ66G4plIYtfvJ2NZy9fgjA:1628171393933&ei=gewLYdu6OMzLtQbfmaGgDQ&start=0&sa=N&ved=2ahUKEwib_8WMg5ryAhXMZc0KHd9MCNQ4ChDy0wN6BAgHEDU&biw=1436&bih=741&dpr=2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Hannity vaccines</a>" turns up a darkly funny mix of Fox News headlines demonizing vaccination and mainstream media headlines praising Fox News for being pro-vaccination</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. One of those more recent ones, from Morning Consult, even announces, "</span><a href="https://morningconsult.com/2021/08/04/fox-news-viewers-covid-vaccine-hesitancy/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Fox News Personalities Started to Promote COVID-19 Vaccines. Viewers Have Taken Notice</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">." The article declares that "some conservative media personalities have gone all in on vaccines," falsely citing Hannity as an example. It credits this supposed shift in messaging for the fact that vaccine "reluctance fell to an all-time low this week among adults who watch Fox News: 27 percent of viewers now say they probably or definitely won't get vaccinated, down from 30 percent the week before and a high of 37 percent in mid-March." That's certainly an improvement, but hard to say if Fox News is really the cause, since their much-ballyhooed "shift" is an illusion propped up to bamboozle the mainstream media and not actually representative of the vaccine-negative messaging their audience actually gets. The </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/SeanHannity/posts/377809167132839" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">comments from his fans on Facebook make quite clear what message they're getting</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, and it's definitely not that vaccination is good and that unvaccinated people are the cause of the current surge. Instead, it's fear-mongering about the shots, blaming immigrants and not the unvaccinated, and comparing vaccine passports and mandates to Nazi Germany.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As the New York Times reports, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/05/us/louisiana-vaccines-covid-delta.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">fears of the delta variant are also driving a lot of red state Americans to get the shot</a>, clearly deciding that sticking it to the liberals isn't worth getting sick over. The article also points out that "employers and universities have started requiring the shots to return to work and class." Even the phrase "pandemic of the unvaccinated," which is being heavily (and accurately) promoted by the White House and the Centers for Disease Control, likely deserves credit for underscoring to the unvaccinated that it's they, not hated liberals, who are paying the price for listening to Fox News.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So this is probably not a matter of one pro-vaccine Hannity clip in a sea of anti-vaccine messaging changing minds. It's just that even the most devout death cults eventually have some members who start to question the wisdom of sacrificing themselves for some dumb ideology. Let's hope that the number of Fox News fans deciding they have their limits only continues to rise.</font></p><div style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div></div><div style=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/trump-fox-feedback-loop-amplifies-deranged-conspiracy-theory-about-dominion-and-vote" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/trump-fox-feedback-loop-amplifies-deranged-conspiracy-theory-about-dominion-and-vote</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no twt vid</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox News propagandists continue to push fever-swamp fantasies that voting machines switched a large number of votes from President Donald Trump to President-elect Joe Biden, even after election security officials conclusively determined that was not the case, and <b>Trump is amplifying those wildly irresponsible claims</b> to falsely assert that he won the election.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With his reelection hopes thwarted at the ballot box, Trump is trying to <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/despicable-dangerous-right-wing-assault-2020-election" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">steal the election if he can and delegitimize it if he can’t</a>, with the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-propagandists-and-gop-leaders-are-pushing-country-toward-abyss" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">help of his sycophants at Fox and Republican leaders</a>. </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Those despicable and dangerous efforts originally <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/18-times-trump-has-cast-doubt-election-response-fox" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">revolved</a> around baseless allegations of voter fraud committed through mail-in ballots. But as those claims have been <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/11/trump-lawyers-suffer-embarrassing-rebukes-judges-over-voter-fraud-claims/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">shot down in court</a>, Trump and his right-wing media allies have pushed <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/voter-fraud-and-suppression/right-wing-media-hammer-away-new-conspiracy-theory-about-election" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">increasingly deranged conspiracy theories</a> about computer systems changing votes to benefit Biden. T<b>hey have focused in particular on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/11/technology/no-dominion-voting-machines-did-not-delete-trump-votes.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Dominion Voter Systems</a>,</b> which makes software used in voting machines in localities around the country, including some in Georgia and Michigan. </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/trump-fox-feedback-loop-powering-assault-democracy" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">campaign against the democratic system</a> will not change the results of the election, but it has already resulted in a majority of Republicans <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/11/13/trumps-crazy-and-confoundingly-successful-conspiracy-theory-436404" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">believing the election was stolen</a> from Trump.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Thursday, Trump, who has spent the days since the election watching cable news coverage and ranting on Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1326928038714617859" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">live-tweeted</a> a <a href="https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1326928347801264128" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">segment</a> from the far-right network One America News that claimed that “DOMINION DELETED 2.7 MILLION TRUMP VOTES NATIONWIDE.”</font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--twitter-tweet paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="field field--name-field-twitter-tweet field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">This claim is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/12/trump-grasps-new-set-straws-computers-rigged-his-election-loss/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">crazy</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/12/technology/one-america-news-spreads-debunked-elections-claims.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">false</a>, and <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/11/trump-dominion-fraud-oann/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">apparently based</a> on the “analysis” of an <b>anonymous poster at a pro-Trump message board whose findings were credulously parroted by the Gateway Pundit <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/gateway-pundit/20-plus-times-jim-hoft-and-gateway-pundit-were-absurdly-wrong" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">conspiracy theory blog</a>. </b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s tweet <a href="https://www.cisa.gov/news/2020/11/12/joint-statement-elections-infrastructure-government-coordinating-council-election" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">apparently spurred</a> a response from Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council Executive Committee and the Election Infrastructure Sector Coordinating Council, who said in a joint statement released by the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency that “the November 3rd election was the most secure in American history” and that “there is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.” The signatories <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/12/us/politics/election-officials-contradict-trump.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">include</a> top U.S. cybersecurity officials, state and local elections administrators, and voting machine industry representatives. </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Even Fox’s “news” side pointed out that Trump’s claim was baseless. Network correspondent Eric Shawn <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3912271" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reported</a> on “the president's attacks on Dominion voting machines” during a Thursday night <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Special Report</em> package, explaining that experts, including cybersecurity officials at DHS, say that what Trump claimed had not happened. He described Trump’s comments as “disinformation.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>But Fox Business host Lou Dobbs has never allowed facts to get in the way of his <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/lou-dobbs/sinister-pro-trump-propaganda-lou-dobbs" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">adulation for the president</a> and his willingness to champion Trump’s lies. “President Trump is zeroing in on Dominion voting machines,"</b> he <a href="https://twitter.com/LouDobbs/status/1327032707512197121" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">said</a>, shortly <a href="https://twitter.com/NatashaBertrand/status/1327021915710623744" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">before</a> the CISA statement went out on Thursday evening. “Dominion voting systems used in 28 states across the country including battleground states Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.” </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">After highlighting purported flaws with the Dominion machines identified by Texas elections officials, he <a href="https://twitter.com/LouDobbs/status/1327024215887851521" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">asked</a> Trump lawyer<b> Rudy Giuliani</b>, “How important do you believe the concerns that are being expressed in a number of states about the ability of these machines not to be hacked?” Giuliani replied, “First of all, the machines can be hacked. There's no question about that. Their machines can be hacked.” He added that Dominion was “founded as a company to fix elections. They have a terrible record and they are extremely hackable.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Giuliani went on to claim that he had identified hundreds of thousands of “illegal votes” in Pennsylvania and Michigan that will “overturn the vote” in those states (this will not happen). He concluded, “This was a stolen election.”</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Fox prime-time star and <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/sean-hannity-trump-political-operative-and-fox-news-doesnt-care" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Trump operative</a> Sean Hannity also <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeEW1oeLaVE&feature=youtu.be" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">floated</a> the Dominion conspiracy theory, a few hours after federal, state, and local officials and his own network had debunked it.</b> After describing purported flaws with Dominion systems, Hannity referred to a 2017 congressional hearing about cybersecurity of voting machines, airing a comment from an expert about “how you hack a voting machine to cheat” using a “vote stealing program” that, if installed, “could steal elections without detection for years to come.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Now, am I saying tonight this happened with Dominion in this cycle?” Hannity asked after airing that comment. “No. How would I possibly know?” But without further review, he claimed, “there's good reason to not have confidence or not to believe this is fair."</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[vid]</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">trump cheered the Fox segments for pushing a conspiracy theory that had been debunked by his own government’s cybersecurity experts. </font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Must see @seanhannity takedown of the horrible, inaccurate and anything but secure Dominion Voting System which is used in States where tens of thousands of votes were stolen from us and given to Biden,” he <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1327095398712946695" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">tweeted</a> shortly after Hannity’s segment. “Likewise, the Great @LouDobbs has a confirming and powerful piece!”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Sharing video from Hannity’s segment on Twitter, Trump <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1327103335195938817" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">commented</a>, “These states in question should immediately be put in the Trump Win column. Biden did not win, he lost by a lot!”</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">By the next morning, the conspiracy theory had made it to <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox & Friends</em>, with George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley <a href="https://twitter.com/revrrlewis/status/1327215329496477696" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">falsely claiming</a> that Dominion voting systems switched “thousands” of Michigan votes --<b> only to be shot down by Steve Doocy of all people, who pointed out that “the software did not affect the vote counts.”</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Trump-Fox feedback loop is powering increasingly unhinged attacks on American democracy. And the longer it goes on, the clearer it becomes that the Murdochs and other network executives either have no control over their hosts, or want them to do exactly what they’re doing.</font></p></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">s<a class="widgetheadline-text custom-post-headline" href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/11/sean-hannity-election-predictions/" aria-label="Sean Hannity suggests we may have to have a 'do-over' election" data-type="text" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" word-break="word-break" break-word="break-word" outline="outline" px="px" overflow-wrap="overflow-wrap" font-size="font-size" line-height="line-height">ean Hannity suggests we may have to have a 'do-over' election</a></font></div><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div style=""><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font 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face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font 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style="">=</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style=""><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/11/sean-hannity-tried-to-mock-rep-ilhan-omar-but-only-ended-up-humiliating-himself/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/11/sean-hannity-tried-to-mock-rep-ilhan-omar-but-only-ended-up-humiliating-himself/</a></div><div style="">
</div><div style="">=</div><div style=""><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/sean-hannity-hyped-massive-trump-rallies-have-been-linked-covid-19-outbreaks">https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/sean-hannity-hyped-massive-trump-rallies-have-been-linked-covid-19-outbreaks</a></div><div style="">
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</div><div style=""><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/john-ratcliffe-back-his-bullshit-and-fox-news-loves-it">https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/john-ratcliffe-back-his-bullshit-and-fox-news-loves-it</a></div><div style="">
</div><div style=""><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">John Ratcliffe, President Donald Trump’s handpicked director of national intelligence, is selectively declassifying documents related to Russian interference in the 2016 election. His politically motivated disinformation campaign puts bolstering the president’s faltering reelection chances above U.S. national security. And he has found eager partners at Fox News. The network’s hosts are lapping up the story and baselessly claiming that it vindicates their conspiracy theories that the federal investigation into Russia’s actions was an anti-Trump witch hunt.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b>For years, Fox has been trying to delegitimize the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/fox-news-really-doesnt-care-about-voluminous-evidence-trump-russia-malfeasance" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">voluminous evidence</a> that Russia helped Trump win the 2016 election. Russian President Vladimir Putin personally “ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed” at helping Trump defeat his opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton</b>, according to the U.S. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/06/us/politics/russia-hack-report.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">intelligence community</a>. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">That campaign <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/fox-news-really-doesnt-care-about-voluminous-evidence-trump-russia-malfeasance" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">included</a> a Putin-directed effort to hack and release Democratic emails and an array of interactions between Trump associates and Russians with ties to the Kremlin</span>. <b>Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Russian operation led to the successful prosecutions of various close supporters of the president. But for Fox’s propagandists, the real story has been “Obamagate,” the right’s <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/obamagate-just-rebrand-rights-bogus-deep-state-conspiracy-theory" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">spittle-flecked conspiracy theory</a> postulating that “deep state” elements in the U.S. government dreamed up a Russia “hoax” in order to stop Trump.</b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Trump, a Fox obsessive, is an <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/trump-baselessly-accused-obama-treason-and-it-wasnt-big-news" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">eager “Obamagate” proponent</a>,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> and over the last few years, he has replaced key figures in his administration with partisan Fox favorites who are willing to use their positions to prop up the network’s unhinged conspiracy theory</span></b>.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> He removed Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who recused himself from the Mueller probe, in favor of <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/fox-news-was-right-about-william-barr" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">William Barr</a>, who has worked to stymie Mueller-related prosecutions while ordering and overseeing a federal criminal probe into the origins of the Russia investigation. He used the same playbook at the top of the intelligence community, ousting Joseph Maguire, whose office had warned of Russian interference in the 2020 election, and subbing in <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/richard-grenell/foxification-intelligence-community-follows-doj-script" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Richard Grenell</a>, a former Fox contributor who <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/richard-grenells-flynn-unmasking-noninformation-campaign" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">used the office</a> to create fodder for pro-Trump conspiracy theorists. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b>And now Ratcliffe, who replaced Grenell in May after <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/rep-john-ratcliffe-loves-foxs-mueller-conspiracy-theories-trump-wants-him-oversee-us" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">gaining</a> Trump’s favor despite a lack of experience in intelligence because the president liked his anti-Mueller rants on Fox, has levied his own salvo.</b> On Tuesday, he selectively <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dni-brennan-notes-cia-memo-clinton" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">declassified and released</a> two heavily redacted documents: a set of handwritten notes former CIA Director John Brennan took after briefing President Barack Obama in July 2016 and a memo the CIA prepared for the FBI summarizing intelligence. Those documents undergird a Russian intelligence assessment Ratcliffe described in a <a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/09-29-20_Letter%20to%20Sen.%20Graham_Declassification%20of%20FBI's%20Crossfire%20Hurricane%20Investigations_20-00912_U_SIGNED-FINAL.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">letter</a> he sent last month to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/lindsey-grahams-vengeance-hearings-are-ripped-fox-news" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Lindsey Graham</a> (R-SC). Fox, unsurprisingly, was given the exclusive on the documents, and it <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">credulously reported that they reveal that Brennan briefed Obama on Clinton’s “purported ‘plan’ to tie then-candidate Donald Trump to Russia as ‘a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server’ ahead of the 2016 presidential election.”</span> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">If Ratcliffe’s aim was to create political ammunition for the president and his Fox propagandists, he succeeded.</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> The </span><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">story </span><a href="https://twitter.com/GoAngelo/status/1313682750260555776" style="background: rgb(255, 204, 102); box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">led</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> the network’s website on Tuesday night and was treated as a “bombshell” by Fox’s pro-Trump prime-time and morning hosts, who </span><a href="https://twitter.com/revrrlewis/status/1313792376427732992" style="background: rgb(255, 204, 102); box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">alleged</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> that it proved that Clinton had “invented the Russia hoax” to deflect attention from her email server</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">.</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> And <b>Trump <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1313847138078658563" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">furiously</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1313843369785856002" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">tweeted</a> about the story on <a href="https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1313641120853884934" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Tuesday</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1313640512025513984" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">night</a> and Wednesday morning, <a href="https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1313842083606802435" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">demanding arrests</a> for what he baselessly termed had been an attempted <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1313854465276080128" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">“COUP.</a>"</b></span></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--twitter-tweet paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="field field--name-field-twitter-tweet field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--twitter-tweet paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="field field--name-field-twitter-tweet field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">This is nonsense. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b>The Russia probe did not begin due to anything Clinton did in July 2016. It was initiated based on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/30/us/politics/how-fbi-russia-investigation-began-george-papadopoulos.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">earlier intel</a> that George Papadopoulos, a Trump campaign adviser, had disclosed that Russia had political dirt on Clinton. </b>Papadopoulos, a bipartisan Senate report later <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/fox-news-really-doesnt-care-about-voluminous-evidence-trump-russia-malfeasance" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">assessed</a>, was a “potential vector for malign Russian influence” who learned about the Russian hacking campaign from an individual with Russian ties and almost certainly informed the Trump campaign. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b>The notion that Clinton was secretly scheming to link Trump to Russia to avoid talking about her email server doesn’t meet the laugh test.</b> At the time Brennan was briefing Obama, that hacking campaign was ongoing. WikiLeaks had just <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/07/13/timeline-how-russian-agents-allegedly-hacked-the-dnc-and-clintons-campaign/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">released</a> thousands of Democratic National Committee emails, it was <a href="https://www.wired.com/2016/07/heres-know-russia-dnc-hack/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">widely</a> believed that those emails had been stolen by Russian hackers, and Clinton’s campaign was publicly <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/trump-putin-no-relationship-226282" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">denouncing</a> Trump for calling on the Russian government to produce her emails while also <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-asks-russia-to-hack-hillarys-missing-emails" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">denying</a> that government’s involvement.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b>Ratcliffe’s selective redactions were also deceptive. </b>“Four people familiar with the matter said the Russians’ assessment of Clinton was only one part of a larger intelligence report that was billed as an initial examination of Russian cyberattacks targeting the 2016 election, and was not the reason that it was referred to the bureau,” Politico <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/06/trump-russia-ratcliffe-426868" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reported</a> Tuesday. Likewise, Brennan <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/06/politics/brennan-ratcliffe-declassifying-intelligence-clinton-russia/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">explained</a> to CNN that the notes Ratcliffe released showed him “giving examples of the type of access that the US intelligence community had to Russian information and what the Russians were talking about and alleging.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Moreover, the Russian intelligence assessment Ratcliffe produced had <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/29/john-ratcliffe-hillary-clinton-russia-423022" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">previously been rejected</a> on a bipartisan basis as likely Russian disinformation intended to distract from their hacking of the Democratic National Committee as those documents were released.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">This pipeline from the DNI’s office to Fox will continue as long as Trump is president. Ratcliffe is doing exactly what Trump wants him to do, using the power of the director of national intelligence to boost his reelection. And Fox is doing what they always do, serving as a propaganda outlet for the Republican Party.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Meanwhile, the Russian effort to help Trump win the 2020 election <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/10/06/trumps-team-trusts-russian-intelligence-over-us-intelligence/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">continues</a>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Rep. John Ratcliffe loves Fox's Russia probe conspiracy theories. He was just confirmed to oversee U.S. intelligence.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">07/29/19 1:02 PM EDT</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">The Foxification of the intelligence community follows the DOJ script</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">02/21/20 2:04 PM EST</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b>“Obamagate” is just a rebrand of the right’s bogus “deep state” conspiracy theory</b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/obamagate-just-rebrand-rights-bogus-deep-state-conspiracy-theory">https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/obamagate-just-rebrand-rights-bogus-deep-state-conspiracy-theory</a></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">05/18/20 no vids pix</p><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.38;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">last weekend, President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/12/trump-obamagate-distraction-253139" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">unleashed a series</a> of Mother's Day tweets accusing former President Barack Obama of an unspecified crime, referring to it as </font><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">“Obamagate.” </font><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Trump later <a href="https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1260919831957831683" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">went as far as to suggest</a> that Obama and the Democratic presidential front-runner, former Vice President Joe Biden, should be in prison.</font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--twitter-tweet paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="field field--name-field-twitter-tweet field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b>However, Trump has hardly been clear on what crimes Obama allegedly committed. When a Washington Post reporter asked, Trump <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-washington-post-obamagate-briefing_n_5eb9cc7ac5b69011a572b5b9" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">responded</a>, “You know what the crime is. The crime is very obvious to everybody. All you have to do is read the newspapers -- except yours.” </b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">While the president has not offered details, anyone who has watched Fox News host Sean Hannity’s show <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-led-sean-hannity-has-been-begging-attorney-general-bill-barr-investigate-or" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">over the past three years</a> can recognize that Trump’s </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">“Obamagate” </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">is just an attempted rebrand of the right’s years-in-the-making “<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannitys-deep-state-special-harbinger-trump-and-barrs-coming-propaganda" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">deep state</a>” conspiracy theory, sometimes called Russiagate</span>. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Media Matters has documented the origins of the conspiracy theory, the role of Attorney General Bill Barr’s politicized Justice Department, and key players in right-wing media who have spread its baseless claims.</span></p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">What is “Obamagate?”</h2><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">“Obamagate” is just another version of the right’s “deep state” conspiracy theory</h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to right-wing media, over the last several years government bureaucrats who held their positions during previous administrations comprise a “deep state” that has worked to undermine the Trump administration. This deep state conspiracy theory has evolved into a reflexive defense of Trump in a wide array of circumstances, from the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/rudy-giuliani/debunking-lies-about-trump-biden-ukraine-and-whistleblower" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Ukraine scandal</a> that led to his impeachment to his <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/sean-hannity-it-may-be-true-deep-state-using-coronavirus-manipulate-markets" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">administration’s handling of the coronavirus</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">[vid] </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">the</span><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"> core allegation made by Trump and his right-wing media allies is that in 2016, the Obama administration and the FBI, led by then-Director James Comey, sought to prevent Trump from becoming president. When that didn’t work, conservative media claim, the Obama administration and FBI officials sought to enact a backup plan to stop Trump in the form of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia. </span></font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b>Since 2017, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-led-sean-hannity-has-been-begging-attorney-general-bill-barr-investigate-or" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">right-wing media</a> have consistently and repeatedly called for retaliatory investigations against a slew of top FBI and Obama administration officials who they view as aiming to end Trump’s presidency, including Obama and Comey<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">.</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Some Republican politicians have also joined in or at least publicly attempted to sow doubt about the legitimacy of the Mueller investigation. Reps. <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/reps-jim-jordan-and-matt-gaetz-on-fisa-abuses" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Jim Jordan (R-OH), Matt Gaetz (R-FL)</a>, and <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/devin-nunes-deep-state-is-much-worse-than-even-i-thought-it-ever-was" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Devin Nunes (R-CA)</a> have each appeared on Fox repeatedly to push deep state conspiracy theories, especially on <b><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hannity</span>,</b> and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/485715-graham-starts-closed-door-depositions-on-fisa-probe" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">conducting his own investigation</a> into the FBI’s Russia probe. </span></p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Recent events led to an escalation in “Obamagate”</h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Attorney General Bill Barr has <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/2/16/21139870/doj-officials-letter-attorney-general-bill-barr-resign-stone" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">increasingly politicized</a> the Justice Department in pursuit of Trump’s political goals, and his efforts came to a boiling point recently when the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/after-barrs-doj-drops-flynn-charges-right-wing-media-set-sights-sally-yates-and-barack" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">DOJ moved to throw out the case</a> of Trump ally Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty in 2017 to charges of lying to the FBI.</span> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Supposedly vindicated by the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/court-asks-retired-judge-to-fight-justice-dept-effort-to-drop-michael-flynn-case-and-examine-if-ex-trump-adviser-committed-perjury/2020/05/13/8c0deb0a-9567-11ea-82b4-c8db161ff6e5_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">attempted</a> dismissal of Flynn’s case, right-wing media are now intensely focused on the <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2020/05/08/obama-biden-oval-office-meeting-on-january-5-was-key-to-entire-anti-trump-operation/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">January</a> <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2020/05/11/did-james-clapper-lie-to-congress-about-briefing-obama-on-flynns-phone-calls/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">2017</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/sally-yates-learned-of-flynn-targeting-from-obama-as-comey-kept-her-in-the-dark-declassified-documents-show" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">events</a><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/joseph-digenova/trump-ally-joseph-digenova-says-doj-readying-massive-case-against-obama" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;"> preceding</a> Flynn’s FBI interview that ultimately resulted in his guilty plea -- an interview that the right claims was engineered, in part by <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/obama-knew-details-of-wiretapped-flynn-phone-calls-surprising-top-doj-official-new-docs-show" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Obama</a>, to trap Flynn into lying to the FBI. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b>Recently uncovered <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2020/05/07/fbis-memo-exonerating-flynn-proves-its-time-to-investigate-comeys-corrupt-confidential-human-sources/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">documents</a> in Flynn’s case have also served as fodder for right-wing media in claiming that the FBI and Obama administration officials were trying to undermine Trump’s presidency.</b> Newly released <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-intelligence-committee-releases-transcripts-from-russia-investigation" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">transcripts</a> from interviews conducted by the House Intelligence Committee during its Russia probe also have brought accusations from the right against top FBI officials and House Democrats. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b>On May 13, GOP Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) <a href="https://www.grassley.senate.gov/sites/default/files/2020-05-13%20ODNI%20to%20CEG%20RHJ%20%28Unmasking%29.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">released </a>what the right is interpreting as a list of people who may have unmasked Flynn’s identity in the transcripts of his December 2016 conversations with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.</b> Right-wing media and their allies believe if they can identify who unmasked Flynn and prove that the official (or officials) illegally leaked Flynn’s <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/13/republican-senators-michael-flynn-254726" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">identity to the press</a>, then that proves the Obama administration tried to sabotage the Trump administration. In reality, the list has little significance and <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2020/05/13/of-over-40-potential-unmaskings-of-mike-flynn-during-the-transition-just-one-led-to-criminal-charges/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">isn’t nearly the bombshell</a> that right-wing media are trying to make it out to be. It is unlikely the original Flynn unmasking is even on the list. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">[don jr claims biden personally unmasked him in booktv lib priv 10/20?]</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">While there are some <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/17/politics/fisa-court-slams-fbi-conduct/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">legitimate problems</a> with the FBI’s conduct over the course of the Mueller investigation, Trump and his media allies' efforts to muddy the waters by cherry-picking information to weave <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/13/politics/trump-obama-obamagate-russia/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">complex, self-serving theories</a> will ultimately make any significant reform difficult by further demoralizing an already overly politicized agency. </p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">How the DOJ is being used to carry out the political goals of the deep state conspiracy theory</font></h2><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Bill Barr’s role</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Trump’s media allies have <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-led-sean-hannity-has-been-begging-attorney-general-bill-barr-investigate-or" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">held Attorney General Bill Barr up</a> as the man who will be able to carry out their retaliatory investigative goals. The attorney general has been trying to undercut any investigation into the president’s connections with Russia during the 2016 election even before he was nominated to his post. Moving to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/barr-undercuts-mueller-investigation-as-trump-cheers-him-on/2020/05/09/dc15316e-9169-11ea-a9c0-73b93422d691_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">drop the charges against Flynn</a> is only the latest example in a long list of actions Barr has taken to increasingly politicize the Justice Department to help Trump and his allies:</p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Late 2018:</strong> Barr sent a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/14/politics/barr-mueller-letter/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">memo</a> to members of the Trump administration detailing his view that Trump’s firing of and later fervent ridiculing of Comey were not obstructions of justice.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">February 2019:</strong> Barr was <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/william-barr-confirmed-by-senate-for-attorney-general" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">sworn in</a> as U.S. attorney general.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">March 2019:</strong> Barr took steps to mislead the public and undercut the conclusions of the Mueller investigation, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/read-mueller-letter-william-barr-full-text-russia-report-2019-5" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">issuing a summary memo</a> with cherry-picked conclusions before the redacted version of the report was released. </li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">May 2019:</strong> Barr <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2019-05-14/us-attorney-general-barr-taps-connecticut-prosecutor-to-probe-origins-of-mueller-probe" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">announced</a> an administrative review into the origins of the Mueller investigation led by John Durham, United States attorney for the District of Connecticut.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">October 2019:</strong> It was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/24/us/politics/john-durham-criminal-investigation.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reported</a> that the <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Durham review</span> into the origins of the FBI investigation was now a criminal investigation.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">January 2020:</strong> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Barr moved to interfere in cases close to Trump, including by <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/barr-takes-control-legal-matters-interest-trump-including-stone-sentencing-n1135231" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">changing the DOJ’s sentencing recommendations</a> in the Flynn case. </span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">February 2020:</strong><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Barr moved to interfere in the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/roger-stone/right-wing-media-go-bat-donald-trumps-politicization-justice-department" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Roger Stone</a> case,</span> another criminal case against a close Trump ally, replacing the DOJ attorneys overseeing the case.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">May 2020:</strong> The DOJ attempted to drop charges against Flynn and <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/460387217/Doc-198-Govt-Motion-to-Dismiss-Criminal-Information-With-Exhibits-05-07-20" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">released documents</a> pertaining to the January 5, 2017, Oval Office meeting that is at the center of the Obamagate conspiracy theory. <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/05/13/855124672/judge-in-flynn-case-invites-briefs-without-ruling-on-feds-dropped-charges" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">The judge has not formally dropped the charges</a> and is asking for third party amicus briefs for advice on the situation. </li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Right-wing media figures have heaped <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/lou-dobbs/lou-dobbs-bill-barr-works-president-united-states-he-works-american-people-hes-not" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">praise</a> on Barr for going after the “deep state.” They are also doubling down on claims that Flynn was a victim and <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/judge-napolitano-bill-barr-flynn-case-dropped" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">never did anything wrong</a>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">[vid]</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><b> Durham probe’s role</b></span></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Since October 2019, when he was appointed by Barr, U.S. Attorney John Durham has been leading a criminal inquiry into the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation. That probe was <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/durham-moving-full-throttle-on-russia-probe-review-with-top-federal-prosecutors-involved-sources" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reportedly </a>expanded again in May. Now, right-wing media are focusing on identifying which Obama administration officials were aware of the calls between Flynn and the Russian ambassador, which has become a key question in Durham’s probe. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">On April 24, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/24/us/politics/john-durham-ignatius-column.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">The New York Times</a> reported that Durham was looking into a 2017 column written by The Washington Post’s David Ignatius about Flynn’s call to Kislyak -- revealing that Durham was examining not only the origins of the FBI investigation, but also whether Ignatius’ source was intentionally trying to damage the Trump administration. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The predecessor to the Durham probe, DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s investigation into the Mueller investigation, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/horowitz-report-busts-these-right-wing-media-conspiracy-theories" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">fell short </a>of reaching the right-wing media’s desired conclusion: <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-led-sean-hannity-has-been-begging-attorney-general-bill-barr-investigate-or" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">incriminating Trump’s enemies</a>. </span>But Hannity and others have remained optimistic that Durham, and Barr, will deliver the retaliatory results that they have been looking for.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Key figures involved in pushing the years long deep state conspiracy theory</font></h2><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Sean Hannity</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Fox News prime-time host Sean Hannity has played an <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/study-sean-hannity-spent-last-year-laying-groundwork-authoritarian-response-russia" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">outsized role</a> in the promotion of the “deep state” theory, using his three-hour daily radio show and nightly Fox program as a conduit to hammer the supposed details and call for retaliation against perceived “deep state” operatives. Hannity frequently hosts guests who have been consistent drivers of the “deep state” conspiracy theory since 2016, and his show’s influence on Trump is <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/05/sean-hannity-donald-trump-late-night-calls.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">well-documented</a>. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Since leaving office, Obama has remained a frequent target of Hannity’s ire -- for instance, in <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-its-time-obama-be-put-under-oath" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">August 2019</a>, the Fox host said that “it’s time for Obama to be put under oath” about his role in Flynn’s case. And now, Hannity has quickly latched onto the president’s rebranding of Russiagate as “<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/hannity-obama-deep-state-officials-be-worried" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Obamagate</a>.” <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-barack-obama-sending-coded-messages-deep-state-operatives-go-out-and-do?redirect_source=/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-wonders-if-obama-sending-messages-deep-state-operatives-do-more-dirty" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Last week</a>, Hannity suggested that Obama was sending coded messages “to deep state operatives to go out and do more dirty work."<span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">[vid]</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Jarrett</p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b>Gregg Jarrett </b>is a Fox News legal and political analyst and <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-led-sean-hannity-has-been-begging-attorney-general-bill-barr-investigate-or" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Hannity regular</a> who is <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/meet-gregg-jarrett-fox-news-analyst-whose-upcoming-book-trump-hawked-twitter-morning" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">known</a> for pushing deep state conspiracy theories about the Mueller investigation. Trump has even <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/991672075491438594" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">promoted</a> Jarrett’s book <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Russia Hoax: The Illicit Scheme to Clear Hillary Clinton and Frame Donald Trump</em>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Jarrett has <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/meet-gregg-jarrett-fox-news-analyst-whose-upcoming-book-trump-hawked-twitter-morning" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">regularly</a> called for retaliation against those involved in Obama’s administration and the Mueller investigation; he has <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2017/10/24/foxs-gregg-jarrett-victim-russian-collusion-course-donald-trump/218322" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">described</a> Trump as the real “victim” of Russian collusion; and in March 2018, Jarrett <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/foxs-gregg-jarrett-calls-barack-obama-be-subpoenaed-and-federal-marshals-storm-doj-and?redirect_source=/video/2018/03/28/foxs-gregg-jarrett-calls-barack-obama-be-subpoenaed-and-federal-marshals-storm-doj-and-fbi/219772" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">called</a> for Obama to be subpoenaed. </font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing</h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing are a husband-and-wife legal duo who have frequently pushed <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/joe-digenova-and-victoria-toensing-have-made-over-90-appearances-fox-2019" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">deep state conspiracy theories on Fox</a> and were <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/john-solomon/smear-merchant-john-solomon-accidentally-reveals-role-his-lawyers-digenova-and" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">implicated</a> along with Rudy Giuliani in trying to dig up dirt on Biden as part of the Trump-Ukraine scandal. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">The pair have close ties to Barr going back <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/24/ukraine-oligarch-lawyers-joe-digenova-victoria-toensing-056643" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">years</a> and have <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-led-sean-hannity-has-been-begging-attorney-general-bill-barr-investigate-or" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">frequently</a> assured Hannity and others that Trump’s attorney general will successfully carry out the retaliatory aims of the deep state conspiracy theory against Obama and FBI officials. In one example, after Barr announced counter investigations into the Mueller investigation, diGenova <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3852986" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reassured</a> Hannity that Barr will “conclude” that “it all started in the White House. Barack Obama knew about this from day one.” In the same appearance on Hannity, Toensing predicted that several Obama officials would be implicated, including Biden and Obama himself. [vid]</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"> Solomon</p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b>John Solomon </b>is a former opinion columnist and vice president at politics outlet The Hill who was <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/john-solomon/how-conservative-writer-john-solomon-served-conduit-rudy-giulianis-ukraine-conspiracy" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">instrumental in pushing the Biden-Ukraine conspiracy theory</a>. He pushed misinformation so often and had so many conflicts of interest that The Hill <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/news/483600-the-hills-review-of-john-solomons-columns-on-ukraine" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reviewed his writings</a>, added disclaimers to his pieces on Ukraine, and announced changes in internal policy to avoid similar problems in the future. Solomon became a Fox News contributor in October 2019, and now frequently appears on <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hannity</em>. He is also <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/24/ukraine-oligarch-lawyers-joe-digenova-victoria-toensing-056643" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">legally represented</a> by Toensing and diGenova, and some of the legal duo’s other clients have ended up as sources for Solomon’s “reporting.” </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Solomon has demonized the Mueller investigation <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/john-solomon/fox-contributor-and-giuliani-collaborator-john-solomon-2019-misinformer-year" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">for years;</a> in 2017, when he was the chief operating officer for Sinclair Broadcast Group’s Circa <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jul/30/circa-sinclair-pro-trump-outlet-breitbart-fox-news" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">website</a>, he and his colleague Sara Carter primarily focused on undermining the origins of the Mueller investigation. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">In 2017, Solomon also <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/john-solomon/fox-contributor-and-giuliani-collaborator-john-solomon-2019-misinformer-year" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">emerged</a> as a key anti-Mueller figure on Fox News -- especially Hannity -- where he continued to spread misinformation and call for retaliation against Obama and FBI officials. Solomon’s slanted reporting has been a fundamental part of Hannity’s conspiracy theories, and Hannity has called for Solomon to receive the Pulitzer Prize.</p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Sara Carter</h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Sara Carter is a Fox News contributor who, along with Solomon, has played an outsized role in promoting the deep state conspiracy theory on Hannity’s show over the last <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannitys-deep-state-special-harbinger-trump-and-barrs-coming-propaganda" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">several years</a>. In 2018, Carter <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/fox-contributor-sara-carter-calls-mueller-probe-bloodless-coup" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">called</a> the Mueller investigation a “bloodless coup.</span>” </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Carter has <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-led-sean-hannity-has-been-begging-attorney-general-bill-barr-investigate-or" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">regularly</a> promised that indictments against FBI and Obama officials are imminent, usually basing her information on unnamed sources.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">After Barr announced counter-investigations into the Mueller report in 2019, Carter <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3852991" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">predicted</a> that there are “a number of indictments that are on the way” and claimed that the investigations will “lead all the way back to the White House. … And I’m talking about the Obama administration." [vid]</p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Dan Bongino is a Fox News contributor who <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-led-sean-hannity-has-been-begging-attorney-general-bill-barr-investigate-or" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">frequently</a> appears on Hannity’s show to rail against the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-friends/fox-contributor-says-robert-mueller-wanted-prolong-his-trumprussia-investigation" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Mueller </a>investigation and call for retaliation against FBI and Obama officials, whom he has accused of trying to launch a “<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/trump-keeps-channeling-foxs-coup-nonsense-could-end-badly" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">coup</a>” to get rid of Trump.</p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Lou Dobbs</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Lou Dobbs is a Fox Business host whose <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/lou-dobbs/sinister-pro-trump-propaganda-lou-dobbs" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">sycophantic</a>, pro-Trump commentary makes his show a hot spot for anti-Mueller deep state narratives.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">In 2018, Dobbs <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/lou-dobbs/lou-dobbs-calls-mueller-investigation-ideologically-inspired-jihad" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">called</a> the Mueller investigation an “ideologically inspired jihad” and he has been calling for Obama to be <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/lou-dobbs/foxs-gregg-jarrett-jeff-sessions-should-un-recuse-himself-trumprussia-probe-fire-mueller" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">investigated</a> since 2017. Last week, Dobbs <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/lou-dobbs/lou-dobbs-accuses-barack-obama-orchestrating-plot-overthrow-donald-trump" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">accused</a> Obama of orchestrating a plot to “overthrow” Trump.</p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Jeanine Pirro</h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Jeanine Pirro is a Fox News host and former judge who is known for her <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/jeanine-pirro/fox-host-jeanine-pirro-pushes-white-supremacist-great-replacement-conspiracy-theory" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">extremist rhetoric</a> and for having a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/politics/jeanine-pirro-the-judge-who-speaks-trumps-language/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">close relationship with the president</a>. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Pirro has been railing against the Mueller investigation since 2017, when she <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/jeanine-pirro/foxs-jeanine-pirro-runs-defense-trump-calling-russia-investigation-fishing-expedition" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">called</a> it a “fishing expedition” and <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/940159224872452097" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">demanded</a> a “cleansing” of FBI and DOJ officials “who should not just be fired, but who need to be taken out in handcuffs." Since then, Pirro has <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/why-anti-mueller-sentiment-fox-keeps-getting-worse" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">consistently</a> called for retaliation against various officials in the Obama administration, FBI, and DOJ. Recently, Pirro <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/fox-news-host-jeanine-pirro-accuses-judge-michael-flynn-case-being-part-political" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">accused</a> the judge in Flynn’s case of being part of a political conspiracy, claiming that Judge Emmet Sullivan is an “activist judge” and part of “the left coming in” to the justice system. </p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--twitter-tweet paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="field field--name-field-twitter-tweet field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Tom Fitton and Judicial Watch</h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton has remained a key figure in promoting the right-wing media’s deep state conspiracy theory, arguing for years that the Mueller investigation was a plot to destroy Trump’s presidency.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">In <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/lou-dobbs-and-judicial-watchs-tom-fitton-call-trump-just-pardon-everybody-you-know" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">2018</a>, Fitton called on the president to pardon anyone brought up on charges related to the Mueller investigation, saying that Trump should “just pardon everybody, you know, just have a field day,” including people Fitton admitted may actually be guilty. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Fitton has also been trying to link Obama to the deep state conspiracy theory for years. In <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-led-sean-hannity-has-been-begging-attorney-general-bill-barr-investigate-or" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">February 2018</a>, Fitton claimed on Fox News that he “always wondered why President Obama has skated really free from any serious inquiries about his involvement in the Russia investigations.” </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">When the DOJ moved to throw out Flynn’s case, Fitton’s <a href="https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-releases/statement-flynn/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">statement</a> at Judicial Watch claimed that “the targeting of General Flynn was a key part of the Obama/Clinton/Deep State coup against President Trump.”</p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">The Federalist</h3><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Ben Domenech, Sean Davis, and Mollie Hemingway</h4><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">The Federalist and its publisher <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/the-federalists-ben-domenech-on-obama-biden-oval-office-meeting-being-key-to-entire-anti-trump-operation.amp" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Ben Domenech</a>, co-founder <a href="https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1258834000308834311" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Sean Davis</a>, and senior editor <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2020/05/08/obama-biden-oval-office-meeting-on-january-5-was-key-to-entire-anti-trump-operation/#.XrWjhYynQOZ.twitter" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Mollie Hemingway</a> have also spent years hammering the idea that the Trump administration was the target of <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/michael-flynn/federalists-mollie-hemingway-flynns-guilty-plea-shows-media-have-been-willful-vassals" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">a deep state plot</a> that goes all the way to <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2017/10/29/obamas-campaign-gave-972000-law-firm-funneled-money-fusion-gps/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Obama himself</a>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">In a recent article <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2020/05/13/obamagate-isnt-a-conspiracy-theory-its-the-biggest-political-scandal-of-our-time/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">summarizing</a> Obamagate, which it calls “the biggest political scandal of our time,” The Federalist referred to the Mueller investigation as an “organized effort by the Obama administration to nullify the results of the 2016 presidential election,” claiming that it was “in effect an attempted coup.”</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Key officials targeted by the deep state theory</font></h2><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Barack Obama</h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Although it did not originally bear his name, Obama and members of his administration have been the main target of this conspiracy theory as right-wing media try to rebrand the Russia investigation as <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/hannity-criticizes-president-obama-being-updated-russias-interference-us-elections" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">illegitimate</a> or as a setup by the Obama administration to undermine Trump. Other accusations against Obama have included claims that he was <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/laura-ingraham-obama-administration-may-have-enabled-russian-interference-us" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">actively enabling Russian interference in the 2016 election</a> and that a “deep state” consisting of Obama-era officials is still working in government and <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-barack-obama-sending-coded-messages-deep-state-operatives-go-out-and-do" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">taking orders from the former president.</a> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">The deep state theory’s evolution, Obamagate, has focused on a January 5, 2017, Oval Office meeting that has come under <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/obama-knew-details-of-wiretapped-flynn-phone-calls-surprising-top-doj-official-new-docs-show" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">criticism</a> on the right because during that meeting, Obama expressed knowledge of Flynn’s contacts with the Russian ambassador. The conspiracy theory generally accuses <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/starr-what-did-obama-do-michael-flynn" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Obama </a>of having been aware of plans by FBI and DOJ officials to launch an investigation into Flynn and other Trump associates and to destroy Trump’s presidency. Former Obama-era officials have <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/trump-allies-push-obamagate-record-fails-back-them-n1206666" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">disputed</a> whether Flynn came up at all in the meeting. Regardless, right-wing media allege that Flynn <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/gregg-jarrett-michael-flynn-obama-officials-unmasking" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">needed to be gone</a> or he’d find out what Obama and his administration had been up to, so the former administration set Flynn up. This theory gained even more traction last week, when House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) released a <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-intelligence-committee-transcripts-russia-investigation/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">series of transcripts</a> from the Mueller investigation, including interviews with some Obama-era officials who testified they had no evidence of collusion in the interactions between the Trump campaign and Russia. </p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Joe Biden</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">The former vice president got caught up in the deep state conspiracy theory when right-wing media started accusing Crowdstrike, the company that secured the Democratic National Committee’s servers when they were hacked in 2016 by Russians, of being Ukrainian-owned and helping to falsely accuse Russia of the hack. <a href="https://apnews.com/aa1f66a1770d4995a6bada960a7d119e" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Neither of these things are true</a>, but right-wing investigations into Ukraine spun off into <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/john-solomon/how-conservative-writer-john-solomon-served-conduit-rudy-giulianis-ukraine-conspiracy" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">falsely accusing Biden of trying to get a Ukrainian prosecutor fired to protect his son</a>, a scandal which backfired and ultimately led to Trump’s impeachment.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Biden also attended the January 5, 2017, Oval Office intelligence briefing and, according to a <a href="https://twitter.com/ByronYork/status/1258495491450589191" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">memo</a> from former national security adviser Susan Rice, Biden stayed behind after the meeting along with Comey and a few others. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Right-wing media claim Obama at that point told him about the Flynn-Kislyak calls. The right has been <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-calls-trump-and-ag-barr-investigate-barack-obama-and-joe-bidens" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">increasingly hammering</a> Biden’s supposed connection to the deep state since he became the presumed Democratic presidential nominee.</span></p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Sally Yates</h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">In the past, former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates has been a right-wing media target for allegedly <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/right-wing-media-outlets-echo-trumps-unfounded-smears-sally-yates" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">leaking information to the press</a> and pushing the infamous <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/09/us/politics/fbi-ig-report-russia-investigation.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">dossier</a> of opposition research compiled by Fusion GPS’ Christopher Steele, even though she supposedly knew it was full of “<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-led-sean-hannity-has-been-begging-attorney-general-bill-barr-investigate-or" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Russian lies,</a>” that ultimately led to the wiretap of Trump adviser Carter Page.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Yates also attended the January 5, 2017, Oval Office intelligence briefing and was part of the group that was told to stay behind after the briefing by Obama, who then told them about Flynn’s contacts with the Russian ambassador. According to <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/460387217/Doc-198-Govt-Motion-to-Dismiss-Criminal-Information-With-Exhibits-05-07-20" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">documents released as part of the DOJ’s attempt to drop the case against Flynn</a>, she was surprised that the president knew that Flynn and Kislyak had talked in December 2016. Yates later said she was concerned Flynn was susceptible to blackmail. Right-wing media argue that makes her pivotal in what they <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/after-barrs-doj-drops-flynn-charges-right-wing-media-set-sights-sally-yates-and-barack" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">view as</a> a setup against Flynn. </p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Susan Rice</h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Right-wing media often accuse former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice of unlawfully <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/msnbc/susan-rice-denies-right-wing-media-lies-meant-bolster-trumps-wiretap-nonsense" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">“unmasking”</a> or revealing the identity of American citizens on tapped calls with foreign entities. Trump allies claim that Flynn was unmasked illegally, which supposedly led to him being <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/05/fbi-set-up-michael-flynn-to-preserve-trump-russia-probe/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">set up</a> by the FBI. Rice has also been <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/susan-rice-denies-leaking-names-of-trump-officials-in-intelligence-reports/2017/04/04/26997e56-1978-11e7-855e-4824bbb5d748_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">accused</a> of leaking information to reporters toward the end of Obama’s administration.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Rice also attended the January 5, 2017, Oval Office intelligence briefing and later wrote in a recently released <a href="https://twitter.com/ByronYork/status/1258495491450589191" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">memo that</a> she and Biden were in attendance after the main briefing when they learned about Flynn’s contacts with the Russian ambassador. Right-wing media have seized on her memo as providing further <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2020/05/11/why-did-obama-tell-the-fbi-to-hide-its-activities-from-the-trump-administration/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">details</a> about what they were told in the meeting, including that Obama supposedly cautioned Comey and Yates to consider withholding information about Russia from the incoming administration.</p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">James Comey</h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Right-wing media view Comey as a major driver of the FBI corruption that they claim tried to destroy Trump’s presidency, and they falsely accuse him of <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/investigation-found-no-evidence-james-comey-leaked-classified-information-hannity" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">leaking information to the press</a>. The former FBI director oversaw the start of the investigation into Flynn, which right-wing media <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/oct/25/fbi-ambushed-michael-flynn-then-celebrated/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">argued</a> was <a href="https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/10/its-true-new-evidence-shows-mueller-gang-threatened-gen-flynns-son-forced-general-to-sacrifice-himself-or-see-his-son-destroyed/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">illegitimate</a> even before Barr’s DOJ moved to throw it out. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Comey also attended the recently uncovered January 5, 2017, Oval Office intelligence briefing and stayed behind to talk to Obama about Flynn. In court documents, Yates recalled that Comey suggested that Flynn may have violated the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/logan-act-michael-flynn-trump-russia/516774/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Logan Act</a>, a law meant to prevent private citizens from interfering in foreign policy disputes (following DOJ’s move to drop the Flynn case, some conservatives have <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gop-rep-introduces-bill-to-repeal-logan-act-in-wake-of-flynn-case" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">argued</a> the law should be <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/repeal-the-logan-act-11588629596" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">repealed</a>). <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /> </p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">James Clapper</h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Russiagate promoters <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/unhinged-hannity-panel-claims-more-dozen-trump-investigators-committed-crimes-and" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">accuse</a> the former director of national intelligence under Obama of <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-led-sean-hannity-has-been-begging-attorney-general-bill-barr-investigate-or" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">leaking classified information</a> and <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/fox-news-audience-believes-its-deep-state-attacks" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">pursuing illegitimate investigations</a>. The right has also frequently mischaracterized his statement that there was <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-friends/parroting-trump-right-wing-media-figures-misrepresent-clappers-statements-about-trump" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">“no evidence”</a> of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Clapper also attended the January 5, 2017, Oval office intelligence briefing, and recent revelations have now led to <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2020/05/11/did-james-clapper-lie-to-congress-about-briefing-obama-on-flynns-phone-calls/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">speculation</a> from right-wing media that Clapper lied to Congress in July 2017 about whether he personally briefed Obama on the phone calls between Flynn and Kislyak.</p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Andrew McCabe</h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Right-wing media blame the former deputy FBI director for <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/comey-and-mccabe-fought-to-include-steele-dossier-in-intelligence-assessment-on-russian-interference" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">pushing the Steele dossier </a>along with Comey and allege that he lied to FBI investigators about classified leaks to the media. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">In <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-led-sean-hannity-has-been-begging-attorney-general-bill-barr-investigate-or" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">February</a>, the Justice Department moved to drop an investigation ordered by Barr into whether McCabe lied to the FBI, infuriating the right and renewing claims of a DOJ bureaucratic “deep state.” </p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">John Brennan</h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Right-wing media <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2019/12/09/brennan-lied-about-not-including-steele-dossier-in-intelligence-community-assessment-on-2016-russian-election-interference/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">allege</a> that DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/horowitz-report-busts-these-right-wing-media-conspiracy-theories" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">report</a> on the origins of the Trump/Russia investigation confirmed that former CIA Director John Brennan lied to Congress about whether the Steele dossier was used in the Obama administration’s intelligence community assessment on Russian election interference. </p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Peter Strzok and Lisa Page</h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Peter Strzok is a former FBI agent who became a <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/republicans-run-fox-news-gloat-about-peter-strzok-hearing-actually-backfired-them" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">right-wing media target</a> because leaked texts between himself and Lisa Page, a former FBI attorney, allegedly showed an anti-Trump bias in the special counsel investigation. The texts also revealed they were having an affair, which led to vicious attacks from both right-wing media and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/trump-mocks-peter-strzok-lisa-page-at-minnesota-rally/2019/12/02/968979d0-38b3-409e-97c6-c2e20c9cfa53_video.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">the president. </a></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">According to recently declassified documents, Strzok <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/strzok-stopped-bureau-from-ending-flynn-probe-despite-lack-of-derogatory-evidence-unsealed-documents-reveal" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">moved</a> to keep the Flynn probe open on January 4, 2017, after it was set to be closed. Right-wing media have characterized this move as interference to illegitimately continue an investigation and said the Logan Act was potentially used as justification. </p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Nellie and Bruce Ohr</h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Nellie Ohr worked as a contractor for Fusion GPS, the firm that dug up information that led to the infamous Steele dossier. Many on the right point to the fact that her husband, former Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr, is a high-ranking DOJ official as further evidence of the “deep state,” and Hannity has called for <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/what-trumps-fox-news-cabinet-urging-him-do-right-now" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">retaliatory investigations against both.</a></p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Samantha Power</h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">The former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is one of a handful of officials that right-wing media suspect of <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/flynn-unmasking-samantha-power-testimony" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">leaking</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/14/someone-committed-crime-michael-flynn-case-it-wasnt-him/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">sensitive information</a> to the press toward the end of Obama’s presidency and conspiring to stop Trump’s presidency. Like Yates, she has often been accused of illegally unmasking American citizens, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-its-time-obama-be-put-under-oath" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">especially by Hannity</a>. </p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Rod Rosenstein</h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Right-wing media have <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/sean-hannity-the-walls-are-closing-in-on-false-prophet-james-comey-william-barr-cares-about-equal-justice" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">previously alleged</a> that former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein knowingly lied to the FISA court to illegally target Trump aide Carter Page by using Clinton’s “phony dossier that was full of Russian lies” without informing the court of its origins or noting that it was unverified. They <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/gregg-jarrett-ig-horowitz-confirms-shameful-and-deliberate-fbi-misconduct-in-investigating-trump-campaign" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">falsely claim</a> this is vindicated by <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/horowitz-report-busts-these-right-wing-media-conspiracy-theories" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">the Horowitz report.</a></p></div></div></div></div></div><div>=</div><div><p style="margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="line-height: 31px;"> Trump administration and Fox News <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=5d417cba4112af5611d47423b469b14665cce080dff4bbbeff4c91b5aa172eec0abbb461f6b980af4e3540e5d217e212a3936c83bc38af0f" title="are trying">are trying</a> to gin up a scandal that would do to the 2020 election what <b>Hillary Clinton</b>'s emails did to the 2016 election. There's no reason that anyone has to play along with the deceit.</span></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="line-height: 31px;">The short version:</span></p><ul style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px; list-style-position: initial; list-style-image: initial;"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px; list-style: disc;"><span style="line-height: 31px;">President <b>Donald Trump</b>'s handpicked director of national intelligence, <b>John Ratcliffe</b>, is selectively leaking documents to pro-Trump outlets, usually Fox News.</span></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px; list-style: disc;"><span style="line-height: 31px;">These documents relate to Russian interference in the 2016 election.</span></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px; list-style: disc;"><span style="line-height: 31px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Pro-Trump personalities at Fox use the documents to claim that Russian interference was a hoax, usually saying that Hillary Clinton herself ginned up the hoax.</b></span></span></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px; list-style: disc;"><span style="line-height: 31px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 1em;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">There is no reliable evidence for these claims.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> To the contrary, a bipartisan Senate committee found numerous ways that Russia interfered -- even more than </span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Robert Mueller</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> uncovered in his investigation.</span></span></span></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px; list-style: disc;"><span style="line-height: 31px;">The Russia probe began based on intel that Trump 2016 campaign adviser <b>George Papadopoulos</b> has disclosed that Russia had political dirt on Clinton.</span></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px; list-style: disc;"><span style="line-height: 31px;">None of this reality is reflected at Fox News, which keeps up talk of "<b>Obamagate</b>" as the election draws near.</span></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px; list-style: disc;"><span style="line-height: 31px;">Numerous sources have told media outlets that Ratcliffe's redactions were deceptive.</span></li></ul><p style="margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 31px;">Objectively speaking, there is no reason to be talking about<b> Clinton's emails in 2020</b>. She's not on the ballot, and a multi-year investigation by the State Department <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=5d417cba4112af56bba81bfcdaba8aff9369787e828d51c5c881c5fe5828dabe78cc4100be1f54a026088c8f9b1b7ccf6522175855afa2b9" title="concluded">concluded</a> in 2019 that there had been no mishandling of classified information.</span></p></div><div>=</div><div>
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-deep-state-conspiracy-is-about-to-go-into-overdrive?ref=scroll" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-deep-state-conspiracy-is-about-to-go-into-overdrive?ref=scroll</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h2 style="margin: 0px !important;"><a href="https://hnn.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=191ccdd6c73c5afeafd52cfb8&id=6cbf650bde&e=5871539293" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://hnn.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3D191ccdd6c73c5afeafd52cfb8%26id%3D6cbf650bde%26e%3D5871539293&source=gmail&ust=1571596981478000&usg=AFQjCNFkKjIcmCVIvzG4aTfq9KTRCkWq9A" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;">Deep State Conspiracy Is About to Go Into Overdrive</a></h2><span style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px !important;">by Ronald Radosh</span><p style="margin: 0px !important;">The American right has advanced nutty conspiracy theories for decades. But the one we’re about to see play out will make Joe McCarthy look like an amateur.</p><p style="margin: 0px !important;">
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</p><p style="margin: 0px !important;">IT CAN HAPPEN HERE</p><p style="margin: 0px !important;">The Deep State Conspiracy Is About to Go Into Overdrive</p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div style=""><div style=""></div><div style="">note demon term irrational, polariz us vs enemy/traitor</div><div style="">
</div><div style=""><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/is-fox-news-obsessed-with-hate-study-finds-network-uses-this-word-5-times-more-than-its-rivals/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/is-fox-news-obsessed-with-hate-study-finds-network-uses-this-word-5-times-more-than-its-rivals/</a></div><div style="">
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</div><div style=""><b>Tu<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">cker Carlson is a big fan of the phrase 'they hate.' Usually, he's talking about Democrats.</span></b></div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/curd-knupfer-1154068" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Curd Knüpfer</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/freie-universitat-berlin-797" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Freie Universität Berlin</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/robert-mathew-entman-1154986" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Robert Mathew Entman</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/george-washington-university-1262" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">George Washington University</a>
</p><p style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">`Fox News is up to five times more likely to use the word “hate" in its programming than its main competitors, <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/1255/Hate_on_Fox_News_draft_report_9-28-20.pdf?1601308357" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">according to our new study of how cable news channels use language</a>.</font></p><p style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Fox particularly uses the term when explaining opposition to Donald Trump. His opponents are said to “hate" Trump, his values and his followers.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Our research, which ran from Jan. 1 to May 8, 2020, initially explored news of Trump's impeachment. Then came the coronavirus. As we sifted through hundreds of cable news transcripts over five months, we noticed consistent differences between the<b> vocabulary used on Fox News and that of MSNBC.</b></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">While their news agendas were largely similar, the words they used to describe these newsworthy events diverged greatly.</p><h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Fox and hate</h2><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">For our study, we analyzed 1,088 program transcripts from the two ideologically branded channels – right-wing Fox and left-wing MSNBC – between 6 p.m. and 10:59 p.m.</p><p style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Because polarized media diets <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-partisan-pandemic-do-we-now-live-in-alternative-realities-140290" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">contribute to partisan conflict</a>, our quantitative analysis identified terms indicating antipathy or resentment, such as “dislike," “despise," “can't stand" and “hate."</font></p><p style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">We expected to find that both of the strongly ideological networks made use of such words, perhaps in different ways. Instead, we found that Fox used antipathy words five times more often than MSNBC. “Hate" really stood out: It appeared 647 times on Fox, compared to 118 on MSNBC.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Fox usually pairs certain words alongside “hate." The most notable was “they" – as in, “they hate." Fox used this phrase 101 times between January and May. MSNBC used it just five times.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">To put these findings in historic context, we then used the <a href="https://blog.gdeltproject.org/gdelt-2-0-television-api-debuts/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">GDELT Television database</a> to search for occurrences of the phrase “they hate" on both networks going back to 2009. We included CNN for an additional comparison.</p><p style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">We found Fox's usage of “they hate" has increased over time, with a clear spike around the <b>polarizing 2016 Trump-Clinton election. </b>But Fox's use of “hate" really took off when Trump's presidency began. Beginning in January 2017, the mean usage of <b>“they hate" on the network doubled.</b></font></p><h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">'Us' versus 'them'</h2><p style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">So who is doing all this hating – and why – according to Fox News?</font></p><p style=""><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Mainly, it's Democrats, liberals, political elites and the media.</span> </b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Though these groups do not actually have the same interests, ideology or job description, our analysis finds Fox lumps them together as the “they" in “they hate."</span></p><p style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As for the object of all this hatred, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and other Fox hosts most often name Trump. Anchors also identify their audience – “you," “Christians" and “us" – as the target of animosity.<b> Only 13 instances of “they hate" also cited a reason. Examples included “they can't accept the fact that he won" or “because we voted for [Trump]."</b></font></p><p style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Citing liberal hate as a fact that needs no explanation serves to dismiss criticism of specific policies or events. It paints criticism or moral outrage directed at Trump as</font><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">inherently irrational.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>For loyal Fox viewers, these <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/09/fox-news-trump-language-stelter-hoax/616309/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">language patterns construct a coherent</a> but potentially dangerous narrative about the world.</b></p><p style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Our data show intensely partisan hosts like Hannity and Carlson are <a href="https://api.gdeltproject.org/api/v2/tv/tv?format=html&startdatetime=20170101000000&last24=yes&query=%22they%20hate%22%20(station:CNN%20OR%20station:FOXNEWS%20OR%20station:MSNBC%20)%20&mode=showchart" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">more likely than other Fox anchors to use “they hate"</a> in this way. </b>Nevertheless, the phrase permeates Fox's evening programming, uttered by hosts, interviewees and Republican sources, all <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/06/24/right-wing-websites-are-demonizing-antifa-heres-how-they-portray-threat/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">painting Trump critics not as legitimate opponents but hateful enemies working in bad faith</a>.</font></p><p style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">By repeatedly telling its viewers they are bound together as objects of the contempt of a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2018.1548412" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">powerful and hateful left-leaning “elite</a>," Fox has constructed two <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03637751.2017.1336779" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">imagined communities</a>. On the one side: Trump along with good folks under siege. On the other: nefarious Democrats, liberals, the left and mainstream media.</font></p><p style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><a href="https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v1i1.96" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Research confirms</a> that repeated exposure to polarized media messages can lead news consumers to form firm opinions and can foster what's called an <a href="https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/in-group-bias/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">“in-group" identity</a>. The us-versus-them mentality, in turn, deepens feelings of antipathy toward the perceived “out-group."</font></p><p style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Pew Research Center reports an increasing tendency, especially among Republicans, to <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/10/10/partisan-antipathy-more-intense-more-personal/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">view members of the other party as immoral and unpatriotic</a>. Pew also finds <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/08/five-facts-about-fox-news/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Republicans trust Fox News more than any other media outlet</a>.</font></p><p style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Americans' <a href="https://www.journalism.org/2020/01/24/u-s-media-polarization-and-the-2020-election-a-nation-divided/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">divergent media sources</a> – and specifically Fox's “hate"-filled rhetoric – aren't solely to blame here. Cable news is part of a <a href="https://www.moreincommon.com/media/0fmblxb3/the-perception-gap.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">larger picture</a> of <a href="http://www.apsanet.org/portals/54/Files/Task%20Force%20Reports/Chapter2Mansbridge.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">heightened<b>polarization</b></a><b>, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0261379415001857" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">intense partisanship</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/09/11/coronavirus-relief-congress-economy/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">paralysis in Congress</a></b>. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">[vid "hate & hysteria]</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Hannity portrays criticism of Donald Trump as hate-based.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C49DUbjCqO8" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">YouTube/Fox News</a></p><h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Good business</h2><p style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Leaning into intense partisanship has been good for Fox News, though. In summer 2020 <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fox-news-ratings-most-watched-channel-summer-2020-primetime-2020-9?r=DE&IR=T" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">it was the country's most watched network</a>. But using hate to explain the news is a dangerous business plan when shared crises <a href="http://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/dp/dp20023.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">demand Americans' empathy, negotiation and compromise</a>.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Fox's talk of hate undermines <a href="https://voxeu.org/article/civic-capital-and-social-distancing" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">democratic values like tolerance</a> and reduces <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-paradoxical-role-of-social-capital-in-the-coronavirus-pandemic" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Americans' trust of their fellow citizens</a>.</b></p><p style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">This fraying of social ties helps explain America's failures in managing the pandemic</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> –</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> and bodes badly for its handling of what seems likely to be a chaotic, divisive presidential election. In pitting its viewers against the rest of the country, Fox News works against potential solutions to the the very crises it covers.</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/curd-knupfer-1154068" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Curd Knüpfer</a>, Assistant Professor of Political Science, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/freie-universitat-berlin-797" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Freie Universität Berlin</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/robert-mathew-entman-1154986" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Robert Mathew Entman</a>, J.B. and M.C. Shapiro Professor Emeritus of Media and Public Affairs, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/george-washington-university-1262" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">George Washington University</a></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">The Conversation</a> </p><div style="">=</div></div><div style=""><p style=""></p><p style=""><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/richard-grenells-flynn-unmasking-noninformation-campaign">https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/richard-grenells-flynn-unmasking-noninformation-campaign</a></span></p><header class="editorial-fullheader" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="subtitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25em;">Right-wing media froth over “<b>Obamagate”</b> and bully press to play along</p><p class="byline" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.3rem; font-weight: 600; letter-spacing: 2px; text-transform: uppercase;"><font style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="bylinelabel" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 0.5rem;">WRITTEN BY</span> <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/author/matt-gertz" hreflang="en" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">MATT GERTZ</a></font></p><div class="dateline--group" style="box-sizing: border-box; align-items: center; display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap;"><p class="dateline" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-weight: 600; letter-spacing: 2px; text-transform: uppercase;"><font style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="datelinelabel" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 0.5rem;">PUBLISHED</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> <time datetime="2020-05-15T14:15:11-0400" style="box-sizing: border-box;">05/15/20 </time></span></font></p></div></header><div class="editorial-fullarticle" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 2.25rem;"><div class="field field--name-field-stories-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, a former Fox News contributor and Republican Party stalwart</b> who was <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/richard-grenell/foxification-intelligence-community-follows-doj-script" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">appointed</a> to lead the U.S. intelligence community because of his loyalty to President Donald Trump,<b> provided a document of his own devising to Congress on Wednesday. It promptly leaked to the press. Republicans, including Trump <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-weighs-in-on-flynn" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">himself</a>, immediately seized on the content in the document as <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/rand-paul-rips-biden-over-flynn-unmasking" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">evidence</a> of vast Obama administration malfeasance</b>. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Fox hosts spent the next two days incessantly <a href="https://view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/15894287307906e1a9e9f23a2/raw?utm_term=15894287307906e1a9e9f23a2&utm_source=Reliable+Sources+-+May+13,+2020&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=206544_1589428730794&bt_ee=rJtXAI/dlRVo19NiqUUDVK/ltAnlkvNMu9mMajvRanVdqAYAnBBHIYyh3CCtfzbubLRE55GUp/sRZ4Gxai5j7Q%3D%3D&bt_ts=1589428730794" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">declaring</a> that it vindicated their conspiracy theories, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/fox-news-largely-ignores-coronavirus-whistleblower-testimony-favor-obamagate" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">turning their attention away</a> from the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/amid-climbing-coronavirus-death-toll-fox-friends-devotes-twice-much-coverage" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">coronavirus pandemic</a>. And more credible media outlets, buffeted by the partisan claims, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/michael-flynn-unmasking-obama-biden/2020/05/13/d9593030-9545-11ea-82b4-c8db161ff6e5_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">responded</a> <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/more-than-one-dozen-obama-officials-may-have-requested-unmasking-that-revealed-michael-flynn-in-intelligence-reports-11589396531" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">with</a> a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/more-than-one-dozen-obama-officials-may-have-requested-unmasking-that-revealed-michael-flynn-in-intelligence-reports-11589396531" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">flurry</a> of <a href="https://apnews.com/ebcd45c5d89ac3cf8cc61ed3d6e1ac1a" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">stories</a>, at times <a href="https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1261256342137946112?s=21" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">failing</a> to <a href="https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1261092546433908741?s=21" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">properly contextualize</a> the story.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b>Trumpists have declared Grenell’s document a smoking gun showing that disgraced former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn,</b> who pleaded guilty for lying to the FBI about his calls with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, <b>was a victim of an Obama administration conspiracy,</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> and Fox is hyping that narrative with wall-to-wall coverage. In reality, the document provides almost no information whatsoever. It is simply a list of senior Obama administration officials who received Flynn’s name after they followed the National Security Agency’s standard process and asked the agency to <b>unmask</b> the identity of an individual generically referenced in an NSA report they were authorized to read. It does nothing to establish that any of the individuals named acted improperly in any way -- or even how many unmaskings were related to the Kislyak calls.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">We’ve seen <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">misinformation campaigns</em>, where false or deceptive information is distributed, and <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">disinformation campaigns</em>, when that distribution is done with the full knowledge of its inaccuracy.<b> Grenell is engaged in a <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">noninformation campaign</em>.</b></span><b> He deliberately crafted and propagated a data point so vague that it is virtually meaningless on its own. </b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But pro-Trump partisans -- particularly at Fox -- have easily picked up, misread (deliberately or not), and promoted the point, aligining it with their wild assumptions [// Qanon]. Those furious misinterpretations have in turn spurred attention from the mainstream press, driving the conspiratorial thinking into the broader public. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This is an intentional plan that corresponds with what the president wants from his director of national intelligence. “Trump hopes enough information will be released by his intelligence appointees to muddy the waters and lend a patina of confusion about what Mr. Obama may have done, according to people familiar with his thinking,” The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/us/politics/trump-obama.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reported</a> Thursday.<b> As the president struggles in reelection polling, Trump and his Fox propagandists are using the Flynn story to try to damage the credibility of former President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, Trump’s 2020 opponent.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Grenell’s noninformation campaign is the latest salvo in a years-long campaign by Trump and his Fox propagandists to t</span><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">urn the </span><a href="https://crooked.com/articles/trump-final-authoritarian-push/" style="background: rgb(255, 204, 102); box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Russia investigation inside out</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">, presenting the Trump associates who pleaded or were found </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">guilty under its auspices as victims </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">and </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">those involved in carrying out the probe as criminals.</span></b><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> </b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>With vast swathes of the federal bureaucracy in the hands of partisans selected for their loyalty to the president, including the DNI and Justice Department, we should <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannitys-deep-state-special-harbinger-trump-and-barrs-coming-propaganda" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">expect more of these releases</a> -- and perhaps <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-led-sean-hannity-has-been-begging-attorney-general-bill-barr-investigate-or" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">more dangerous actions</a> -- in the coming months</b>, as Trump’s supporters try to push the political debate away from the ongoing pandemic that has killed more than 80,000 Americans so far in order to secure his reelection.</font></p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font style="font-weight: normal;">The Trumpist defense of Michael Flynn</font></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Michael Flynn is a retired general who served as Trump’s national security adviser during the 2016 presidential campaign, the transition, and the early days of his White House tenure. At various points during that timeline, Flynn was also <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/us/politics/clinton-emails-trump-russia.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">assigned</a> by Trump to find the Hillary Clinton emails he had publicly asked Russia to procure; was under <a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/why-flynn-interview-was-predicated" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">investigation</a> by the FBI, which was concerned with whether he was serving as a witting or unwitting agent of the Russian government; was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/us/politics/michael-flynn-sentencing.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">illegally acting</a> as an unregistered agent of the Turkish government, for which he was <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/flynn-face-pressure-russia-probe-dems-allege-concealed/story?id=49809864" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reportedly involved</a> in discussions of a kidnapping plot; and was seeking Trump’s approval for a plan to transfer nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia after <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/flynn-backed-plan-transfer-nuclear-tech-saudis-may-have-broken-n973021" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">working as a paid adviser</a> for the group behind the proposal. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">On December 29, 2016, the day the Obama administration placed sanctions on Russia in response to its interference in the presidential election, Flynn <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2017/12/michael-flynns-russia-timeline/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">called</a> Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and urged him that Russia not retaliate for those sanctions. Flynn was fired as Trump’s national security adviser after reports surfaced that he lied to Vice President Mike Pence about those conversations, which opened Flynn up to blackmail from the Russian government. He would later repeatedly plead guilty as part of Mueller’s probe to lying to the FBI about those calls before renouncing that plea last year.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b>The <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/sean-hannity-michael-flynn-james-comey-fbi" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">position on Flynn</a> among Trumpists like Fox host Sean Hannity is that he is an American hero</b>, [started w/ ollie?]that there was no good-faith reason to probe any of his actions during that period, and that anyone involved in such an effort was a participant in the broad-ranging Obama administration conspiracy to take down Trump,<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/157726/obamagate-ultimate-republican-non-scandal" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">which the president terms</a> “OBAMAGATE.” [RECALL EACH TIME HE WRIGGLES OUT OF A LEGIT CHARGE, HE DECLARES HIS RIGHEOUSNESS/VICTIMHOOD, ASCRIBING EACH TO INCREASING DESPERATION BY DEMS, THEY TRIED TO IMPEACH ME ON DAY 1...]</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 153);">Their argument features Flynn’s conversation with Kislyak in two ways: They <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/fox-news-why-trump-thinks-he-can-get-away-nixonian-corruption-barrs-doj" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">argue</a> that the FBI’s interview with Flynn was a nefarious “setup” and suggest that the leak about the conversation from a “senior government official” to The Washington Post’s David Ignatius for his 2017 <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-did-obama-dawdle-on-russias-hacking/2017/01/12/75f878a0-d90c-11e6-9a36-1d296534b31e_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_28" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">column</a>, which brought the call into public light, was an<b>illegal attempt to take down Flynn and Trump by someone who had improperly “unmasked” his identity from intelligence intercepts</b>. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">William Barr’s Justice Department showed last week that the Trump administration is putting the force of the federal government behind Fox’s conspiracy theories when it <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/fox-news-why-trump-thinks-he-can-get-away-nixonian-corruption-barrs-doj" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">filed a dubious and virtually unprecedented motion</a> seeking to drop the government’s case against Flynn,[THIS SORT OF SUCCEEDED 7/20, STILL BEING FOUGHT IN CT?] citing the FBI’s interview tactics. And on Wednesday, Grenell tried to use his own power as the director of national intelligence to provide grist in support of the other fork of the Flynn defense. </font></p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">“Unmasking” and what Grenell’s document shows</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">On Tuesday, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/12/us/politics/richard-grenell-declassification-unmasking-list.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reported</a> that Grenell had <b>declassified [VS POMPEO IG REPORT IS CLASSIFIED?!] </b>and provided to the Justice Department what the paper described as “an Obama-era document related to President Trump’s former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn” and “a list of Obama administration officials who sought to learn the identities of Trump associates swept up in surveillance of foreign officials.” Later that day, Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson <a href="https://www.grassley.senate.gov/sites/default/files/2020-05-12%20RHJ%20CEG%20to%20ODNI%20%28Unmaskings%29.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">sent a letter</a> to Grenell and Barr asking for the document. Grenell <a href="https://twitter.com/CBS_Herridge/status/1260635048967094272/photo/1" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">provided</a> it to the senators on Wednesday, and it was immediately leaked to CBS News’ Catherine Herridge, a former Fox reporter <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/catherine-herridge/catherine-herridge-joins-foxs-news-side-exodus" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">whose work</a> often <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-cbs-reporter-catherine-herridge-is-driving-democratsand-some-of-her-own-colleaguescrazy?ref=home" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">promotes</a> Republican talking points. Herridge then <a href="https://twitter.com/CBS_Herridge/status/1260635048967094272" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">published</a> the letter on <a href="https://twitter.com/CBS_Herridge/status/1260635872271228928" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Twitter.</a> (The document <a href="https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1260941163516887040" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">did not turn out</a> to be precisely what the Times had reported. It had been generated on May 4, not during the “Obama era,” and dealt solely with cases involving Flynn, not “Trump associates” more generally.) </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b>In <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/qanda-what-is-unmasking-who-does-it-and-why/2020/05/14/ae254782-95ea-11ea-91d7-cf4423d47683_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">NSA reports</a> derived from the legal surveillance [FISA FBI SCREWUP LATER FOUND?] of foreign targets, analysts anonymize (“mask”) the names of U.S. persons to protect their privacy</b>. It is routine for senior officials to ask the NSA to reveal (“unmask”) those identities in cases where they believe that information is necessary to understand the intelligence. The NSA has a standard procedure for doing this, including a review of the justification of the person seeking the unmasking. For context, Trump administration officials sought and received the unmasking of U.S. persons from the NSA more than <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/michael-flynn-unmasking-obama-biden/2020/05/13/d9593030-9545-11ea-82b4-c8db161ff6e5_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">10,000 times</a> in 2019 and nearly <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/nsa-reports-75-increase-in-unmasking-u-s-identities-under-foreign-surveillance-law-in-2018-11556641509" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">17,000 times</a> in 2018. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The document is a list created at Grenell’s request of <a href="https://www.grassley.senate.gov/sites/default/files/2020-05-13%20ODNI%20to%20CEG%20RHJ%20%28Unmasking%29.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">several dozen</a> “officials who submitted requests” to the NSA between Trump’s election and the end of January 2017 to unmask an identity which turned out to be Flynn, as detailed in an <a href="https://twitter.com/CBS_Herridge/status/1260635048967094272/photo/2" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">attached memorandum</a> to Grenell from NSA Director Paul Nakasone. It provides the names of the officials<b>, which include then-Vice President Biden, Cabinet secretaries, and intelligence agency leaders,</b> and the date on which their requests were processed. It is the second version of the document -- as Nakasone detailed, the list was originally provided in alphabetical order but revised to be chronological</span>. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">That’s it. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Contrary to the insinuations from the right-wing figures, the document provides no evidence that any single unmasking was related to Flynn’s calls with Kislyak. In fact, the <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2020/05/13/of-over-40-potential-unmaskings-of-mike-flynn-during-the-transition-just-one-led-to-criminal-charges/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">record suggests</a> none of them were the original unmasking that first discovered Flynn had made the call, as that one was done by the FBI from its own intercept, not the NSA’s. Nor does it show that Flynn was in some way targeted -- by definition, unmasking occurs when senior administration officials don’t know the name of an American referenced in an intelligence report.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b>Indeed, there is no indication in the document that anyone listed behaved inappropriately -- in fact, it <a href="https://twitter.com/CBS_Herridge/status/1260635872271228928/photo/1" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">makes clear</a> that the Obama-era unmaskings happened by the book.</b> “Each individual was an authorized recipient of the original report and the unmasking was approved through NSA’s standard process, which includes a review of the justification for the request,” it states. It also points out that the NSA cannot confirm that any of the persons who requested the unmaskings eventually saw the information.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font style="font-weight: normal;">Grenell’s noninformation plot</font></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b>Grenell is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/21/opinion/richard-grenell-trump.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">totally unqualified</a> for his post. While previous occupants of his position ran intelligence agencies, he at most was a consumer of their products during a brief stint as U.S. ambassador to Germany.</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">What he brings to the table instead, along with unswerving loyalty to the president, is broad experience in public relations and shaping news cycles, which he <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180608010453/http:/richardgrenell.com/about/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">honed</a> as a spokesperson for Republican politicians and for the U.S. mission to the United Nations, a strategic communications consultant for domestic and foreign clients, a Fox contributor, and a notably unhinged Twitter troll.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b>Grenell personally requested, sought revisions to, declassified, and provided the document to Congress in precisely this form, showing precisely what he wanted to become public. </b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">If he wanted the document to include <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">more</em> information -- by for example, including the actual documents for which Flynn’s name was unmasked, or summaries thereof -- it would. Without that, despite the right-wing chorus linking Grenell’s document to Flynn’s Kislyak calls, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">it doesn’t provide evidence that any single unmasking had anything to do with them. </em><b>In fact the majority of the unmaskings predate the calls and thus could not be related.</b> Indeed, it doesn’t even indicate that Flynn was a participant in the intercepts used in the intelligence reports in which his name was unmasked, as the New York Times’ Charlie Savage points out:</p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--twitter-tweet paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="field field--name-field-twitter-tweet field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">If Grenell had wanted the document to include <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">less</em> information -- by, for example, limiting the date range to after Flynn’s December 29 calls with Kislyak, which would <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">reduce the list from 39 names to only eight</em> -- it would. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">What he produced is a very long list of names that maximized its impact, with no information whatsoever that any of them were involved in something the least bit inappropriate. That is, presumably, exactly what he wanted to do. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Perhaps Grenell has no evidence of wrongdoing, and few or none of the unmaskings reference the Kislyak calls (which is not implausible, as the FBI <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2020/05/13/of-over-40-potential-unmaskings-of-mike-flynn-during-the-transition-just-one-led-to-criminal-charges/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">derived and distributed</a> its own intercepts of the call with no masking as part of their already in-progress counterintelligence probe of Flynn). In that case, he’s declassified and released this information <b>for a political purpose.</b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Perhaps he does have that evidence, but isn’t releasing it for now so he can continue to dribble documents out and generate more news stories as the presidential election approaches. In that case, he’s withholding that information<b> for a political purpose.</b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Fox’s propagandists understand that their role in this noninformation campaign is to fill in the gaps left by the document with feverish, often fact-free speculation. Fox’s<b>Tucker Carlson </b><a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tucker-carlson-amoral-obama-administration-creeps-should-be-punished-for-ruining-michael-flynns-life" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">described</a> Flynn’s unmasking as a <b>“domestic spying operation” that was “hidden under the pretext of national security,” and that the Obama administration officials involved are “amoral creeps” who committed “felonies” and should be “punished.” </b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style=""><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">His prime-time colleague </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Hannity <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExXaE8lKBTA" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">opened his Monday show</a> by asking, “What did Barack Hussein Obama know and when did he know it? </span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Tonight, we will</span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">unravel the biggest abuse of power scandal in American history.” He also <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/hannity-warns-biden-flynn-unmasking-story-straight" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">attacked</a> Biden for “lying” about the story and <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/michael-flynn/sean-hannity-great-american-republic-will-disintegrate-your-eyes-if-obama-officials" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">claimed</a> on Wednesday that if the officials involved in Flynn’s unmasking don’t face “justice,” “the great American republic will disintegrate before your eyes</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">.” </span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Despite how little information the Grenell document provides, they are convinced that it vindicates their conspiracy theories. </b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><b>Meanwhile, Fox personalities are <a href="https://twitter.com/revrrlewis/status/1260876847396597761" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">attacking</a> the mainstream press for <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/michael-flynn/sean-hannity-great-american-republic-will-disintegrate-your-eyes-if-obama-officials" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">not obsessing over</a> the story, </b>with Hannity arguing that this proves they are “Democratic shills.” On Friday, <b>Trump himself picked up that angle, <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1261270084644896768" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">praising</a> the Fox morning show for “covering, supremely, the greatest political scandal in the history of the United States, OBAMAGATE,” while pillorying CNN, MSNBC, The Washington Post, and The New York Times as “Fake News” for failing to do so. </b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">It’s no coincidence that Trump and Fox are trying to bully the mainstream press into giving the story more attention. They are counting on journalists to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/14/2016-nightmare-is-already-repeating-itself/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">repeat the failures of the 2016 election </a>and flood the zone with context-free scandal coverage that dirties up the president’s opponent. That’s the play Trump is calling, and the leaders of the Justice Department and intelligence community are eagerly supporting the effort, and will likely continue dropping noninformation and disinformation until Election Day.</font></p></div></div></div></div><div></div></div></div></div><div style=""></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">HANNITY (HOST): If Joe Biden wins, if he has the strength and stamina and mental alertness to do the job, if he implements the extreme agenda that he's now embracing, let me be clear. America as you know it, we know it, will be destroyed. Our entire way of life will be flushed down the drain. </span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">most extreme socialist agenda i've ever seen</span></div><div style=""><div style=""></div><div style="">7/19/20</div><div style="">
</div><div style=""><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/07/fox-news-peddled-misinformation-about-the-coronavirus-253-times-in-five-days-study/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/07/fox-news-peddled-misinformation-about-the-coronavirus-253-times-in-five-days-study/</a></div><div style="">
</div><div style=""><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A new study finds that Fox News <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/05/12/unproven-drug-treatment-for-coronavirus-championed-by-trump-and-fox-news-shows-no-benefit-study/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">peddled misinformation</a> about the coronavirus pandemic 253 times in only five days. The documented instances included <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/04/29/tucker-carlson-exposed-as-coronavirus-truther-how-the-fox-news-host-masks-conspiracies-in-populism/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">claims which undermined science</a> and <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/05/27/study-fox-news-viewership-linked-to-higher-non-compliance-with-stay-at-home-orders/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">faith in experts</a>, as well as demands that <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/04/16/bless-you-fox-news-stars-shower-blessings-upon-protesters-for-violating-coronavirus-restrictions/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">schools and businesses reopen at the risk of public health</a>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/06/17/hydroxychloroquine-truther-laura-ingraham-urges-trump-campaign-to-ignore-alarmist-covid-drivel/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Primetime host Laura Ingraham</a>, who has no medical or scientific background whatsoever, led the pack with about a quarter of <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/05/05/fox-news-laura-ingraham-falsely-claims-there-was-no-real-scientific-basis-for-social-distancing/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">the claims</a> — 63 total, or just more than 12 per show. Additionally, <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/07/02/as-covid-deaths-mounted-lindsey-graham-kept-moving-the-goalposts-for-trump/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">the network’s “straight news” programs contributed</a> about 35% of the misinformation.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/fox-news-pushed-coronavirus-misinformation-253-times-just-five-days" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">study</a>, published Thursday by media watchdog Media Matters for America, was conducted from July 6 to 10 — the week after a Yahoo News <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/as-coronavirus-surges-fox-news-shifts-its-message-on-masks-200834996.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">report</a> proclaimed that Fox’s coronavirus coverage had taken a “remarkable turn” for the better:</p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; position: relative; line-height: 1.7; overflow: hidden; background: rgb(245, 245, 245); border: none !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7;">However haltingly and incompletely, the president’s favorite news outlet has started to acknowledge, across various programs and its news site, that the coronavirus is a far graver threat than even [President Donald] Trump himself will acknowledge.</p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>That report cited two articles on the network’s website and two instances of Fox News personalities Sean Hannity and Steve Doocy making remarks about masks that, while stopping short of endorsements, did not mock them outright.</b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The article also pointed out that Fox News requires its employees to wear masks at work <a href="https://twitter.com/jeremymbarr/status/1273692843161325571" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">most of the time</a>. Additionally, the network appears to have canceled a Fox Nation show about the pandemic hosted by coronavirus conspiracy theorist Alex Berenson, though extant episodes remain available.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">new study finds that Fox News <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/05/12/unproven-drug-treatment-for-coronavirus-championed-by-trump-and-fox-news-shows-no-benefit-study/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">peddled misinformation</a> about the coronavirus pandemic 253 times in only five days. The documented instances included <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/04/29/tucker-carlson-exposed-as-coronavirus-truther-how-the-fox-news-host-masks-conspiracies-in-populism/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">claims which undermined science</a> and <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/05/27/study-fox-news-viewership-linked-to-higher-non-compliance-with-stay-at-home-orders/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">faith in experts</a>, as well as demands that <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/04/16/bless-you-fox-news-stars-shower-blessings-upon-protesters-for-violating-coronavirus-restrictions/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">schools and businesses reopen at the risk of public health</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b><a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/06/17/hydroxychloroquine-truther-laura-ingraham-urges-trump-campaign-to-ignore-alarmist-covid-drivel/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Primetime host Laura Ingraham</a>, who has no medical or scientific background whatsoever, led the pack with about a quarter of <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/05/05/fox-news-laura-ingraham-falsely-claims-there-was-no-real-scientific-basis-for-social-distancing/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">the claims</a> — 63 total, or just more than 12 per show. Additionally, <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/07/02/as-covid-deaths-mounted-lindsey-graham-kept-moving-the-goalposts-for-trump/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">the network’s “straight news” programs contributed</a> about 35% of the misinformation.</b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The data in the Media Matters study flatly contradicts the isolated examples from the Yahoo report. Here is a quick breakdown:</p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 50px; list-style: none;"><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;">About half the incidents — 115 claims — challenged scientific consensus and undermined official government recommendations, such as social distancing and masking guidelines.</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;">“The <b>Ingraham Angle” was the clear leader of the pack, pushing misinformation 63 times, more than half of which came from Ingraham herself, who undermined science a staggering 21 times in five days</b>.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Fox & Friends” took second place with 45 instances; “Hannity” and “Tucker Carlson Tonight” finished in a dead heat for third, clocking 21 and 20 instances, respectively.</span></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;"><b>Straight news programs delivered more than a third of the misinformation, led by Martha MacCallum’s “The Story” with 20 claims.</b></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Eight claims defended or endorsed unproven remedies such as hydroxychloroquine,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> days after the FDA told people </span><a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-cautions-against-use-hydroxychloroquine-or-chloroquine-covid-19-outside-hospital-setting-or" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">not to take it</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> outside of hospitals or clinical trials.</span></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;">The <b>network politicized the pandemic 63 times, including 51 claims that regulations requiring masks and closing businesses were rooted in politics and 10 false claims linking recent racial justice protests to a surge in new infections.</b></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Hosts advocated 34 times to disregard public health concerns in favor of reopening the country’s more than 100,000 K-12 schools.</font></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The misinformation and the seeming coordination with official White House talking points has raised alarm among experts.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>For instance, in <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-says-fauci-made-lot-mistakes-n1233402" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">a “Hannity” interview July 10</a>, the last day covered in the study, Trump responded to a question about the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, by saying “he’s made a lot of mistakes.”</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">That interview fed an ongoing <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/07/13/white-house-sends-oppo-dump-im-attempt-to-discredit-fauci-after-he-disputes-trump-on-coronavirus/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">White House effort to discredit Fauci</a>, who <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/07/trump-fauci-coronavirus-pandemic-oppo/614224/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">pushed back</a> by calling such efforts “bizarre.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Ultimately, it hurts the president,” he said.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Then there is the matter of schools. The network and the administration, including Trump and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, for weeks trumpeted an American Academy of Pediatrics statement advising a measured reopening of schools.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The misinformation’s momentum eventually compelled the academy — together with with the two largest educators’ unions in the country and the School Superintendents Association — to <a href="https://services.aap.org/en/news-room/news-releases/aap/2020/pediatricians-educators-and-superintendents-urge-a-safe-return-to-school-this-fall/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">clarify</a> its statement. It now says that reopening “will clearly require substantial new investments in our schools and campuses,” and calls on Congress and the administration “to provide the federal resources needed” to safely educate and care for students.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In an earlier <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/05/20/fox-news-coronavirus-coverage-decreased-more-than-40-over-the-past-month-study-reveals/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Media Matters audit</a> of the cable network, Fox News posted a 20% decline in its coronavirus coverage between March and May.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But this unrelenting misinformation campaign comes amid a massive surge in COVID-19 infections, which has ravaged healthcare resources in Sun Belt states such as <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/07/14/texas-and-arizona-request-refrigerated-trucks-as-morgues-run-out-of-space-to-store-coronavirus-dead/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Arizona</a>, California, Florida <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/07/11/austin-mayor-steve-adler-on-battling-the-pandemic-when-this-virus-comes-it-comes-fast/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">and Texas</a>. In recent weeks, the U.S. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/10/world/coronavirus-updates.html#link-7ee57c33" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">has set</a> seven records for daily new cases, topping 68,000 on July 10, the same day which Trump, who said on numerous occasions that the virus would “miraculously” disappear in April, told Hannity that Fauci had “made a lot of mistakes.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Now, many states <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/29/more-states-reverse-or-slow-reopening-plans-as-coronavirus-cases-climb.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">are walking back</a> reopening measures. California closed restaurants, movie theaters and bars. Arizona <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/30/arizona-rolls-back-reopening-as-coronavirus-cases-grow-in-majority-of-us-states.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">also shuttered</a> movie theaters and bars, plus gyms and water parks.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>On July 13, Fox Business host Lou Dobbs wondered “what in hell is going on” as closures increased. Dr. Marc Siegel, a Fox medical expert, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-business/fox-medical-contributor-marc-siegel-criticizes-states-covid-surges-rolling-back" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">criticized</a> the policies as “not consistent,” “punitive” and “draconian.”</b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">However, there are some fractures within the network. A study from April showed that viewers of Hannity were more likely to die of COVID-19 than Carlson’s viewers. Now, the two seem neck-and-neck in misinformation.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Carlson, who in June <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/07/02/what-tucker-carlson-is-doing-with-his-newfound-clout-attacking-republicans/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">broke Hannity’s all-time ratings record</a></b>, recently claimed there was “no evidence” that masks help constrain the pandemic, in contradiction of guidance from the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Hannity, meanwhile, took the opposite view.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“I went to my grocery store every week. Guess what?” the host recently asked. “They wore masks. Nobody at my grocery store, thank God, got coronavirus.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“I think they work,” he added.</p></div><div style=""><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"></div></div></div><div style=""><p style=""><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">=</span></p><p style=""><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/richard-grenells-flynn-unmasking-noninformation-campaign">https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/richard-grenells-flynn-unmasking-noninformation-campaign</a></span></p><header class="editorial-fullheader" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="subtitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25em;">Right-wing media froth over “<b>Obamagate”</b> and bully press to play along</p><p class="byline" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.3rem; font-weight: 600; letter-spacing: 2px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="bylinelabel" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 0.5rem;">WRITTEN BY</span> <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/author/matt-gertz" hreflang="en" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">MATT GERTZ</a></p><div class="dateline--group" style="box-sizing: border-box; align-items: center; display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap;"><p class="dateline" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-weight: 600; letter-spacing: 2px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="datelinelabel" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 0.5rem;">PUBLISHED</span> <time datetime="2020-05-15T14:15:11-0400" style="box-sizing: border-box;">05/15/20 2:15 PM EDT</time></p></div></header><div class="editorial-fullarticle" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 2.25rem;"><div class="field field--name-field-stories-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, a former Fox News contributor and Republican Party stalwart who was <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/richard-grenell/foxification-intelligence-community-follows-doj-script" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">appointed</a> to lead the U.S. intelligence community because of his loyalty to President Donald Trump, provided a document of his own devising to Congress on Wednesday. It promptly leaked to the press. Republicans, including Trump <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-weighs-in-on-flynn" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">himself</a>, immediately seized on the content in the document as <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/rand-paul-rips-biden-over-flynn-unmasking" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">evidence</a> of vast Obama administration malfeasance. Fox hosts spent the next two days incessantly <a href="https://view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/15894287307906e1a9e9f23a2/raw?utm_term=15894287307906e1a9e9f23a2&utm_source=Reliable+Sources+-+May+13,+2020&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=206544_1589428730794&bt_ee=rJtXAI/dlRVo19NiqUUDVK/ltAnlkvNMu9mMajvRanVdqAYAnBBHIYyh3CCtfzbubLRE55GUp/sRZ4Gxai5j7Q%3D%3D&bt_ts=1589428730794" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">declaring</a> that it vindicated their conspiracy theories, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/fox-news-largely-ignores-coronavirus-whistleblower-testimony-favor-obamagate" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">turning their attention away</a> from the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/amid-climbing-coronavirus-death-toll-fox-friends-devotes-twice-much-coverage" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">coronavirus pandemic</a>. And more credible media outlets, buffeted by the partisan claims, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/michael-flynn-unmasking-obama-biden/2020/05/13/d9593030-9545-11ea-82b4-c8db161ff6e5_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">responded</a> <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/more-than-one-dozen-obama-officials-may-have-requested-unmasking-that-revealed-michael-flynn-in-intelligence-reports-11589396531" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">with</a> a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/more-than-one-dozen-obama-officials-may-have-requested-unmasking-that-revealed-michael-flynn-in-intelligence-reports-11589396531" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">flurry</a> of <a href="https://apnews.com/ebcd45c5d89ac3cf8cc61ed3d6e1ac1a" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">stories</a>, at times <a href="https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1261256342137946112?s=21" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">failing</a> to <a href="https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1261092546433908741?s=21" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">properly contextualize</a> the story.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Trumpists have declared Grenell’s document a smoking gun showing that disgraced former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty for lying to the FBI about his calls with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, was a victim of an Obama administration conspiracy, and Fox is hyping that narrative with wall-to-wall coverage. In reality, the document provides almost no information whatsoever. It is simply a list of senior Obama administration officials who received Flynn’s name after they followed the National Security Agency’s standard process and asked the agency to unmask the identity of an individual generically referenced in an NSA report they were authorized to read. It does nothing to establish that any of the individuals named acted improperly in any way -- or even how many unmaskings were related to the Kislyak calls.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">We’ve seen <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">misinformation campaigns</em>, where false or deceptive information is distributed, and <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">disinformation campaigns</em>, when that distribution is done with the full knowledge of its inaccuracy. Grenell is engaged in a <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">noninformation campaign</em>. He deliberately crafted and propagated a data point so vague that it is virtually meaningless on its own. But pro-Trump partisans -- particularly at Fox -- have easily picked up, misread (deliberately or not), and promoted the point, aligining it with their wild assumptions. Those furious misinterpretations have in turn spurred attention from the mainstream press, driving the conspiratorial thinking into the broader public. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">This is an intentional plan that corresponds with what the president wants from his director of national intelligence. “Trump hopes enough information will be released by his intelligence appointees to muddy the waters and lend a patina of confusion about what Mr. Obama may have done, according to people familiar with his thinking,” The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/us/politics/trump-obama.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reported</a> Thursday. As the president struggles in reelection polling, Trump and his Fox propagandists are using the Flynn story to try to damage the credibility of former President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, Trump’s 2020 opponent.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Grenell’s noninformation campaign is the latest salvo in a years-long campaign by Trump and his Fox propagandists to turn the <a href="https://crooked.com/articles/trump-final-authoritarian-push/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Russia investigation inside out</a>, presenting the Trump associates who pleaded or were found guilty under its auspices as victims and those involved in carrying out the probe as criminals. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">With vast swathes of the federal bureaucracy in the hands of partisans selected for their loyalty to the president, including the DNI and Justice Department, we should <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannitys-deep-state-special-harbinger-trump-and-barrs-coming-propaganda" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">expect more of these releases</a> -- and perhaps <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-led-sean-hannity-has-been-begging-attorney-general-bill-barr-investigate-or" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">more dangerous actions</a> -- in the coming months, as Trump’s supporters try to push the political debate away from the ongoing pandemic that has killed more than 80,000 Americans so far in order to secure his reelection.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">The Trumpist defense of Michael Flynn</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Michael Flynn is a retired general who served as Trump’s national security adviser during the 2016 presidential campaign, the transition, and the early days of his White House tenure. At various points during that timeline, Flynn was also <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/us/politics/clinton-emails-trump-russia.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">assigned</a> by Trump to find the Hillary Clinton emails he had publicly asked Russia to procure; was under <a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/why-flynn-interview-was-predicated" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">investigation</a> by the FBI, which was concerned with whether he was serving as a witting or unwitting agent of the Russian government; was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/us/politics/michael-flynn-sentencing.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">illegally acting</a> as an unregistered agent of the Turkish government, for which he was <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/flynn-face-pressure-russia-probe-dems-allege-concealed/story?id=49809864" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reportedly involved</a> in discussions of a kidnapping plot; and was seeking Trump’s approval for a plan to transfer nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia after <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/flynn-backed-plan-transfer-nuclear-tech-saudis-may-have-broken-n973021" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">working as a paid adviser</a> for the group behind the proposal. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">On December 29, 2016, the day the Obama administration placed sanctions on Russia in response to its interference in the presidential election, Flynn <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2017/12/michael-flynns-russia-timeline/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">called</a> Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and urged him that Russia not retaliate for those sanctions. Flynn was fired as Trump’s national security adviser after reports surfaced that he lied to Vice President Mike Pence about those conversations, which opened Flynn up to blackmail from the Russian government. He would later repeatedly plead guilty as part of Mueller’s probe to lying to the FBI about those calls before renouncing that plea last year.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">The <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/sean-hannity-michael-flynn-james-comey-fbi" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">position on Flynn</a> among Trumpists like Fox host Sean Hannity is that he is an American hero, that there was no good-faith reason to probe any of his actions during that period, and that anyone involved in such an effort was a participant in the broad-ranging Obama administration conspiracy to take down Trump, <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/157726/obamagate-ultimate-republican-non-scandal" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">which the president terms</a> “OBAMAGATE.” </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Their argument features Flynn’s conversation with Kislyak in two ways: They <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/fox-news-why-trump-thinks-he-can-get-away-nixonian-corruption-barrs-doj" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">argue</a> that the FBI’s interview with Flynn was a nefarious “setup” and suggest that the leak about the conversation from a “senior government official” to The Washington Post’s David Ignatius for his 2017 <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-did-obama-dawdle-on-russias-hacking/2017/01/12/75f878a0-d90c-11e6-9a36-1d296534b31e_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_28" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">column</a>, which brought the call into public light, was an illegal attempt to take down Flynn and Trump by someone who had improperly “unmasked” his identity from intelligence intercepts. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">William Barr’s Justice Department showed last week that the Trump administration is putting the force of the federal government behind Fox’s conspiracy theories when it <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/fox-news-why-trump-thinks-he-can-get-away-nixonian-corruption-barrs-doj" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">filed a dubious and virtually unprecedented motion</a> seeking to drop the government’s case against Flynn, citing the FBI’s interview tactics. And on Wednesday, Grenell tried to use his own power as the director of national intelligence to provide grist in support of the other fork of the Flynn defense. </p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">“Unmasking” and what Grenell’s document shows</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">On Tuesday, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/12/us/politics/richard-grenell-declassification-unmasking-list.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reported</a> that Grenell had declassified and provided to the Justice Department what the paper described as “an Obama-era document related to President Trump’s former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn” and “a list of Obama administration officials who sought to learn the identities of Trump associates swept up in surveillance of foreign officials.” Later that day, Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson <a href="https://www.grassley.senate.gov/sites/default/files/2020-05-12%20RHJ%20CEG%20to%20ODNI%20%28Unmaskings%29.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">sent a letter</a> to Grenell and Barr asking for the document. Grenell <a href="https://twitter.com/CBS_Herridge/status/1260635048967094272/photo/1" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">provided</a> it to the senators on Wednesday, and it was immediately leaked to CBS News’ Catherine Herridge, a former Fox reporter <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/catherine-herridge/catherine-herridge-joins-foxs-news-side-exodus" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">whose work</a> often <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-cbs-reporter-catherine-herridge-is-driving-democratsand-some-of-her-own-colleaguescrazy?ref=home" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">promotes</a> Republican talking points. Herridge then <a href="https://twitter.com/CBS_Herridge/status/1260635048967094272" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">published</a> the letter on <a href="https://twitter.com/CBS_Herridge/status/1260635872271228928" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Twitter.</a> (The document <a href="https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1260941163516887040" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">did not turn out</a> to be precisely what the Times had reported. It had been generated on May 4, not during the “Obama era,” and dealt solely with cases involving Flynn, not “Trump associates” more generally.) </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">In <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/qanda-what-is-unmasking-who-does-it-and-why/2020/05/14/ae254782-95ea-11ea-91d7-cf4423d47683_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">NSA reports</a> derived from the legal surveillance of foreign targets, analysts anonymize (“mask”) the names of U.S. persons to protect their privacy. It is routine for senior officials to ask the NSA to reveal (“unmask”) those identities in cases where they believe that information is necessary to understand the intelligence. The NSA has a standard procedure for doing this, including a review of the justification of the person seeking the unmasking. For context, Trump administration officials sought and received the unmasking of U.S. persons from the NSA more than <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/michael-flynn-unmasking-obama-biden/2020/05/13/d9593030-9545-11ea-82b4-c8db161ff6e5_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">10,000 times</a> in 2019 and nearly <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/nsa-reports-75-increase-in-unmasking-u-s-identities-under-foreign-surveillance-law-in-2018-11556641509" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">17,000 times</a> in 2018. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">The document is a list created at Grenell’s request of <a href="https://www.grassley.senate.gov/sites/default/files/2020-05-13%20ODNI%20to%20CEG%20RHJ%20%28Unmasking%29.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">several dozen</a> “officials who submitted requests” to the NSA between Trump’s election and the end of January 2017 to unmask an identity which turned out to be Flynn, as detailed in an <a href="https://twitter.com/CBS_Herridge/status/1260635048967094272/photo/2" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">attached memorandum</a> to Grenell from NSA Director Paul Nakasone. It provides the names of the officials, which include then-Vice President Biden, Cabinet secretaries, and intelligence agency leaders, and the date on which their requests were processed. It is the second version of the document -- as Nakasone detailed, the list was originally provided in alphabetical order but revised to be chronological. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">That’s it. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Contrary to the insinuations from the right-wing figures, the document provides no evidence that any single unmasking was related to Flynn’s calls with Kislyak. In fact, the <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2020/05/13/of-over-40-potential-unmaskings-of-mike-flynn-during-the-transition-just-one-led-to-criminal-charges/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">record suggests</a> none of them were the original unmasking that first discovered Flynn had made the call, as that one was done by the FBI from its own intercept, not the NSA’s. Nor does it show that Flynn was in some way targeted -- by definition, unmasking occurs when senior administration officials don’t know the name of an American referenced in an intelligence report.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Indeed, there is no indication in the document that anyone listed behaved inappropriately -- in fact, it <a href="https://twitter.com/CBS_Herridge/status/1260635872271228928/photo/1" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">makes clear</a> that the Obama-era unmaskings happened by the book. “Each individual was an authorized recipient of the original report and the unmasking was approved through NSA’s standard process, which includes a review of the justification for the request,” it states. It also points out that the NSA cannot confirm that any of the persons who requested the unmaskings eventually saw the information.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Grenell’s noninformation plot</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Grenell is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/21/opinion/richard-grenell-trump.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">totally unqualified</a> for his post. While previous occupants of his position ran intelligence agencies, he at most was a consumer of their products during a brief stint as U.S. ambassador to Germany. What he brings to the table instead, along with unswerving loyalty to the president, is broad experience in public relations and shaping news cycles, which he <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180608010453/http:/richardgrenell.com/about/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">honed</a> as a spokesperson for Republican politicians and for the U.S. mission to the United Nations, a strategic communications consultant for domestic and foreign clients, a Fox contributor, and a notably unhinged Twitter troll.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Grenell personally requested, sought revisions to, declassified, and provided the document to Congress in precisely this form, showing precisely what he wanted to become public. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">If he wanted the document to include <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">more</em> information -- by for example, including the actual documents for which Flynn’s name was unmasked, or summaries thereof -- it would. Without that, despite the right-wing chorus linking Grenell’s document to Flynn’s Kislyak calls, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">it doesn’t provide evidence that any single unmasking had anything to do with them. </em>In fact the majority of the unmaskings predate the calls and thus could not be related. Indeed, it doesn’t even indicate that Flynn was a participant in the intercepts used in the intelligence reports in which his name was unmasked, as the New York Times’ Charlie Savage points out:</p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--twitter-tweet paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="field field--name-field-twitter-tweet field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">If Grenell had wanted the document to include <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">less</em> information -- by, for example, limiting the date range to after Flynn’s December 29 calls with Kislyak, which would <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">reduce the list from 39 names to only eight</em> -- it would. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">What he produced is a very long list of names that maximized its impact, with no information whatsoever that any of them were involved in something the least bit inappropriate. That is, presumably, exactly what he wanted to do. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Perhaps Grenell has no evidence of wrongdoing, and few or none of the unmaskings reference the Kislyak calls (which is not implausible, as the FBI <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2020/05/13/of-over-40-potential-unmaskings-of-mike-flynn-during-the-transition-just-one-led-to-criminal-charges/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">derived and distributed</a> its own intercepts of the call with no masking as part of their already in-progress counterintelligence probe of Flynn). In that case, he’s declassified and released this information for a political purpose.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Perhaps he does have that evidence, but isn’t releasing it for now so he can continue to dribble documents out and generate more news stories as the presidential election approaches. In that case, he’s withholding that information for a political purpose.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Fox’s propagandists understand that their role in this noninformation campaign is to fill in the gaps left by the document with feverish, often fact-free speculation. Fox’s Tucker Carlson <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tucker-carlson-amoral-obama-administration-creeps-should-be-punished-for-ruining-michael-flynns-life" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">described</a> Flynn’s unmasking as a “domestic spying operation” that was “hidden under the pretext of national security,” and that the Obama administration officials involved are “amoral creeps” who committed “felonies” and should be “punished.” His prime-time colleague Hannity <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExXaE8lKBTA" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">opened his Monday show</a> by asking, “What did Barack Hussein Obama know and when did he know it? Tonight, we will unravel the biggest abuse of power scandal in American history.” He also <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/hannity-warns-biden-flynn-unmasking-story-straight" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">attacked</a> Biden for “lying” about the story and <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/michael-flynn/sean-hannity-great-american-republic-will-disintegrate-your-eyes-if-obama-officials" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">claimed</a> on Wednesday that if the officials involved in Flynn’s unmasking don’t face “justice,” “the great American republic will disintegrate before your eyes.” Despite how little information the Grenell document provides, they are convinced that it vindicates their conspiracy theories. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Meanwhile, Fox personalities are <a href="https://twitter.com/revrrlewis/status/1260876847396597761" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">attacking</a> the mainstream press for <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/michael-flynn/sean-hannity-great-american-republic-will-disintegrate-your-eyes-if-obama-officials" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">not obsessing over</a> the story, with Hannity arguing that this proves they are “Democratic shills.” On Friday, Trump himself picked up that angle, <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1261270084644896768" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">praising</a> the Fox morning show for “covering, supremely, the greatest political scandal in the history of the United States, OBAMAGATE,” while pillorying CNN, MSNBC, The Washington Post, and The New York Times as “Fake News” for failing to do so. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">It’s no coincidence that Trump and Fox are trying to bully the mainstream press into giving the story more attention. They are counting on journalists to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/14/2016-nightmare-is-already-repeating-itself/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">repeat the failures of the 2016 election </a>and flood the zone with context-free scandal coverage that dirties up the president’s opponent. That’s the play Trump is calling, and the leaders of the Justice Department and intelligence community are eagerly supporting the effort, and will likely continue dropping noninformation and disinformation until Election Day.</p></div></div></div></div><div style=""></div></div><div></div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/study-finds-people-who-watched-sean-hannity-were-more-likely-to-die-from-covid-19/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/study-finds-people-who-watched-sean-hannity-were-more-likely-to-die-from-covid-19/</a></div><div>
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</div><div>Study finds people who watched Sean Hannity were more likely to die from COVID-19</div><div>
</div><div>Written by <b>Igor Derysh / Salon</b> April 22, 2020</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A new study from the</span><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> University of Chicago’s Becker </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Friedman</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Institute for Economics</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> found that “<b>greater viewership of ‘Hannity’ relative to ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ was strongly associated with a greater number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the early stages of the pandemic.”</b></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Fox News host Sean Hannity has been heavily criticized for echoing President Donald Trump’s initial attempts to downplay the threat posed by the new coronavirus. Meanwhile, Tucker Carlson, his colleague at the right-leaning network who has framed the issue in more nationalistic terms, has been credited with convincing the president to take the pandemic seriously.</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>“Carlson warned viewers about the threat posed by the coronavirus from early February, while Hannity originally dismissed the risks associated with the virus before gradually adjusting his position starting late February,” the researchers wrote in the working paper.</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The two hosts diverged greatly on the issue in February. While Hannity expressed optimism that “zero people in the United States have died from the coronavirus,” Carlson warned viewers that the virus could kill 1 million people across the country.</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>The researchers commissioned a poll of more than 1,000 Fox News viewers, which found that Carlson’s viewers were more likely to change their behavior earlier than Hannity’s viewers.</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>“We find that Hannity’s viewers on average changed their behavior in response to the coronavirus five days later than other Fox News viewers, while Carlson’s viewers changed behavior three days earlier than other Fox News viewers,” the paper said.</b></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The researchers then compared the death rate in counties that favored either host, finding “approximately 30% more COVID-19 cases” in areas that preferred Hannity than those that watched Carlson.</span></div><div>
</div><div>“Already by mid-March, we see a statistically significant difference — that there are greater case loads in places that favor Hannity over Tucker,” researcher David Yanagizawa-Drott told The Chicago Tribune. “Then weeks later, we see a similar trajectory increase for deaths.”</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">After Hannity’s “shift in tone,” however, “the diverging trajectories . . . began to revert,” the study said.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The researchers argued that their findings were consistent with “misinformation being an important mechanism driving the effects in the data.</span>”</div><div>
</div><div>Polls have similarly found that Fox News viewers as a whole are far more likely to believe the threat of the virus is exaggerated. Another poll showed that Republicans, in general, were less likely to change their behavior in response to the threat than Democrats.</div><div>
</div><div><b>The attempts by certain Fox News opinion hosts to downplay the virus early in the outbreak came in stark contrast to steps the network’s executives and owners took to protect themselves against the virus.</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“The selective cherry-picked clips of Sean Hannity’s coverage used in this study are not only reckless and irresponsible, but down right factually wrong,” a spokesperson for Fox News said in a statement. “As this timeline proves, Hannity has covered Covid-19 since the early days of the story. The ‘study’ almost completely ignores his coverage and repeated, specific warnings and concerns from January 27-February 26 including an early interview with Dr. Fauci in January. This is a reckless disregard for the truth.”</span></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Hannity likewise defended his coverage of the virus in an interview with Newsweek earlier this month, arguing that his January interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the country, showed that his viewers were getting accurate information.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Go to my web site, and you’ll see irrefutable evidence that I have taken this seriously way before most in the media did. I warned in January that it was dangerous because it was highly contagious, but some people were asymptomatic, so it would spread quickly,” he said, though he also argued months later that the flu was “much more dangerous” than the new coronavirus and compared the associated death rate to the murder rate in Chicago.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Hannity’s comments came in response to a letter from <b>74 journalism professors to Fox owner Rupert Murdoch and CEO Lachlan Murdoch calling on the network to stop spreading “misinformation” about the virus.</b></span></div><div>
</div><div>“The misinformation that reaches the Fox News audience is a danger to public health. Indeed, it is not an overstatement to say that your misreporting endangers your own viewers — and not only them, for in a pandemic, individual behavior affects significant numbers of other people as well,” the letter said. “. . . Inexcusably, Fox News has violated elementary canons of journalism. In so doing, it has contributed to the spread of a grave pandemic. Urgently, therefore, in the name of both good journalism and public health, we call upon you to help protect the lives of all Americans — including your elderly viewers — by ensuring that the information you deliver is based on scientific facts.”</div><div>
</div></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/fox-news-fights-coronavirus-misinformation-lawsuit-first-amendment-protects-false-speec" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/fox-news-fights-coronavirus-misinformation-lawsuit-first-amendment-protects-false-speec</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</div><div>Fox News fights coronavirus misinformation lawsuit: First Amendment protects ‘false’ speech</div><div>
</div><div>Written by Igor Derysh / Salon April 16, 2020</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Fox News has moved to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a Washington state group accusing the network of “deceptive” coronavirus coverage by arguing that the First Amendment protects “false” and “outrageous” speech.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The network’s lawyers said in a motion seeking to dismiss the lawsuit that the “First Amendment does not permit censoring this type of speech based on the theory that it is ‘false’ or ‘outrageous.’ Nor does the law of the State of Washington.”</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Washington League for Increased Transparency and Ethics (WASHLITE) filed a lawsuit in King County earlier this month seeking a court order barring the network from “interfering with reasonable and necessary measures to contain the virus by publishing further false and deceptive content.”</span></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>The suit accused the network of violating the state’s Consumer Protection Act by “falsely and deceptively disseminating ‘news’ via cable news contracts that the coronavirus was a ‘hoax’ and that it was otherwise not a danger to public health and safety.”</b></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The suit specifically cited Fox News host Sean Hannity and former Fox Business host Trish Regan for having “acted in bad faith to willfully and maliciously disseminate false information denying and minimizing the danger posed by the spread of the novel coronavirus.</span>”</div><div>
</div><div>Hannity downplayed the threat of the coronavirus and argued it was less dangerous than the flu. Regan was fired shortly after accusing Democrats of pushing a “coronavirus impeachment scam.”</div><div>
</div><div>Though there are numerous examples of Fox opinion hosts downplaying the threat posed by the virus, many legal experts have dismissed the idea that the network could be sued for its coverage of the pandemic. One of the lawyers involved in the lawsuit has since withdrawn from the case.</div><div>
</div><div>“It’s Constitutional Law 101: the First Amendment protects our right to speak openly and freely on matters of public concern,” Fox News Media general counsel Lily Fu Claffee said in a statement. “If WASHLITE doesn’t like what we said, it can criticize us, but it can’t silence us with a lawsuit.”</div><div>
</div><div>The network’s 76-page filing, which includes dozens of pages of show transcripts and examples of other media outlets purportedly downplaying the risk of the virus early this year, argues that the hosts “never described the Coronavirus as a ‘hoax’ or a ‘conspiracy,’ but instead used those terms to comment on efforts to exploit the pandemic for political points.”</div><div>
</div><div>The network’s lawyers argued that Hannity and Regan simply took part in an “intense public debate” over “how serious of a threat” the virus posed, noting that Hannity, in March, urged the elderly and people with compromised immune systems to take “extra, extra, extra caution.”</div><div>
</div><div>The motion also noted that when Regan wrongly argued that the “flu … can be even more deadly” than the coronavirus, she emphasized that she was “not saying that people should not take [the coronavirus] seriously.”</div><div>
</div><div>“Under the First Amendment and state law, the truth or falsity of this type of speech must be resolved through free and open debate in the marketplace of ideas — not through burdensome litigation seeking to impose legal penalties on political statements that a jury might deem ‘false’ or ‘outrageous,'” the motion said. “In addition, the Complaint also fails because the statements are constitutionally protected opinions. Again, even accepting the Complaint’s characterization of the speech at issue, the Fox commentators were expressing their view on the scientific question of how dangerous the Coronavirus is and how society should respond to it — including what type of governmental action should be taken.”</div><div>
</div><div>The motion went on to cite CNN and New York Times coverage that compared the coronavirus to the flu, arguing that “If this type of allegedly ‘false’ speech can be censored, then free and open debate on matters of public concern is a dead letter.”</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The network added that WASHLITE’s bid to get an injunction preventing Fox News from expressing similar opinions in the future is an example of unlawful “extraordinary prior restraint.” The Washington CPA also “does not regulate political commentary … <b>nor is such commentary the type of ‘extreme and outrageous conduct’ covered by the tort of ‘outrage,'” the motion said.</b></span></div><div>
</div><div><b>Legal experts largely agreed with the network’s position that the lawsuit was unlikely to succeed.</b></div><div>
</div><div>Catherine Clark, an attorney for WASHLITE, vowed to respond to the motion and told Variety that the suit “was not about prohibiting free speech, but making sure that news organizations convey accurate information.”</div><div>
</div><div>Legal culpability aside, media analysts have widely criticized Fox News for putting their viewers at risk by downplaying the threat posed by the virus, which has now killed 26,000 people in the United States.</div><div>
</div><div>“Fox failed its viewers and the broader public in ways both revealing and potentially lethal,” wrote New York Times columnist Ben Smith.</div><div>
</div><div><b>A letter signed by more than 70 journalism professors around the country criticized Fox News for spreading “misinformation” about the virus.</b></div><div>
</div><div>“Viewers of Fox News, including the president of the United States, have been regularly subjected to misinformation relayed by the network — false statements downplaying the prevalence of COVID-19 and its harms; misleading recommendations of activities that people should undertake to protect themselves and others, including casual recommendations of untested drugs; false assessments of the value of measures urged upon the public by their elected political leadership and public health authorities,” the letter said, pointing to a recent poll that found that 79% of Fox News viewers believed the media had overstated the danger posed by the virus.</div><div>
</div><div>The network’s competitors have seized on the criticism.</div><div>
</div><div>“There are surveys on this, showing a majority of people who get information from Fox still think the virus threat is overblown,” MSNBC host Ari Melber said last week:</div><div>
</div><div>They’re more likely to downplay it even compared to other Republicans. If you don’t get your information from Fox News or online conspiracy theories, you’re less likely to think it’s overblown because it’s not overblown. For Fox viewers, it’s especially perilous. The median age there is 67. That mostly older audience, especially vulnerable if they contract this virus. And as we just showed you, they’ve been told to basically downplay it.</div><div>
</div><div>Read the full Fox News motion below:</div><div>
</div><div>Fox News 2020-04-14 Motion … by Igor Derysh on Scribd</div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div style="">=</div></div></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/these-pharmaceutical-companies-are-funding-spread-covid-misinformation-fox" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/these-pharmaceutical-companies-are-funding-spread-covid-misinformation-fox</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><header class="editorial-fullheader" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="dateline--group" style="box-sizing: border-box; align-items: center; display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap;"><p class="dateline" style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600; letter-spacing: 2px; text-transform: uppercase;"> <time datetime="2020-04-10T16:07:52-0400" style="box-sizing: border-box;">04/10/20 4:07 PM EDT</time></p></div></header><div class="editorial-fullarticle" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 2.25rem;"><div class="field field--name-field-stories-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Many pharmaceutical companies that are conducting ongoing research into COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccines are among the top sponsors of the Fox News Channel, </b>a cesspool of <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/how-foxs-sean-hannity-has-downplayed-coronavirus-pandemic-america" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">medical misinformation</a>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/fox-news-coverage-covid-19-pandemic-medically-inaccurate-malevolently-racist" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">racist fearmongering</a>, and <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-has-promoted-hydroxychloroquine-nearly-300-times-two-week-period" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reckless speculation</a> that put <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/31/opinion/coronavirus-fox-news.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">vulnerable populations</a> in <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2020/04/07/the-last-days-of-rosemarie-gabriele-pasco-countys-first-coronavirus-victim/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">harm’s way</a>. These companies, many of which are spending millions to research therapies and donate specialized resources that might alleviate the toll of the virus, are undermining their own work by advertising on Fox News, whose coverage of the pandemic has been <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/msnbc/chris-hayes-fox-news-has-posed-genuine-public-health-threat" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">described</a> as a “genuine public health threat.” </font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Here’s a list of these pharmaceutical companies. You can let them know they must stop sponsoring the spread of deadly misinformation during a global pandemic. </font></p><h4 dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><a href="http://twitter.com/gsk" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)</a></h4><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">GlaxoSmithKline is a U.K.-based global pharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturer and a <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/these-are-fox-news-leading-advertisers" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">leading Fox News advertiser</a>.</span> It has <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/06/glaxosmithkline-and-vir-aim-to-take-on-covid-19-with-antibodies-and-crispr/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">invested hundreds of millions of dollars</a> into researching COVID-19 therapeutics and has <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-52212777" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">partnered with the British government and AstraZeneca</a> to set up a testing facility at the University of Cambridge. </p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>The company has run over 3,000 ads on Fox News since January 2019 a</b>nd recently advertised on shows that have misinformed viewers about COVID-19, including <span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-friends" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Fox & Friends</a></span> and <span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://twitter.com/existentialfish/status/1241937796165775360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1241937796165775360&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationalmemo.com%2Ffox-news-must-control-its-dangerously-wacky-hosts%2F" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">The Next Revolution with Steve Hilton</a></span>.</font></p><h4 dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><a href="http://twitter.com/pfizer" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Pfizer Inc.</a></h4><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Pfizer is an American biopharmaceutical company and a <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/these-are-fox-news-leading-advertisers" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">top Fox News advertiser</a>. </span>The company has <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/09/pfizer-coronavirus-testing-fall/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">spent hundreds of millions of dollars</a> to scale up its manufacturing capacity to fight COVID-19 and is running multiple <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/04/09/us/09reuters-health-coronavirus-pfizer.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">studies</a> into potential therapeutics.</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;">Pfizer has run over 2,600 ads on Fox News since January 2019. </p><h4 dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><a href="https://twitter.com/Novartis" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Novartis</a></h4><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Novartis is a Swiss pharmaceutical manufacturer and a Fox News advertiser. The company makes hydroxychloroquine and <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/michael-cohen-donald-trump-novartis-twitter-covid-19-1496291" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">has promised</a> to donate its entire inventory “not already allocated to existing orders and customers” to combat COVID-19. </span>It also recently <a href="https://www.fiercepharma.com/marketing/abbvie-pledges-35-million-covid-19-disaster-relief-urges-other-companies-to-step-up" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">established</a> the COVID-19 Response Fund, pledging “$20 million in grants to support public health initiatives.”</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><b>The company has run nearly 1,900 ads on Fox News since January 2019. In 2020, it has advertised on shows hosted by COVID misinformers such as <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/fox-news-anchor-maria-bartiromo-and-sen-tom-cotton-keep-pushing-coronavirus" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Maria Bartiromo</a> and <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/laura-ingraham/laura-ingraham-questions-listening-public-health-experts-ending-social-distancing" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Laura Ingraham</a>.</span></b></p><h4 dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><a href="http://twitter.com/sanofi" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Sanofi</a></h4><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Sanofi is a multinational pharmaceutical company, a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-sanofi-exclusive/exclusive-sanofi-can-produce-millions-of-doses-of-potential-coronavirus-drug-ceo-idUSKBN21K3AD" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">manufacturer of hydroxychloroquine</a>, and a <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/these-are-sean-hannitys-leading-advertisers" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">top advertiser</a> on <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/how-foxs-sean-hannity-has-downplayed-coronavirus-pandemic-america" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">COVID misinformer Sean Hannity</a>’s prime-time show</b>.</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;">In collaboration with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Sanofi is currently <a href="http://www.news.sanofi.us/2020-03-16-Sanofi-and-Regeneron-begin-global-Kevzara-R-sarilumab-clinical-trial-program-in-patients-with-severe-COVID-19" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">testing</a> a prescription medication designed to treat rheumatoid arthritis among COVID patients in New York with the hope that the drug can alleviate fevers and aid patients with oxygen intake. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><b>Since January 2019, Sanofi-owned brands have advertised on Fox News over 1,700 times.</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Besides being a top advertiser on </span><em style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: border-box;">Hannity</em><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">, Sanofi has paid for programming on </span><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-death-projections-are-down-because-social-distancing-which-fox" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">shows that have advocated for the premature end to social distancing guidelines</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">, including</span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Ingraham Angle</em> </b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">and </span><em style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: border-box;">Fox & Friends</em><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">. Previously, </span><a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20170405-usa-media-advertisers-bmw-sanofi-fox-news-bill-o-reilly-factor-sexual-harassment-report" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Sanofi dropped</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Bill O’Reilly’s now-defunct prime-time show when he was accused of sexual harassment by multiple women. It remains to be seen if the company will do the same when even more is at stake.</span></p><h4 dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><a href="https://twitter.com/vandapharma" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Vanda Pharmaceuticals</a></h4><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;">Vanda Pharmaceuticals is a therapeutics manufacturer based in Washington, D.C. It is <a href="https://vandapharmaceuticalsinc.gcs-web.com/node/14056/pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">currently running a clinical study</a> of potential COVID treatments. The company has run 269 advertisements on Fox News since January 2019, including following <a href="https://twitter.com/peltzmadeline/status/1247707399995232257" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Sean Hannity’s interview with President Donald Trump</a> in which Trump touted “potential cures” for coronavirus that might benefit Prime Minister Boris Johnson.</p><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><a href="http://twitter.com/bayer" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Bayer</a></h4><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Bayer is a multinational pharmaceutical manufacturer that also manufactures chloroquine phosphate, and it is a top advertiser on <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hannity</em> and Fox News overall.</span> The company has made <a href="https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/bayer-preps-u-s-donation-malaria-med-chloroquine-to-help-covid-19-fight-report" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">multiple</a> <a href="https://www.media.bayer.com/baynews/baynews.nsf/id/Bayer-supports-fight-against-corona-pandemic-Spain-with-measures-totaling-approximately-EUR-1?" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">pledges</a> to donate resources to fight COVID-19 in the U.S. and Spain. It is also paying for the spread of medical misinformation by advertising on Fox News: the company has run over 3,900 ads since January 2019, including 493 since the beginning of 2020. Brands owned by Bayer that run advertisements on the network include <a href="https://twitter.com/bayeraspirin" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Bayer Aspirin</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/aleve/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Aleve</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Claritin/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Claritin</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/DrScholls" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Dr. Scholl’s</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AlkaSeltzer/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Alka-Seltzer</a>, among many others.</p><h4 dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><a href="https://twitter.com/GileadSciences" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Gilead Sciences</a></h4><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Gilead Sciences is a California-based pharmaceutical research and development company that has a <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/06/gilead-remdesivir-data-coming-soon/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">forthcoming study</a> of its drug Remdesivir and whether it has therapeutic properties to treat COVID-19. It has run 269 advertisements on Fox since January 2019. This year, the company advertised on shows hosted by coronavirus misinformers, including Sean Hannity and <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/fox-news-jeanine-pirro-downplays-talk-about-coronavirus-being-more-deadly-flu" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Jeanine Pirro</a>.</font></p><h4 dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><a href="http://twitter.com/astrazeneca" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">AstraZeneca</a></h4><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><b>AstraZeneca is a multinational biopharmaceutical company that frequently advertises on Fox News. </b>The company is currently <a href="https://www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre/articles/2020/researching-antibodies-to-target-covid-19.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">researching</a> potential treatments for coronavirus using antibody therapeutics. It has also publicly <a href="https://www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre/press-releases/2020/astrazeneca-to-donate-9-million-face-masks-to-support-healthcare-workers-around-the-world-in-the-fight-against-covid-19.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">committed to donating</a> 9 million face masks to health care workers across the world. The company is also a major sponsor of programs spreading COVID-19 misinformation; since January 2019 it has run over 700 advertisements on Fox News, including on <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox & Friends</em>, and <span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/fox-host-says-america-should-use-power-positive-thinking-beat-coronavirus" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">The Five</a></span>.</p><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><a href="https://twitter.com/TakedaPharma" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Takeda</a></h4><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;">Takeda is a global pharmaceutical company and a Fox News advertiser that recently <a href="https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/news/takeda-hyperimmune-therapy-covid-19/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">announced</a> it is partnering with plasma companies to develop an antibody therapeutic to treat complications associated with COVID-19.<b> It has advertised on Fox 563 times since January 2019 </b>and recently ran ads on <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Next Revolution with Steve Hilton</em>, a show that has promoted an approach to COVID-19 that runs afoul of guidance from public health experts.</p></div></div></div></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div></div><div></div><div><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-lavishes-praise-sen-ron-johnson-opening-investigation-joe-biden">https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-lavishes-praise-sen-ron-johnson-opening-investigation-joe-biden</a></div><div>
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</div><div></div><div>wapo</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=91a4cb4122de0af505cbbe73314de12ff4a01553c54fdcfce3c50363f29e427e43db487e53f170404e838b0408cc8f35c70243c7a77a7ddd">http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=91a4cb4122de0af505cbbe73314de12ff4a01553c54fdcfce3c50363f29e427e43db487e53f170404e838b0408cc8f35c70243c7a77a7ddd</a></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/07/its-own-document-fox-news-rips-fox-news-host-sean-hannity/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/07/its-own-document-fox-news-rips-fox-news-host-sean-hannity/</a></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ref $</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><font style="" /><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style=""><font style="">no lnx</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Opinions</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In its own document, Fox News rips Fox News host Sean Hannity</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sean Hannity on the set of his show on Aug. 7, 2019. (Frank Franklin II/AP)</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Erik Wemple </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Media critic</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Feb. 7, 2020 at 12:06 p.m. PST</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Each night, Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity engage in some shallow blather during the “handoff” between their ratings-killing programs. In Thursday night’s version, Hannity told Carlson, “You know the deep-state story is even getting bigger. There’s a whole new one developing. I’ll tell you about it privately.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Cute, Hannity....</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Democracy Dies in Darkness</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Opinions</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In its own document, Fox News rips Fox News host Sean Hannity</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sean Hannity on the set of his show on Aug. 7, 2019. (Frank Franklin II/AP)</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">By</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Erik Wemple </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Media critic</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">February 7, 2020 at 3:06 PM EST</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Each night, Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity engage in some shallow blather during the “handoff” between their ratings-killing programs. In Thursday night’s version, Hannity told Carlson, “You know the deep-state story is even getting bigger. There’s a whole new one developing. I’ll tell you about it privately.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Cute, Hannity.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Just what could this “new” deep-state story be? A clue emerged from a strange sequence of events on Twitter. Marcus DiPaola, who formerly worked at Fox News, posted some tweets about his experience with the network, as well as the front page of an interesting internal document:</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Here's the front page of the internal Fox News Trump-Ukraine timeline. I'll start tweeting some of the highlights shortly. pic.twitter.com/HWGX5sZUh8</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> — Marcus J. DiPaola (@marcusdipaola) February 6, 2020</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">That’s the title page of a dossier from the so-called Brain Room of Fox News, a long-standing research hive at the network. The full Ukrainian report, obtained by the Erik Wemple Blog, is a document of great candor and thoroughness, 162 pages of events and statements and indictments and hearings that detail every last wrinkle in the Trump-Ukraine story. Its timeline starts in February 2014 — when former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych fled Kyiv for Russia — and concludes in December 2019 — when Trump declared that his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, would write up a report about the findings of his Ukrainian investigation. “I hear he has found plenty,” said the president.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Brain Room report bears the name of Bryan Murphy, a senior political affairs specialist at Fox News. It also bears this withering assessment of John Solomon, former opinion contributor for the Hill who is responsible for setting in motion faulty story lines regarding Ukraine: “John Solomon played an indispensable role in the collection and domestic publication of elements of this disinformation campaign.” Another part of the document provides this assessment of Solomon: “Focus on stories from disinformation campaign, non-disclosure of conflicts, use of unreliable sources, publishing false and misleading stories, misrepresentation of sources, and opaque coordination with involved parties.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">That says it all. Even as it levels that critique, the Brain Room document discloses that Solomon is a “Fox News contributor.” Indeed, though Solomon appeared as a guest frequently on “Hannity” throughout the Ukraine story, he left the Hill in fall 2019 and was hired as a contributor at Fox News in October.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Not only does the research paper pummel Solomon, it cites a statistic that Solomon, over six months in 2019, “published 45 columns aimed at discrediting the Russia investigation, 12 of which focused primarily on Ukraine." Where did that statistic come from?</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Media Matters for America! Yes, Media Matters for America, the organization essentially built to take down Fox News. Media Matters for America, the organization routinely slammed on Fox News’s air. Media Matters for America, the organization that essentially forced Glenn Beck from Fox News.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">It’s a stunning juxtaposition — one that speaks to the integrity of the Brain Room report. Other faces of the Ukraine issue that surface in the report include Giuliani, the ringleader of Trump’s effort to secure an announcement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of an investigation into the Bidens, who is described as having: “High susceptibility to disinformation” from key Ukrainian actors, according to the document. Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing, a Trump-supporting husband-and-wife legal team, receive this evaluation: “Non-disclosure of financial motives and representation of [Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro] Firtash while spreading false and misleading stories.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Note: Giuliani, diGenova and Toensing appeared on “Hannity” with regularity to take the president’s side on Ukraine. All that explains, perhaps, why Hannity is making noises about a “new” deep state.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Though Fox News isn’t exactly forthcoming about its internal operations, the Brain Room isn’t a state secret. Occasionally network hosts will reference its work, as did Jesse Watters last fall, when he saw a Washington Post headline that he didn’t believe was real: “When I saw the headline afterwards, I forwarded it to our Brain Room because I thought it was an Onion” story, said Watters. There’s a great reverence among employees for the work of the room, as reflected in this comment from former host Kimberly Guilfoyle in June 2017: “Here are some doughnut facts from our Brain Room, so [they] must be true.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A 2011 story in Rolling Stone quoted a network insider as alleging that the Brain Room was where "the evil resides.” And a former network executive told Gabriel Sherman — for his biography of late Fox News chief Roger Ailes — that the room had a “Nixonian” air. That said, Sherman wrote that the “mystique” of the Brain Room faded over time as staffers realized that it was a professional operation designed to fact-check the news. It’s the Brain Room, for example, that feeds all those contextual facts that viewers see on their screens during congressional hearings and other political events.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">There’s no absence of context in the Brain Room’s Ukraine magnum opus. It has everything, including key revelations and charges against Hannity. Here’s the timeline’s entry for March 26, 2019:</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Melinda Haring, the editor of the UkraineAlert blog at the Atlantic Council and a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, writes in the Washington Post: “The mechanics of the information operation that Poroshenko’s minions pulled off are obvious. Lutsenko used Solomon to get to Hannity to get to Trump, whose Twitter feed set thousands chattering about nonexistent collusion… If a bunch of obscure foreigners few Americans have ever heard of can play Trump so easily, and so obviously, what’s to stop others from doing the same?”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> (387) David Holmes, Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, later said, “The barrage of allegations directed at Ambassador Yovanovitch, a career ambassador, is unlike any anything I have seen in my professional career.” (388)</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Here’s another, absolutely devastating entry:</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> September 26, 2019: John Solomon, Toensing, and diGenova all appear on Hannity again to discuss Shokin’s affidavit, filed at the request of Firtash’s attorneys. At no time during the program does Hannity, Toensing, and diGenova mention who requested the statement nor do they discuss that they are Firtash’s attorneys. Solomon also doesn’t mention that he shares attorneys with Firtash. diGenova says “we’ve known from the very beginning that Mr. Shokin was not a corrupt prosecutor.” (856) Later that night, President Trump tweets a clip of diGenova from Hannity.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> (857)</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">More: In an entry for Oct. 9, 2019, the Brain Room document notes that Andriy Derkach, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, had made a specific allegation regarding corruption by former vice president Joe Biden. The Kyiv Post, notes the Brain Room report, called the charge “dubious.” “Hours later, Giuliani appeared on Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News and parroted Derkach’s claim. (897).”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In an entry that footnotes reporting from the Erik Wemple Blog, the document even tosses shade on how Hannity introduces Solomon on his program:</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> May 14, 2018: The Hill’s editor-in-chief sent out a memo to staff stating that “effective immediately” John Solomon would no longer publish stories under the banner of news but instead would be an “opinion contributor.” (218) Solomon said that the choice to have his writing classified as opinion was his. During his TV appearances, Hannity has often continued to announce Solomon as an “investigative reporter” at The Hill.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">What we have here is a journalistic blowout. It is a trouncing of Hannity and his treasured contributor, Solomon — written not by some mainstream media outlet or Media Matters for America, but by Fox News itself. Turns out the network is keeping its best reporting to itself.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In a statement to the Erik Wemple Blog, Mitchell Kweit, senior vice president of the Brain Room, said: “The research division of FOX News produces a briefing book for all major stories, which serves as a standing collection of extensive data on major topics for internal use by all those in editorial functions. The Ukraine briefing book is nothing more than a comprehensive chronological account of what every person involved in the Ukraine controversy was doing at any identifiable point in time, including tracking media appearances of major players who appeared on FOX News and in many other outlets. The 200 page document has thousands of data points and the vast majority have no relation to FOX News – instead it’s now being taken out of context and politicized to damage the network.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In an interview with the Erik Wemple Blog, DiPaola commended Fox News for the separation between opinion shows and the so-called straight-news side, where he worked as a freelancer for a few months. “It did feel a lot like church and state,” he says. “They separate news from opinion pretty well.” As for the Brain Room timeline, DiPaola says, “I mean, it’s a Brain Room product, it’s meant to be unbiased. It’s evidence that Fox News Channel isn’t all bad. It’s evidence that there are honorable people working at Fox News all day.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">And it’s evidence that those honorable people understand the threat “Hannity” poses to any news organization.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Read more from Erik Wemple:</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sean Hannity and Fox News have normalized media corruption</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The comical hypocrisy of Sean Hannity</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Impeachment report hammers the Hill and John Solomon</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">John Solomon leaves behind lasting damage at the Hill</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Giuliani goes full conspiracy theory in insane ‘Fox & Friends’ appearance</div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div><div></div><div><div style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">mma 220</font></div><div style=""><p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, Donald Trump will give his first nationally televised interview with a broadcast network in seven months when he appears on Fox Broadcasting Co. before the Super Bowl. He won't face any tough questions about his abuse of power, obstruction of Congress, or anything else for that matter, because <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=76fbeba8221230d3257108771f034fccec99ce0dfa0727bc710a26b787d954d436e96da9bb4d27d44a893d690a483dfc4d7dff50f7b08af3" title="he will be interviewed">he will be interviewed</a> by Fox News host Sean Hannity, a loyal sycophant with deep ties to his administration.</p><p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Here's a brief rundown of Hannity's corruption in recent years:</p><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="margin-bottom: 1em;"><b>2016:</b> Amid a presidential campaign that saw Hannity actively using his show to boost Trump’s candidacy and promote unhinged conspiracy theories about his opponent, Hillary Clinton, Hannity endorsed Trump in a promotional video for his campaign, leading to a stern statement from Fox.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 1em;"><b>2017:</b> Hannity triggered an advertiser exodus and internal dismay when he tried to defend Trump against reports linking his campaign to Russian interference in the 2016 election by championing the Seth Rich conspiracy theory.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 1em;"><b>2018:</b> Profiles in The Washington Post and New York magazine detailed the scope of Hannity’s White House influence and regular conversations with Trump. He was revealed as a secret client of Trump’s longtime lawyer Michael Cohen, a fact the Fox host had not disclosed in his commentary on Cohen’s case. And he appeared on stage and spoke at a Trump political rally on the eve of the 2018 midterm elections.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 1em;"><b>2019:</b> Hannity was a central figure in the Ukraine disinformation plot that triggered Trump’s impeachment by the House of Representatives.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 1em;"><b>2020:</b> Documents uncovered by BuzzFeed News showed that Hannity had served as a backchannel between Trump and his associates under investigation during special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.</li></ul><p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Fox’s message is clear: When the stakes are highest and the spotlight is brightest, <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=76fbeba8221230d37041171aaf56176a9d0837885443f10af4c70d424e934fd745501b2989d09150ecc04c15343fb094f0e7d2e048df9528" title="the network produces right-wing propaganda, not journalism">the network produces right-wing propaganda, not journalism</a>.</p></div><div style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></div></div><div></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/sean-hannity-and-fox-news-are-up-to-their-hair-plugs-in-the-lev-parnas-affair/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/sean-hannity-and-fox-news-are-up-to-their-hair-plugs-in-the-lev-parnas-affair/</a></div><div>
</div><div></div><div>mma 5/18</div><div>
</div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Conservatives often bemoan liberal dominance of Hollywood. But since Donald Trump’s election, Fox News’ Sean Hannity has built the closest thing the right wing has to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the wildly successful superhero franchise. Where Marvel’s superheroes fight alien invaders, the stars of the Sean Hannity Extended Universe (SHEU) position themselves as the last bulwark against special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. But while the superheroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe fight villains like Thanos on their own, Hannity and his compatriots want to go a step further and enlist their audience to support a frightening and anti-democratic response by Trump.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b>Hannity has cast himself as his series’ Iron Man, the only visionary clear-sighted enough to identify an existential threat.</b> The sprawling team assembled around him includes bankable leads, aging stars seeking new relevance, promising new faces, and ensemble players, all <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/03/19/sean-hannity-brought-his-propaganda-fox-friends-and-donald-trump-was-thrilled/219672" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">crossing over</a> into each other’s storylines to build common narratives. Their overarching tale is that Mueller’s Russia probe is a “witch hunt,” the result of the fabrications of a shadowy cabal of journalists, Democrats, and “deep state” operatives. The happy ending they seek is the president saving himself by <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/12/08/Fox-News-is-practically-begging-Trump-to-fire-Mueller/218781" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">curtailing Mueller’s probe</a> and instead <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/01/30/The-Fox-propagandists-urging-Trump-to-criminally-investigate-Robert-Mueller/219211" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">ordering investigations</a> into his political enemies. </p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">For more about Hannity's conspiratorial narrative and the authoritarian endgame he's pushing, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/05/23/study-sean-hannity-spent-last-year-laying-groundwork-authoritarian-response-russia-probe/220281" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">see our study reviewing his coverage</a> of the first year of the Mueller probe.</p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">President Trump is simultaneously the audience for this story, the victim who needs to be saved, and, in Hannity’s telling, the potential hero. The SHEU’s proposed solution to the Mueller investigation is in line with the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/the-trumping-of-the-fbi/552641/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">authoritarian model</a> for law enforcement Trump prefers, casting the Justice Department’s function as protecting the president and punishing his enemies. Unlike Marvel fans, Trump is able not merely to watch members of the SHEU on Fox broadcasts, but to break the fourth wall and <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/06/22/donald-trump-loves-safe-space-fox-friends/216997" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">go on their</a> shows for <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-has-only-done-tv-interviews-with-his-biggest-boosters-video" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">fawning interviews</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/998537117180588033" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">highlight</a> particular <a href="https://nypost.com/2018/02/10/trump-quotes-pundit-who-says-hes-been-victimized-by-obama/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">segments</a> for his <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/997422764909912065" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Twitter followers</a>, promote their <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-promotes-hannity-comey-mueller-8418f157d708/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">programs</a> and <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/05/02/meet-gregg-jarrett-fox-news-analyst-whose-upcoming-book-trump-hawked-twitter-morning/220095" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">books</a>, and even <a href="http://theweek.com/speedreads/764792/trump-reportedly-treats-fox-news-hosts-significant-policy-legal-advisers" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">call on a select few</a> for advice.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">That might be a fanboy’s fantasy. But it has real and frightening consequences. The SHEU is reaching out from the Fox News screen and encouraging the president to act on his authoritarian impulses. Hannity and his teammates are preparing their viewers to support Trump no matter what norms he shatters. They have great power, and if Trump takes their advice, they will bear great responsibility.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">[vid]</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b>Anti-Mueller conspiracy theories have permeated <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2018/01/25/foxs-shepard-smith-debunks-nunes-memo-conspiracy-theory-hyped-fox-weapon-partisan-mass-distraction/219171" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">nearly</a> every corner of Fox. But only the true stalwarts merit inclusion in the Sean Hannity Extended Universe:</b></p><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">A weekly guest spot with the <em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700;">Fox & Friends</em> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">crew </span>helped turn Trump into a political phenomenon, and he’s remained a loyal viewer throughout his presidency. If you see Trump <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/05/trump-media-feedback-loop-216248" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">angrily tweeting</a> about the Mueller probe early in the morning, Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt, Brian Kilmeade, or one of their guests is almost certainly responsible.</p></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lou Dobbs</span>’ cable news career seemed over when his bigoted commentary <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/business/media/12dobbs.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">finally forced</a> CNN to push him out in 2009, but he soon found a new home at Fox Business. Even at Fox, he’s <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/01/25/sinister-pro-trump-propaganda-lou-dobbs/219153" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">distinguished himself</a> as a shameless pro-Trump sycophant whose calls to not just fire but jail Mueller and the FBI and Justice Department leaders who have defied Trump are genuinely unnerving.</p></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">A longtime friend of Trump’s whom he considered for a senior Justice Department position, <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Jeanine Pirro</span> has a Saturday night program that’s a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-must-see-tv-judge-jeanines-show-and-her-positive-take-on-the-president/2018/04/05/626169a8-3902-11e8-b57c-9445cc4dfa5e_story.html?utm_term=.e7181efc9d16" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">must-watch</a> for both White House aides and observers hoping to predict Trump’s messaging. She <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/03/08/insane-toxic-trump-adulation-jeanine-pirro/219577" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">drew attention</a> for her disturbing call for a “cleansing” of the FBI and DOJ and the arrests of top officials she considers insufficiently loyal to the president.</p></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Gregg Jarrett</span> spent much of his career as a marginal legal commentator and weekend Fox anchor. But he <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/07/25/donald-trumps-ideal-attorney-general-random-fox-news-anchor/217372" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">raised his profile</a> by becoming the go-to analyst for hosts like Dobbs and Hannity, who value having someone with a law degree claim that <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/05/02/meet-gregg-jarrett-fox-news-analyst-whose-upcoming-book-trump-hawked-twitter-morning/220095" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Trump’s associates are innocent</a> because collusion isn’t a crime and condemn their FBI pursuers for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/gregg-jarrett-fox-news-russia-fbi-2017-12" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">acting</a> like “the old KGB.”</p></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Jarrett’s a hack, but at least he’s Fox’s hack. Other <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/03/23/donald-trump-s-new-legal-team-comes-straight-sean-hannity-s-greenroom/219713" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">attorneys regularly called upon</a> to dismiss the investigation include Trump’s lawyer <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Jay Sekulow</span> and the husband-and-wife team of <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Victoria Toensing</span> and <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Joseph diGenova</span>, who <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/25/us/politics/trump-digenova-toensing.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">were briefly considered</a> for Trump’s legal team and have represented several figures under Mueller's investigation. All three are mainstays in the right-wing legal community -- and each has <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/04/18/84-times-hannity-did-not-mention-his-pro-trump-legal-guests-also-had-done-legal-work-him/219990" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">done legal work</a> for Hannity.</p></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Once colleagues at the <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-sean-hannitys-juiciest-blockbusters-come-from-circa-news" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">right-wing website Circa News</a>, <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">John Solomon</span> has moved on to <em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">The Hill</em> while<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;"> Sara Carter</span> is a Fox contributor who publishes her reporting at her personal blog. Their <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/05/14/Hannity-says-John-Solomon-deserves-a-Pulitzer-The-Hill-will-now-classify-his-writing-as-op/220202" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">slanted</a> <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/online/who-is-sara-carter-hannitys-go-to-reporter-on-the-real-russia-scandal/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reporting</a> based on conservative sources helps fuel anti-Mueller Fox hosts eager for information confirming their dire theories, and it garners the pair regular appearances throughout the SHEU -- and <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2018/02/07/hannity-says-people-who-appear-his-show-defend-trump-russia-probe-deserve-pulitzer-prizes/219307" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Hannity’s call</a> to award them with Pulitzer Prizes.</p></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">A former Secret Service agent, <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Dan Bongino</span> parlayed <a href="https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/who-is-dan-bongino/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">three failed bids for federal office</a> into a career as a mid-level right-wing pundit, a gig on the National Rifle Association's media operation NRATV, and regular appearances on <em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Fox & Friends</em> and <em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Hannity</em>. Keep an eye on this one -- someone willing to <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2018/05/14/fox-friends-nratvs-dan-bongino-says-russia-investigation-obvious-frame-job/220196" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">call</a> the Russia probe “an obvious frame job” could go far in this morally bankrupt movement.</p></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Sebastian Gorka</span>, who joined Fox after being canned from his poorly defined White House job after <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/25/white-house-aide-gorka-resigns-242054" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">only seven months</a>, has <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2017/10/26/sebastian-gorka-says-hillary-clinton-should-be-convicted-treason-rosenbergs-those-people-got-chair/218353" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">argued</a> that Clinton should be put to death for treason.</p></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">After spending years <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2015/10/02/meet-judicial-watch-a-driving-force-behind-the/205941" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">attacking the ethics</a> of Bill and Hillary Clinton, Judicial Watch President <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Tom Fitton</span> now uses his Fox appearances to urge Trump to <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2018/04/16/lou-dobbs-and-judicial-watchs-tom-fitton-call-trump-just-pardon-everybody-you-know-just-have-field/219964" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">pardon</a> everyone implicated by the Mueller probe and <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/12/14/why-anti-mueller-sentiment-fox-keeps-getting-worse/218855" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">describe</a> the FBI as “a KGB-type operation.”</p></li></ul></div></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/report-points-to-trump-1-as-the-ringleader-of-a-global-conspiracy/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/report-points-to-trump-1-as-the-ringleader-of-a-global-conspiracy/</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Report points to Trump, ‘-1,’ as the ringleader of a global conspiracy</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Written by John Stoehr, The Editorial Board December 4, 2019</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The House Intelligence Committee released its report Tuesday. In it were phone call records showing frequent contact between Rudy Giuliani and the White House. The records suggest in the most granular detail yet that the president of the United States is the leader of an international criminal conspiracy to defraud the American people.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But the call records do more than that. They offer a teachable moment. They provide an illustration, in miniature, of what a conspiracy looks like, and why it’s morally and legally wrong for the head of the world’s oldest democracy to engage in such conduct.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The House Intelligence report does not say Giuliani called Trump. Instead, it says the president’s personal attorney called a number designated as “-1.” Adam Schiff, the panel’s chairman, said his committee is investigating whether “-1” is Trump’s phone. The timing of calls and other strong circumstantial evidence, however, point to him.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Joe Biden announced his candidacy on April 25. Leading up to that date, Giuliani, Lev Parnas and John Solomon were in frequent contact, according to the call logs. Parnas was one of Giuliani’s henchmen. He’s now under federal indictment for campaign-finance violations. Solomon was a reporter for The Hill, a Washington newspaper.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">As mentioned in previous editions of the Editorial Board, Parnas, under Giuliani’s direction, connected Solomon to Yuriy Lutsenko. Lutsenko used to be Ukraine’s top prosecutor. He was hugely corrupt, because he was intimately linked to Vladimir Putin. In interviews with Solomon, Lutsenko alleged that Joe Biden, when he was the vice president, tried to shield his son, Hunter Biden, from criminal investigation in Ukraine (a lie) and that Ukraine, not Russia, had interfered with the 2016 presidential election (also a lie.) </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Lev Parnas was deeply involved in Solomon’s “journalism.” He was present at his interviews with Yuriy Lutsenko, according to reporting in Pro Publica.</span></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This we knew. What didn’t know was the timing.</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On the same day Joe Biden announced his presidential campaign, John Solomon wrote a falsehood-laden column “alleging that Ukraine had planted Russia collusion allegations against the Trump campaign,” according to the Post. “The column also described Biden’s efforts to oust a Ukrainian prosecutor and questioned whether Biden had acted to protect his son Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company facing an investigation, as the fired prosecutor has alleged.”</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Coincidence? Unlikely.</font></div><div style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">
</font></div><div style=""><font style=""><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The very same day, April 25, Giuliani received a call from “-1” (i.e., Trump). Giuliani then called Sean Hannity at Fox</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. A while later, Trump appeared on Hannity’s show to comment on Solomon’s report in The Hill. “That sounds like big, big stuff,” he said.</span></b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">It could have been a coincidence, but again, unlikely. As I noted last week, Parnas’ attorney said he met regularly with the “BLT Team,” a name taken from the restaurant where the group convened several times a week on the second floor of the Trump International Hotel in Washington. The BLT team included Parnas, Giuliani, Solomon, attorneys<b> Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing, and US Rep. Devin Nunes’ chief aide.</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Coincidence isn’t the right word to describe a president’s dirty lawyer getting a dirty prosecutor to tell a dirty reporter the president’s Democratic rival is dirty, and then getting a dirty TV host to ask the president to comment on the dirty reporter’s dirt.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The right word to describe all that is conspiracy.</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Which can be criminal. Paul Manafort, the president’s former campaign chief, is now serving time in federal prison for defrauding the United States. Legally, conspiracy doesn’t require an underlying crime. Prosecutors were only required to show Manafort conspired to “impair or obstruct the lawful function of any part of the government.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">I don’t know if the president’s conduct meets a statutory standard. I do think it meets a political one. Trump, as “-1,” is the ringleader of a global conspiracy to defraud the American people of their right to consent to his leadership. There is no such thing as legitimate consent when presidents collude with enemies foreign and domestic to obstruct the free and fair process by which all Americans exercise self-governance.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This is a giant of a scandal. It dwarfs Watergate. It boggles the mind of ordinary Americans to contemplate the wide array of seedy underworld characters involved in a vast global conspiracy. (Another side of this involves another dirty former Ukrainian prosecutor who did a favor for a Ukrainian mobster fighting extradition to the US. Dmitry Firtash, the mobster, got Viktor Shokin, the prosecutor, to say Biden was dirty. That won<b> Giuliani’s attention. His friends diGenova and Toensing went to the US Department of Justice to plead with the US attorney general to go easy on Firtash.)</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">As I said, giant.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><font style=""><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But these call logs bring the vastness of the conspiracy down to a human scale. Donald Trump talked to Giuliani, who talked to Parnas, who talked to Lutsenko, who talked to Solomon, who talked to Giuliani, who talked to </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Hannity,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> who talked to Donald Trump.</span></b></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/fox-news-commentator-sean-hannity-appears-to-be-knee-deep-in-trumps-ukraine-scandal-despite-his-profusive-denials">https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/fox-news-commentator-sean-hannity-appears-to-be-knee-deep-in-trumps-ukraine-scandal-despite-his-profusive-denials</a></div><div>
</div><div><div>no lnx</div><div>RUMPRELIGIOUS RIGHT#METOOGO AD FREE!MAKE A ONE-TIME DONATION</div><div>Fox News commentator Sean Hannity appears to be knee-deep in Trump’s Ukraine scandal — despite his profuse denials</div><div>Image via Screengrab.</div><div>Written by Igor Derysh / Salon November 20, 2019</div><div>Fox News host Sean Hannity raved that he never spoke with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about ousted Ukrainian Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch after a third witness confirmed the alleged call to impeachment investigators.</div><div>
</div><div>David Hale, the undersecretary of State for political affairs, testified under oath that Yovanovitch was the victim of a baseless smear campaign led by Rudy Giuliani, the personal attorney of President Donald Trump, which led to her ouster. According to a transcript of the closed-door deposition released Monday, the smears originally stemmed from the conservative columnist John Solomon, who wrote in The Hill that former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko had claimed that Yovanovitch gave him a “do not prosecute list.” Lutsenko later retracted that claim.</div><div>
</div><div>Hale, the third-ranking official at the department, claimed to impeachment investigators that Hannity had pushed the same narrative on Fox News and that Pompeo had reached out to Trump’s favorite host.</div><div>
</div><div>“It did come up at some point with the secretary,” Hale said. “I understood that he did call Sean Hannity.”</div><div>
</div><div>Hale testified that Pompeo told Hannity, “I need to see what the evidence is.”</div><div>
</div><div>The State official added that no one at the department believed the allegations against Yovanovitch, though officials did not act to prevent her ouster.</div><div>
</div><div>Hale’s testimony is backed up by both Yovanovitch and George Kent, another senior State Department official.</div><div>
</div><div>Yovanovitch testified at her closed-door deposition that she was told Pompeo “was going to place a call to Mr. Hannity on Fox News to say, you know, ‘What is going on? I mean, do you have proof of these kinds of allegations or not? And if you have proof, you know, tell me, and if not, stop.’”</div><div>
</div><div>“I understand that that call was made,” she added. “I don’t know whether it was the secretary of somebody else in his inner circle, and for a time, you know, things kind of simmered down.”</div><div>
</div><div>Kent testified under oath that Solomon’s report was “primarily non-truths and non-sequiturs.”</div><div>
</div><div>Kent testified that a top official at the State Department reached out to Hannity but said it may not have been Pompeo.</div><div>
</div><div>“I believe, to the best of my recollection, the counselor for the department, Ulrich Brechbuhl, reached out and suggested to Mr.Hannity that if there was no proof of the allegations, that he should stop covering them,” Kent said.</div><div>
</div><div>Hannity previously called Yovanovitch’s testimony “fake news” and claimed that he did not “know anything about this woman.”</div><div>
</div><div>The host went off on his Fox News show Monday after Hale’s testimony was released.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Report Advertisement</div><div>“So apparently David Hale’s testimony was released a short time ago, and he says in the transcript it was his understanding that Pompeo called me to ask you what evidence you had of allegations regarding Yovanovitch,” Hannity told guest Gregg Jarrett. “Gregg, how many times do I have to say it? We barely mentioned this woman! Four times in passing. No, I never got a call from Secretary of State Pompeo or anybody else. Why would they lie about this?”</div><div>
</div><div>“You are being smeared,” replied Jarrett, the network’s legal analyst. “Donald Trump has been smeared for three years.”</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Acyn Torabi</div><div>@Acyn</div><div>Sean Hannity addresses David Hale’s testimony by reiterating the same denial and asking “why would they lie about this”</div><div>
</div><div>Gregg Jarrett says Hannity is being smeared </div><div>
</div><div>The testimony Hannity is denying was given under oath while Hannity’s denials are not</div><div>
</div><div>Embedded video</div><div>
</div><div>Even as he called Yovanovitch’s testimony “fake news” earlier this month, Hannity conceded that “her name came up a few times on the show” and that he “did ask one question about a news report if she was involved in something.”</div><div>
</div><div>“It was a question,” he said, “We do news here.” (While his show appears on Fox News, Hannity is a political commentator.)</div><div>
</div><div>Hannity referenced Solomon’s report, which has not been retracted despite his main source walking back his comments. Solomon was a frequent guest on Hannity’s show. The question Hannity mentioned was to attorney Joe diGenova, who Trump wanted to add to his legal team. DiGenova played his own role in Trump’s Ukraine saga and received an advance copy of Solomon’s reporting linking the State Department’s work in Ukraine to billionaire Democratic donor George Soros.</div><div>
</div><div>Shortly after Kent testified publicly, diGenova was back on Fox airwaves pushing the baseless Soros conspiracy theory.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>“There’s no doubt that George Soros controls a very large part of the career foreign service of the United States State Department,” he told Fox host Lou Dobbs. “He also controls the activities of FBI agents overseas who work for NGOs — work with NGOs. That was very evident in Ukraine, and Kent was part of that. He was a very big protector of Soros.”</div><div>
</div><div>Soros’ Open Society Foundations ripped the network for airing diGenova’s conspiracy theory in a letter to Fox News head Suzanne Scott.</div><div>
</div><div>“It is bad enough that Mr. Dobbs continues to repeat the widely discredited reporting of John Solomon . . . that has been debunked by the U.S. State Department and recanted by Mr. Solomon’s main source,” the letter said, adding that diGenova’s comment was “beyond rhetorical ugliness, beyond fiction, beyond ludicrous. It’s patently untrue; it’s not even possible. This is McCarthyite.”</div><div>
</div></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">omg this could finish djt? 10/18/19</p><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/john-solomon/how-conservative-writer-john-solomon-served-conduit-rudy-giulianis-ukraine-conspiracy" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.mediamatters.org/john-solomon/how-conservative-writer-john-solomon-served-conduit-rudy-giulianis-ukraine-conspiracy</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">At the center of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump lies a disinformation campaign led by his personal attorney</span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> Rudy Giuliani</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> that was aided and abetted by conservative writer John Solomon. Through Solomon, Giuliani injected his disinformation campaign straight into the heart of conservative media -- Fox News -- with seemingly full knowledge of at least some at Fox. And eventually, Solomon </span><a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/john-solomon-to-join-fox-news-as-contributor" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">landed</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> a job at the network.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;">It is now known that Trump <a href="https://www.axios.com/timeline-trump-ukraine-investigation-2e91c79c-d33e-45c4-b78f-6b34bf597e5d.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">blessed</a> Giuliani to run a shadow foreign policy campaign in Ukraine, in which he sought information that would undermine the intelligence community's findings that Russia interfered in our 2016 election to benefit Trump. Giuliani was also trying to dig up dirt to smear former Vice President Joe Biden, a front-runner to challenge Trump in the 2020 election. </p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;">Much attention has focused on Giuliani’s actions and the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/10/us/politics/rudy-giuliani-ukraine-associates.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">shady cast of characters</a> he worked with, but less has been paid to the right-wing media figures who colluded with the president’s lawyer to make his smear campaign public -- a plan that came dangerously close to succeeding. </p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;">What follows is a case study in how right-wing media work hand in hand with Trump cronies to smear his enemies, undermine democracy, and defend the president at all costs. </p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;">Here’s how it went down.</p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Key Takeaways</h2></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;">Rudy Giuliani, working with con men and Trump cronies, pursued an “investigation” in Ukraine that he claimed showed both Ukrainian collusion with Democrats in 2016 and evidence that then-Vice President Joe Biden acted corruptly in Ukraine to benefit his son.</p></li><li dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;">In March, Giuliani sent the results of his investigation to the State Department to be investigated and to conservative columnist John Solomon. </p></li><li dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;">The same month, Solomon began publishing a series of columns that mirrored the sourcing and claims Giuliani made in his State Department dossier.</p></li><li dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;">Over the next six months, Solomon published 45 columns aimed at discrediting the Russia investigation, 12 of which focused primarily on Ukraine. </p></li><li dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;">During that same time period, Solomon appeared on Fox News or Fox Business at least 72 times. </p></li><li dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;">Fifty-one of those appearances were on <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hannity</em>, whose host dutifully promoted Solomon’s scoops and wove them into his ever-evolving conspiracy theory that deep state elements in the government have been plotting to overthrow Trump.</p></li><li dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;">On October 5, John Solomon landed a job at Fox.</p></li></ul></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Key players</h2></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Rudy Giuliani</strong> -- the president’s personal attorney who has traveled around the globe attempting to dig up dirt on Democrats and discredit the Russia investigation on Trump’s behalf.</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Lev Parnas</strong> and <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Igor Fruman</strong> -- two Soviet-born <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article235626327.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">con men</a> with ties to Ukraine who worked with Giuliani to <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/mikesallah/rudy-giuliani-ukraine-trump-parnas-fruman" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">concoct</a> the disinformation campaign and to get the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/why-lev-parnas-worked-for-rudy-giuliani-and-donald-trump" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">fired</a>, reportedly in the hopes of advancing their business interests in the country. The two have since been <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/two-foreign-born-men-who-helped-giuliani-on-ukraine-arrested-on-campaign-finance-charges-11570714188" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">arrested</a> for campaign finance violations related to making allegedly illegal campaign donations to Republican candidates and committees, as well as a pro-Trump super PAC. They also reportedly <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-whistleblower-firtash/indicted-giuliani-associate-worked-on-behalf-of-ukrainian-oligarch-firtash-idUSKBN1WQ2H5" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">worked</a> for Dmitry Firtash.</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-6be9c6ab-7fff-c298-54ef-65a76d55d209" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Dmitry Firtash</b> -- a Ukrainian pro-Russian oligarch and former <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/doj-ex-manafort-associate-firtash-top-tier-comrade-russian-mobsters-n786806" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">business </a>associate of Paul Manafort who is in Austria fighting extradition to the United States to face charges <a href="https://abc7chicago.com/politics/giuliani-aide-linked-to-rich-ukrainian-fighting-extradition-to-chicago-/5612232/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">related</a> to a bribery conspiracy. At the same time Parnas and Fruman were working with Giuliani, the two were <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/ukrainian-oligarch-firtash-linked-giuliani-pals-gas-deals-biden-dirt-n1067516" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reportedly</a> also working on Firtash’s behalf to push for the removal of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine as part of a plan to install new leadership at Ukraine’s Naftogaz gas company. Part of this plan reportedly would have included <b>Naftogaz paying “Firtash a debt of more than $200 million that Firtash believes he is owed by the company</b>.” NBC reported that while this was happening, Firtash “was playing a key role in the effort by Parnas, Fruman, and Giuliani to hunt for dirt on Donald Trump's political opponents in Ukraine.”</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Victoria Toensing</strong> and <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Joe diGenova</strong></span> --<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> two attorneys closely tied to Trump who also worked with Giuliani to support his efforts in Ukraine. The duo are known for their role in <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/donald-trumps-new-legal-team-comes-straight-sean-hannitys-greenroom" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">bolstering conspiracy theories</a> about the Russia investigation and at one point were considered to join Trump’s personal legal team. The two quietly <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-23/trump-friendly-lawyers-join-legal-team-of-ukraine-s-firtash" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">represent</a> Dmitry Firtash in fighting his extradition to the United States. They <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/two-foreign-born-men-who-helped-giuliani-on-ukraine-arrested-on-campaign-finance-charges-11570714188" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">hired</a> Parnas as an “interpreter” to work with them on the Firtash case while Parnas was also working with Giuliani.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">John Solomon</strong> -- a conservative columnist who until recently was the executive vice president of The Hill. Solomon was the conduit through which Giuliani, Parnas, Toensing and diGenova planted their stories in order to spread their coordinated disinformation campaign through the media.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Sean Hannity</strong> -- Fox News host who is close to Trump and worked with Giuliani to make his show an integral part of their media strategy, providing a place where they could sow the seeds of the smear campaign against Biden. Giuliani and Hannity discussed this strategy in January, and Solomon became a staple on Hannity’s prime-time programming.</font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">The plan</h2></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><b>According to Parnas, his friendship with Giuliani <a href="https://www.whqr.org/post/meet-businessman-helping-giuliani-find-dirt-democrats-ukraine#stream/0" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">began</a> two years ago as they were running in similar political circles and attending the same events. In late 2018, Parnas and Fruman began connecting Giuliani to a network of disgraced former and current Ukrainian officials and prosecutors to dig up dirt on Biden and the 2016 election.</b> </p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The conspiracy theory they <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/rudys-big-plan-to-defend-trump-on-ukraine-play-the-george-soros-card?ref=author" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">concocted</a> went like this: Ukrainian officials worked with Democrats to find dirt on Trump’s one-time campaign manager Paul Manafort in order to damage Trump. They did so, Giuliani claimed, by fabricating the “black ledger” that showed that Manafort had received millions of dollars from the former pro-Russia Ukrainian ruling party that had been recently overthrown. The revelation of this ledger helped <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/20/us/politics/paul-manafort-resigns-donald-trump.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">force</a> Manafort’s resignation from Trump’s campaign, and Manafort was eventually <a href="https://www.apnews.com/7f967313552c4f7fb56c9c1a1cfbb97a" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">prosecuted and convicted</a> of a wide range of crimes as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian electoral interference in the 2016 election. </font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In addition, according to Giuliani’s <a href="http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1909/19/CPT.01.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">conspiracy theory</a>, the Ukrainian Embassy was working with Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and in return, the American Embassy and the Obama administration actively blocked investigations in Ukraine that Giuliani claims targeted Democrats’ political allies. <b>As with most conspiracy theories on the right, George Soros is involved in this one too.</b> The theory posits that a Ukrainian good governance, anti-corruption group -- the Anticorruption Action Centre (AntAC) -- was involved in framing Manafort and was corruptly tied to an FBI agent who was investigating Manafort. Giuliani also claims that an investigation into the group was shut down due to U.S. pressure and that the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/top-state-department-official-expected-to-face-questions-about-ukraine-and-giuliani/2019/10/14/8ba23d18-eeca-11e9-b2da-606ba1ef30e3_story.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">provided</a> Ukrainian officials with a “do not prosecute” list that included people linked to AntAC. As a bonus, through the “investigation,” Giuliani claims to have been presented with evidence that then-Vice President Biden acted corruptly by withholding U.S. aid to force the resignation of a Ukrainian prosecutor investigating his son.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><b>Nothing about this conspiracy theory is true.</b> First, there’s no evidence that the infamous “black ledger” was fraudulent, and several payments listed in the document have been <a href="https://www.occrp.org/en/investigations/meet-the-florida-duo-helping-giuliani-dig-dirt-for-trump-in-ukraine" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">confirmed</a> to be accurate. The Intercept <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/09/22/reporters-stop-helping-donald-trump-spread-lies-joe-biden-ukraine/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reported</a>: “Sergii Leshchenko, a former investigative journalist and reformist member of parliament who helped publicize the off-the-books payments” said that “Giuliani ‘is a liar’ for saying that the black ledger was a forgery. ‘It is a real document, with real signatures,’ Leshchenko said in a telephone interview, explaining that it had been examined by Ukrainian law enforcement experts.” Giuliani seems to have adopted the false claim about the ledger from Manafort, whose legal team has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/giuliani-consulted-on-ukraine-with-imprisoned-paul-manafort-via-a-lawyer/2019/10/02/7a6dc542-e486-11e9-b7da-053c79b03db8_story.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">embraced</a> it since 2017 and whom Guiliani has been meeting with to discuss the materials. </p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;">As for Giuliani’s claims that investigations into AntAC were dropped due to political pressure, the State Department has <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/giuliani-says-state-dept-vowed-investigate-after-he-gave-ukraine-n1061931" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">called</a> claims of a so-called “do not prosecute” list “complete poppycock.” And an investigation into the group’s handling of foreign aid money was widely believed to be <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/09/22/reporters-stop-helping-donald-trump-spread-lies-joe-biden-ukraine/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">politically motivated</a> <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/rudys-big-plan-to-defend-trump-on-ukraine-play-the-george-soros-card?ref=author" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">retaliation</a> for the group’s anti-corruption work. Finally, while Biden did pressure Ukraine to fire a prosecutor who was roundly criticized for blocking corruption investigations, there’s no evidence that he did so to benefit his son. In reality, the push to get the prosecutor in question, Viktor Shokin, fired was a part of an <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/66101/trump-and-giulianis-quest-for-fake-ukraine-dirt-on-biden-an-explainer/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">anti-corruption effort</a> by advocates and international supporters of Ukraine. The United States’ well-established position was that ousting Shokin was a critical aspect of anti-corruption measures. The investigation into the energy company whose board included Hunter Biden was long dormant, and Hunter Biden was never the subject of the investigation. </p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Nonetheless, Giuliani <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/giuliani-ukrainians-brought-me-substantial-evidence-of-collusion-with-hillary-clinton-other-top-democrats" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">says</a> he completed his “investigation” in March and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/giuliani-says-state-dept-vowed-investigate-after-he-gave-ukraine-n1061931" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">sent</a> his findings to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/02/politics/state-department-inspector-general-briefing-congress/index.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">understanding</a> that Pompeo would investigate. (NBCNews.com, however, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/giuliani-says-state-dept-vowed-investigate-after-he-gave-ukraine-n1061931" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reported</a>: “A source with knowledge of the events said ... that Pompeo never promised Rudy Giuliani that he would investigate the contents of the envelope or anything related to Ukraine.”) Giuliani also <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/11/us/politics/rudy-giuliani-investigation.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">sent</a> the materials to Solomon.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><b>NBCNews.com <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/giuliani-says-state-dept-vowed-investigate-after-he-gave-ukraine-n1061931" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">obtained</a> a copy of the documents that Giuliani sent to the State Department in March and reported that they contained “a glimpse of an intricate media strategy to spread the story including segments being placed on Fox News.</b>”<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> NBC said the “documents also show that Giuliani, through conservative writer John <b>Solomon’s columns in The Hill, attempted to tie former ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch to the liberal donor George Soros</b> as part of a massive conspiracy to take down Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort and help Hillary Clinton win the 2016 election.” The materials Giuliani sent included interview notes from interviews he conducted with then-current and former Ukrainian prosecutors that “paint the picture of the narrative that Giuliani has been pushing involving the Bidens.”</span></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">The media strategy</h2></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Giuliani and associates feed story to Solomon</h4></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Around the same time Giuliani sent his packet of materials to the State Department, he also sent the materials to Solomon, who began reporting on its contents through the opinion pages of The Hill without identifying the materials as having originated with Giuliani</span>. Solomon’s writing for some time <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/leaked-memo-colleagues-unload-on-john-solomon-the-reporter-who-kicked-off-trumps-ukraine-conspiracy" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">had focused</a> heavily around trying to discredit the Mueller investigation and the notion that Russia meddled into the 2016 elections to help Trump. On March 20, he <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/435029-as-russia-collusion-fades-ukrainian-plot-to-help-clinton-emerges" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">published</a> the first of many scoops specifically related to Ukraine’s involvement in this effort. Over the next six months, Solomon published 45 columns aimed at discrediting the Russia investigation, 12 of which primarily focused on Ukraine. </p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><b>In his reporting, Solomon spelled out Giuliani’s conspiracy theory in detail. For instance:</b></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;">He reported that Ukrainian officials <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/437719-ukrainian-to-us-prosecutors-why-dont-you-want-our-evidence-on-democrats" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">claimed</a> to have “evidence of wrongdoing by American Democrats and their allies in Kiev, ranging from 2016 election interference to obstructing criminal probes,” at least some of it <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/436816-joe-bidens-2020-ukrainian-nightmare-a-closed-probe-is-revived" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">related</a> to Biden. </p></li><li dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;">Solomon <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/437719-ukrainian-to-us-prosecutors-why-dont-you-want-our-evidence-on-democrats" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reported</a> that these officials tried to “deliver their evidence to Washington” but were unable because the American ambassador (Yovanovitch) “blocked” them “from obtaining a visa” to the U.S. </p></li><li dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;">He weaved an elaborate story about Americans working with Ukrainians to dig up dirt on Trump’s one-time 2016 campaign manager Manafort, in order to damage Trump. </p></li><li dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;">He <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/449206-fbi-warned-early-and-often-that-manafort-file-might-be-fake-used-it-anyway" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">claimed</a> that the infamous “black ledger” that showed Manafort had received millions in undisclosed payments from Ukrainian officials was fabricated and<a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/440730-how-the-obama-white-house-engaged-ukraine-to-give-russia-collusion" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;"> released</a> to damage Trump. He also <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/440730-how-the-obama-white-house-engaged-ukraine-to-give-russia-collusion" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">suggested</a> that in January 2016, Obama’s Department of Justice pressured Ukraine to help the department investigate Manafort in response to Trump’s rise in popularity in the Republican primary race (Manafort did not join the Trump campaign until March 2016). </p></li><li dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">He <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/456619-george-soross-secret-2016-access-to-state-exposes-big-money-hypocrisy-of-democrats" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">strongly suggested</a> that the Obama State Department pressured Ukrainian officials to drop an investigation into a Ukrainian good governance group linked to Soros because Soros backed Clinton. </font></p></li><li dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;">He also <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/435906-us-embassy-pressed-ukraine-to-drop-probe-of-george-soros-group-during-2016" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">claimed</a> the U.S. ambassador’s “do not prosecute” list included people related to this organization, and he strained to <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/435906-us-embassy-pressed-ukraine-to-drop-probe-of-george-soros-group-during-2016" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">link</a> the group to the Manafort investigation by claiming that an FBI agent involved in the investigation is tied to the same group.</p></li><li dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;">And, of course, he <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/436816-joe-bidens-2020-ukrainian-nightmare-a-closed-probe-is-revived" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">claimed </a>that Biden withheld a billion dollars worth of U.S. aid to shut down an investigation into Burisma Holdings and Biden’s son Hunter through his position on the company’s board.</p></li></ul></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><b>Solomon’s reporting relies heavily on the sources <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Giuliani</span> fed him.</b> In an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/in-gambit-for-trump-giuliani-engaged-parade-of-ukrainian-prosecutors/2019/09/26/4d3dc72e-e072-11e9-8fd3-d943b4ed57e0_story.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">interview</a> with The Washington Post, Giuliani named three current and former Ukrainian prosecutors as persons he interviewed, specifically <b>former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin</b>, then-Ukrainian <b>Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko,</b> and Nazar Kholodnytsky, head of Ukraine’s Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.<b> </b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Giuliani is also <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/giuliani-meets-with-former-diplomat-as-he-continues-to-press-ukraine-inquiries/2019/05/24/faf59e0c-7e64-11e9-a66c-d36e482aa873_story.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">known</a> to have met with a former Ukrainian diplomat named Andrii Telizhenko and is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/15/world/europe/ukraine-prosecutor-biden-trump.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">linked</a> to Kostiantyn Kulyk -- Lutsenko’s deputy who was <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2019/09/27/giuliani-trump-ukraine-005098" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">indicted</a> on corruption charges in 2016.</b> Eight of the twelve columns Solomon wrote on the topic featured at least one of these five sources.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">At least three of Solomon’s columns feature information meant to undermine the validity of the Russia investigation that may have been leaked from the Ukrainian pro-Russia oligarch Dmitry Firtash’s legal team, which included </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">diGenova and Toensing. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Toensing and diGenova</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> </span><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/03/ukraine-scandal-digenova-toensing-022049" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">have been working</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> with Firtash since at least July -- and indeed Solomon published an </span><a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/454185-how-mueller-deputy-andrew-weissmanns-offer-to-an-oligarch-could-boomerang" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">entire column</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> in July based exclusively off material and anonymous sources from Firtash’s legal team. They appear to have been involved with his case much earlier than July, though. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;">Included in the material Giuliani sent to the State Department is <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/biden-ukraine-dirt-file-has-private-email-between-john-solomon-and-rudy-allies" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">a March 26 email</a> from Solomon -- titled “Fwd: Outline of <b>Soros</b> reporting, including embedded documents” -- in which <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Solomon forwarded a draft of his article before it was published to the same three people working with Giuliani who are also known to have been working with Firtash -- Parnas, Toensing, and diGenova</span>.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> The <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/435906-us-embassy-pressed-ukraine-to-drop-probe-of-george-soros-group-during-2016" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">column</a> was the first of three that mentioned Firtash, and it attempted to tie AntAC -- and through it Soros -- “to highly visible U.S. actions against the oligarch Dmitri Firtash, a major target of the Soros group, and Manafort.” Solomon repeated the suggestion in his August 7 <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/456619-george-soross-secret-2016-access-to-state-exposes-big-money-hypocrisy-of-democrats" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">column</a> on Soros’ “secret 2016 access” to State Department officials. In a fourth <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/463307-solomon-these-once-secret-memos-cast-doubt-on-joe-bidens-ukraine-story" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">column</a>, Solomon reported on an affidavit of a former Ukrainian prosecutor that he exclusively received. The <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/427618359/Shokin-Statement" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">affidavit</a> was prepared “at the request of lawyers acting for Dmitry Firtash … for use in legal proceedings in Austria.”</span></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Solomon brings the conspiracy theory to Fox</h4></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The next stage in the plan involved Solomon taking his “scoop” to Fox News, specifically to Sean</span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Hannity. From March 20 -- when Solomon published his first story on the Ukraine conspiracy theory -- through October 2, Solomon appeared on Fox News or Fox Business at least 72 times.</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Fifty-one of those appearances were on <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hannity</em>, whose host dutifully promoted Solomon’s scoops and wove them into his ever-evolving conspiracy theory that “deep state” elements in the government have been plotting to overthrow Trump. Giuliani also appeared on those networks frequently, clocking in at least 64 appearances on Fox News and Fox Business during that time period. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Toensing and diGenova appeared over 75 times on the two networks during this period.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The fact that they were working together on these stories, or -- in the case of Toensing and diGenova -- that they were legally representing Firtash, was certainly not transparent to viewers. In perhaps the most egregious example, on the September 26 <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/nunes-compares-ukraine-call-hysteria-to-russia-hoax" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">episode</a> of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hannity</em>, Hannity hosted Solomon to report on an <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/427618359/Shokin-Statement" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">affidavit</a> he obtained from the disgraced prosecutor Shokin, who claimed he was forced to resign to stop the investigation into the company connected to Hunter Biden. Hannity then hosted diGenova and Toensing to discuss it, and the two hailed the affidavit as proof of their conspiracy theory and declared it would “shoot a hole in” Biden’s defense. </font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">However, the <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/427618359/Shokin-Statement" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">affidavit</a> states that it was prepared “at the request of lawyers acting for Dmitry Firtash … for use in legal proceedings in Austria.” In other words, diGenova and Toensing were part of the legal team that produced the affidavit that Solomon later exclusively obtained, wrote up, and then took to Hannity -- a fact not mentioned by any of them. Giuliani has since repeatedly <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/transcript-rudy-giuliani-on-face-the-nation-september-29-2019/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">referenced</a> this affidavit in numerous media appearances to support his claims about Biden’s alleged corruption. </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><b>Hannity repeatedly gave clues suggesting he knew the full range of stories Solomon would be reporting.</b> For instance, despite the fact that Solomon’s March 20 column did not mention Biden or corruption, Hannity teased on his radio show that day that “I just happen to have a little birdie telling me in my ear that, well, Joe Biden may have an issue here that is bigger than anything ever alleged about Donald Trump.” On September 23, Hannity and Giuliani <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/pence-calls-out-the-assume-the-worst-media-after-whistleblower-complaint" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">admitted</a> to having talked about the Biden Ukraine story as early as January.</p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">The payoff</h2></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Giuliani repeatedly touted and praised Solomon’s “blockbuster” reporting.</b> He has at least twice opined that Solomon should “get a Pulitzer Prize” and has taken to Twitter to sing Solomon’s praises:</font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--twitter-tweet paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="field field--name-field-twitter-tweet field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;">Hannity, too, repeatedly <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/sen-graham-on-democrats-calls-for-trumps-impeachment" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">praised</a> Solomon’s “great reporting” as he hyped Solomon’s columns. He regularly <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/philadelphia-residents-taunt-police-officers-during-standoff" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">described</a> Solomon as a “friend” of the program and <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/lara-trump-biden-has-realized-he-needs-to-move-farther-left-to-fit-in-with-new-democrats" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">declared</a> that mainstream news outlets, like The New York Times, “peddled lies, conspiracy theories and hoax[es]” about the Russia investigation whereas Solomon “was right” all along. On April 25, Hannity asked Trump about Solomon’s and others' reporting around the Russia investigation, and the president <a href="https://factba.se/transcript/donald-trump-interview-sean-hannity-fox-telephone-april-25-2019" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">replied</a>: “These are great reporters. … These are people that should be getting Pulitzers.” Trump added, “These are the ones that should be winning. It sounds like big stuff. It sounds very interesting with Ukraine.” </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box;"><b>Solomon’s efforts paid off. On October 5, Fox News <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/john-solomon-to-join-fox-news-as-contributor" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">confirmed</a> that John Solomon had joined the network as a contributor.</b> During his first appearance on Hannity as an official Fox News employee, Hannity <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/lara-trump-donald-trump-will-win-in-2020-because-american-people-are-winning" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">said</a>: “John Solomon, welcome to the family. It’s been a long time coming, sir.”</p></div></div></div><div></div></div></div></div><div>=</div><div>
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</div><div>REPORT: ACORN OBSESSION: Beck, Hannity obsess over ACORN while virtually ignoring major corruption scandals</div><div>WRITTEN BY MEDIA MATTERS STAFF</div><div>
</div><div>PUBLISHED 09/23/09 4:33 PM EDT</div><div>
</div><div>In light of the recent attention Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity have devoted to a supposed corruption scandal involving ACORN, Media Matters for America reviewed the coverage each host has provided on his respective television programs to a selection of well-documented political scandals and instances of corruption by companies that have received thousands of times more money from the government than ACORN has in the past 15 years. Our findings show that both hosts have been obsessed with ACORN, devoting a massively disproportionate amount of attention to the story in comparison to their coverage of controversies involving military contractors that have received billions of dollars in federal contracts and instances of Republican corruption at the highest levels of the U.S. government. Furthermore, since Beck joined Fox News, the amount of attention he has devoted to ACORN has skyrocketed, while his interest in other corruption scandals has remained limited.</div><div>
</div><div>Key findings</div><div>Number of times Beck's and Hannity's programs, combined, referenced ACORN, Abramoff, Blackwater, and Halliburton/KBR from May 8, 2006, to September 18, 2009 (NOTE: For the purposes of this study, a “reference” is defined as the specified topic having been mentioned by either a host or a guest on the program being studied.):</div><div>
</div><div>ACORN: 1,502</div><div>Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH): 62</div><div>Blackwater/Xe: 4</div><div>Halliburton/KBR: 43</div><div>Conclusions:</div><div>
</div><div>Beck's and Hannity's programs were approximately 35 times more likely to reference ACORN than any of the military contractors.</div><div>Beck's and Hannity's programs were approximately 24 times more likely to reference ACORN than either Abramoff or Ney.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>The numbers are equally shocking for each show individually:</div><div>
</div><div>Beck's programs were approximately 50 times more likely to reference ACORN than any of the military contractors and approximately 149 times more likely to discuss ACORN than either Abramoff or Ney.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Hannity's programs were approximately 18 times more likely to reference ACORN than any of the military contractors and approximately eight times more likely to discuss ACORN than either Abramoff or Ney.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>What a difference Fox News makes -- after leaving CNN's Headline News and joining Fox in January, Beck's focus on ACORN skyrocketed, while his disinterest in major corruption scandals continued:</div><div>
</div><div>References to ACORN on Beck's Headline News program:</div><div>
</div><div>ACORN</div><div>
</div><div>Abramoff/Ney</div><div>
</div><div>Blackwater/Xe</div><div>
</div><div>Halliburton/KBR</div><div>
</div><div>43</div><div>
</div><div>7</div><div>
</div><div>2</div><div>
</div><div>11</div><div>
</div><div>References to ACORN on Beck's Fox News program:</div><div>
</div><div>ACORN</div><div>
</div><div>Abramoff/Ney</div><div>
</div><div>Blackwater/Xe</div><div>
</div><div>Halliburton/KBR</div><div>
</div><div>1,002</div><div>
</div><div>0</div><div>
</div><div>0</div><div>
</div><div>8</div><div>
</div><div>Reporting on ACORN, Beck and Hannity claim to be concerned with government waste and corruption</div><div>Beck implores viewers to “take a stand” because "[t]his is clear-cut, unadulterated, taxpayer-funded corruption" at ACORN due to its receipt of government funding. On the September 15 edition of his Fox News program, Beck aired portions of an undercover video at a California ACORN office and stated (from the Nexis database):</div><div>
</div><div>BECK: I am just asking you this -- please, take a stand. Take a stand. This is clear-cut, unadulterated, taxpayer-funded corruption. You love your children. You love your country just like I do. You must understand that what you've been seeing from ACORN on these tapes this past week isn't compassion, it's corruption!</div><div>
</div><div>I'm asking you -- demand a full investigation from your representatives of everybody -- ACORN, all the way to the top, everybody in government, all the way to the top, in your cities, and in our nation. And until that corruption is brought under control, we must quarantine Washington, D.C. -- no legislation must come out of it.</div><div>
</div><div>Hannity: “The only question that remains is, will this keep ACORN from receiving our tax dollars?” From the September 16 edition of Hannity (from Nexis):</div><div>
</div><div>HANNITY: Now the employees in five separate ACORN offices have now showed themselves willing to aid and in some cases participate in child prostitution. Now predictably, ACORN is retaliating by attacking the individuals who exposed them and threatening them with lawsuits.</div><div>
</div><div>But the videos, they speak for themselves. The only question that remains is, will this keep ACORN from receiving our tax dollars?</div><div>
</div><div>And here with reaction is the author of the best-selling book, “Culture of Corruption,” Michelle Malkin is back with us.</div><div>
</div><div>You know, if you look at the money and follow the money, tens and tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to date, Michelle. And if you add the stimulus, you're looking, you know, at potentially $8.5 billion more. So there are -- there is an effort in Congress to stop it. Will it be successful?</div><div>
</div><div>MICHELLE MALKIN, “THE CULTURE OF CORRUPTION” AUTHOR: Well, it already has, in some measure. And I think that cutting off ACORN from the Census Bureau partnerships was a big first step, and then of course in the Senate cutting off transportation and HUD appropriations money from ACORN and all of its affiliates.</div><div>
</div><div>I think that's very important. I called up Senator Mike Johan's office the other day just to clarify and make sure that it's not just ACORN, the national umbrella group, but all of the web of its affiliates and entities under it that are nonprofit, tax exempt and supposedly nonpartisan.</div><div>
</div><div>So all these are a good first step. But I think that the next step, Sean, obviously, is to crack open the books and take a look at how the money they currently have been allocated and allocated in the past is being spent. And that's going to be an incredible forensic undertaking. And hopefully it will be bipartisan.</div><div>
</div><div>HANNITY: You talk about these umbrella groups. There's all these groups that would then, you know, sort of subcontract out to ACORN. So it's almost difficult to do the accounting. But the reality is, and I know Governor Tim Pawlenty and I know some others, Richard Shelby was on this morning, and he is working in Washington.</div><div>
</div><div>They're saying they want to find a way to get to the real bottom line dollar figure of how much they are getting and cut off all funds because this is only part of the corruption. I mean it's bad enough every office they went to showed a connection, you know, to some of these scandals. But it goes a lot deeper, doesn't it?</div><div>
</div><div>MALKIN: It's systemic. And I'll tell you, ACORN plays a game of throwing its rank and file operatives under the bus and then claiming that these were just the indefensible actions of a few, a handful. That's the phrase that Bertha Lewis and the ACORN brass are using.</div><div>
</div><div>Both hosts have largely ignored major scandals involving military contractors that have huge government contracts</div><div>Halliburton, KBR, and Blackwater have received tens of billions of dollars in military contracts and have been connected to major scandals, some even resulting in death. Major controversies concerning work performed by Halliburton, Kellogg, Brown and Root (a Halliburton subsidiary), and Blackwater (now named Xe) broke between 2006 and 2009. According to news reports, Blackwater, Halliburton, and KBR have received a combined total of at least $25 billion dollars in federal contracts since 2001. By comparison, ACORN has received an estimated $53 million in federal funding over the past 15 years, which is an average of $3.5 million per year....</div></div><div style=""></div><div style="">mma 819</div><div style=""><div class="teaser-cardcontent" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 1.5rem;"><h2 class="teaser-cardtitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/trump-campaign-crediting-hannity-launching-doj-investigation-obama-administration-and" rel="bookmark" class="teaser-cardlink" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: block; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px;"><span property="schema:name" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Trump campaign is crediting Hannity with launching a DOJ investigation into the Obama administration, and they’re probably right</span></a></h2><p class="dateline-compact" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.3rem 0px 0px; align-items: center; display: flex; font-weight: 600; letter-spacing: 2px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="dateline-compacttype" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; height: 1.5em; margin-right: 1em; width: 1.5em;"><svg viewbox="0 0 24 24" class="icon icon--article" aria-labelledby="icon-label--article"><use xlink:href="#article" xmlns:xlink="xlink"><svg id="article" viewbox="0 0 24 24" /></use></svg></span><time datetime="2019-08-28T12:36:16-0400" style="box-sizing: border-box;">08/28/19 12:36 PM EDT</time></p></div></div><div style=""><div>=</div><div>
</div><div>did mueller antic/ dread rw fox BS attacks? modulated accordingly?!</div><div>
</div><div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ailes and atwater used tv to get bush41 electd in a way unprecedented? sorta bypass party? here merge of gop and fox:</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">For years, Sean Hannity has poisoned the well for special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into the investigation of Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election. That effort came to a head when Mueller testified before two House committees, with Hannity <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a36a1e9d39b5bac0f3160518b8f9390b94dab3545be6ca4a22f70ffa1224e364ea69a99bb6a5f4e2659e32be3b68a09c6cfdc885625bfc43" title="effectively dictating">effectively dictating </a>the GOP’s strategy in handling Mueller</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. The night before the hearings, he urged congressional Republicans to focus their attention not on the results of the investigation, but on the investigators. And that’s exactly what many of them did, using questions ripped from Hannity’s program to demand Mueller weigh in on the network’s conspiracy theories.</span></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">One House Republican cited Gregg Jarrett, the Fox legal analyst who once argued on Hannity’s show that in light of the Mueller probe, “the FBI has become America’s secret police” like “the old KBG.” Another entered into the record an op-ed he had written for Hannity’s website. Others championed Hannity’s feverish focus on tangential topics like former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele’s memos, the research firm Fusion GPS and its founder, Glenn Simpson, and the purported political leanings of Mueller’s staff.</p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee and a Hannity regular,</b> devoted much of his opening statement during the afternoon hearing to the Fox host’s twisted theory that the real collusion during the 2016 presidential campaign was between Russia and the Democrats.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Watch this:</b></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">We put together <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a36a1e9d39b5bac0f7f64f6a27f8de4f07293dfc8c0f92694d970bfcfab2d8d646e291ac0cde5d95a8505775e94d967a1fbddcf20167d1e3" title="a full supercut">a full supercut</a> of Hannity and other Fox figures juxtaposed with Republicans during the hearings, and it is utterly uncanny. There can be no more denying the facts: Fox News and the Republican Party have merged.</span></p></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></div></div></div><div style=""></div><div style=""><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/heres-the-insidious-role-sean-hannity-played-in-derailing-al-frankens-political-career/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/heres-the-insidious-role-sean-hannity-played-in-derailing-al-frankens-political-career/</a></div><div style="">
</div><div style=""><div>no lnx</div><div>
</div><div><b>Here’s the insidious role Sean Hannity played in derailing Al Franken’s political career</b></div><div>
</div><div>Written by Alex Henderson<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>July 22, 2019</div><div>
</div><div>The U.S. Senate lost one of its most prominent liberals when Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, dogged by sexual harassment allegations, announced his resignation in December 2017. Some of Franken’s defenders believed the Democratic Party was too quick to throw him under the bus; other Democrats stressed that in light of the #MeToo movement, his resignation was absolutely necessary.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Franken’s political downfall is the subject of an in-depth report by the New Yorker’s <b>Jane Mayer</b>, who describes — among many other things — the role that Fox News’ Sean Hannity played in the media firestorm.</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>Franken’s career in the Senate, Mayer notes, was doomed after right-wing talk radio host Leeann Tweeden “accused him of having forced an unwanted kiss on her during a 2006 USO tour.</b>” After that, Mayer adds, seven other women “followed with accusations against Franken; all of them centered on inappropriate touches or kisses.”</div><div> </div><div>Mayer reports that the former “Saturday Night Live” star’s “undoing began with a photograph, which was released by a conservative talk-radio station on November 16, 2017.” Mayer reports that in the photo, Franken was seen on a military plane “leering at the lens with his hands outstretched toward the breasts of his USO co-star, Tweeden…. Franken’s hands appear to be practically touching her chest, and Tweeden looks to be asleep — and therefore, not consenting to the joke.”</div><div>
</div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Condemnation of Franken, Mayer recalls, quickly came from the liberal-leaning Slate</b> (which called for his resignation in an article) as well as the right-wing media — including Fox News, where Hannity quoted the Slate piece and interviewed Tweeden (who is described by Mayer as “a friend who had been a guest on his show dozens of times”). And the alt-right Breitbart News, Mayer notes, drew attention to Slate’s article as well.</font></div><div>
</div><div>Mayer reports, “The media uproar was further heightened by an impassioned personal statement released by Tweeden’s Los Angeles radio station, KABC-AM, which provided her account of the story behind the photograph.”</div><div>
</div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Hannity, Mayer recalls, “exulted when the news broke,” relentlessly attacking Franken on both Fox News and his AM radio show. Hannity described the photo as “disgusting,” saying that the Minnesota senator had been accused of <b>“sexual molestation” </b>— and President Donald Trump, Mayer reports, “joined the fray on Twitter, insinuating that the photograph documented an assault in progress.”</font></div><div>
</div><div>Mayer is an incredibly thorough reporter, and her New Yorker piece features interviews with women who express a variety of views on Franken’s political downfall. Some of the interviewees Mayer spoke to are more sympathetic to Franken than others.</div><div>
</div><div>One of the more sympathetic is attorney Deborah Katz, who has represented sexual harassment victims. Katz has also represented Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of attempting to rape her at a party when they were teenagers back in 1982.</div><div>
</div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Katz, according to Mayer, views Franken as a “cautionary tale for the #MeToo movement.” The attorney told the New Yorker, “The allegations leveled against Sen. Franken did not warrant his forced expulsion from the Senate, particularly given the context in which most of the behavior occurred — which was in his capacity as a comedian….. All offensive behavior should be addressed, but not all offensive behavior warrants the most severe sanction.”</font></div></div><div style=""></div><div style="">ref mayer</div><div style="">
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</div><div style="">...<b times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">=</b></div><p style=""><b>mayer on franken</b></p><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to McIntyre, Hannity wanted to use the photograph in 2007, when it would have derailed Franken’s first Senate bid. But he deferred to Tweeden, who feared that, because she had been a lingerie model, her credibility would be attacked. </span>“To Sean Hannity’s credit, he never said a word about it,” McIntyre told me. (<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Hannity, through a spokesperson, praised Tweeden as “patriotic” and called Franken “literally insane.”)</span> McIntyre emphasized that Tweeden and KABC-AM deliberately chose not to break the story with Hannity, or on Fox, because they didn’t want it to be tainted with charges of political bias.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>There was a history of deep animosity between Fox News’ conservative hosts and Franken.</b> Fox sued Franken over his 2003 best-seller, “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them,” which relentlessly disparages the network and its big star at the time, Bill O’Reilly. It includes a chapter mocking Hannity as, among other things, “an angry, Irish Ape-man.” Franken writes that, after having a greenroom shouting match with Hannity about Rush Limbaugh, in 1996, he “had never in my life hated a person more.” Fox dropped the suit, but O’Reilly reportedly threatened vengeance. </span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">When Andrea Mackris later sued O’Reilly for sexually harassing her while she was a producer at Fox News, she revealed that, in 2004, O’Reilly had told her, “If you cross Fox News Channel, it’s not just me, it’s Roger Ailes”—at the time the head of the network—“who will go after you. . . . Ailes operates behind the scenes, strategizes and makes things happen so that one day BAM! The person gets what’s coming to them but never sees it coming. Look at Al Franken, one day he’s going to get a knock on his door and life as he’s known it will change forever. That day will happen, trust me.” When Tweeden accused Franken, one of his wife’s first thoughts was of O’Reilly’s prediction.</span></div><div style="">...<span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Tweeden began working through every detail with McIntyre and Baker, and, later, with Hayes. McIntyre also suggested that Tweeden talk to her friend Lauren Sivan, a former anchor for the station, who was one of the witnesses against Weinstein. Sivan had risked her reputation to speak out about Weinstein’s having masturbated in front of her. When Tweeden told her about Franken, Sivan said to me, “the story, it was strange—because they were doing it as a skit.” She sympathized with Tweeden, whom she described as having felt “mocked and humiliated” by Franken. But she wasn’t sure how a public accusation would be received.</span><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"> She suggested that Tweeden take the story to a mainstream outlet, and even gave her the name of a reputable reporter. Instead, Sivan told me, Hayes controlled the process, which she considered a “mistake,” because “it’s a right-wing conservative radio station” and “it seemed like they just wanted to milk the story.” Nevertheless, Sivan said, of Tweeden, “it was absolutely something she wanted to do—I think she hated Franken.”</span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A week before Tweeden went public, <b>Roy Moore, </b>the Republican nominee in a special Senate election in Alabama, was accused of engaging in inappropriate behavior with several teen-age girls, one of whom was fourteen at the time. Moore denied the allegations, and Trump, who had endorsed Moore, stuck by him. But the allegations handed Democrats a wedge issue and put Republicans on the defensive. <b>Hannity was particularly on the spot: having dismissed Moore’s conduct as “consensual” and mere “kissing,” he issued a rare on-air apology.</b></span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>At the same time that the Republican Party was contending with the scandal, Franken was rising in prominence, in part because of his deft cross-examinations of such Trump Administration appointees as Betsy DeVos and Rick Perry.</b> Bystanders applauded when Franken walked into Washington restaurants. His latest book had reached No. 1 on the Times best-seller list.<b> Feminists had welcomed his support of the #MeToo movement, and praised him for drafting a bill to prohibit mandatory arbitration in employment-related cases of sexual harassment and discrimination. The legislation would guarantee women the right to publicly press charges, rather than submit to secret settlements. He was also praised for supporting advanced training for law-enforcement officers who dealt with rape victims.</b></span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But along with the adulation came detractors. Several far-right news sites appear to have known about Tweeden’s story shortly before it broke. In Southern California, a gossip Web site, Crazy Days and Nights, was contacted by an anonymous tipster who predicted that Franken was about to get caught in a sex scandal. There was a link to an online message board where someone calling himself Sam Spade was claiming that Franken had “groped” his aunt on a New York City subway in the nineteen-seventies. (Asked about this, Franken joked, “Ah, yes, Aunt Gertrude—I remember her well.”) Archives show that “Sam Spade” separately posted a message saying that he “hoped Al Franken would die a slow painful death.”</span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=""><b>At 1 a.m. on November 16th, Roger Stone, the notorious right-wing operative, announced, on Twitter, “It’s Al Franken’s ‘time in the barrel.</b>’<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Franken next in long list of Democrats to be accused of ‘grabby’ behavior.” After Tweeden’s story was posted, Alex Jones, the extremist radio host, boasted on his show that Stone had told him, in advance, “Get ready. Franken’s next.” Stone told me that an executive at Fox who was friendly with Tweeden had tipped him off.</span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Sean Hannity exulted when the news broke. Tweeden called in to his radio show live, and Hannity described her as “a longtime friend.” Hannity, who, when Ailes died, celebrated him as one of America’s “great patriotic warriors,” pronounced the Franken photograph “disgusting”</b>—and declared that Franken had been accused of “sexual molestation.” Trump joined the fray on Twitter, insinuating that the photograph documented an assault in progress: “Where do his hands go in pictures 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6?”</span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 153);">Twelve minutes after KABC-AM went on the air with the news, Franken’s office got its first press inquiry, and hundreds soon followed. Shelleby, the deputy chief of staff, recalls, “It was bedlam. No one looked into the details. There was no way to catch up.”</span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Franken tried to devise a response, but, he told me, he found it “impossible to explain the context of the goofing around everybody had been doing, so I just said, ‘It was a joke—it wasn’t funny, and I apologize.’ ” His statement was lambasted on social media as hopelessly inadequate. He released a longer, more self-critical apology. But, he told me, “I was in shock, and I wasn’t thinking as clearly as I should have.” He went on, “You feel very trapped. And the press was just reporting it as she said it.”</span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">...</span></div><div style=""></div><div style="">619 mma</div><div style="">...<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">HANNITY (HOST): I watch that nine and a half minute press conference and well, God bless our media mob, conspiracy theorists, liars and hoaxers.</span></div><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 25px 30px 10px; margin: 20px 20px 25px; border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); background: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-shadow: rgb(204, 204, 204) 0px 6px 0px -4px; clear: both; float: left; width: 612.75px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-block-start: 1em; margin-block-end: 1em; margin-top: 0px !important; margin-bottom: 1em !important;">...</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-block-start: 1em; margin-block-end: 1em; margin-top: 0px !important;">And I thought it was a great embarrassment to Robert Mueller -- and I will be honest, as I watched him, I got the feeling, watching that, he had neither read the statement, was stumbling over the statement, or didn't remember what he had said.</p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; margin-block: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Previously</span>:</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; margin-block: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2019/05/31/hannity-guest-john-solomon-linguistic-experts-have-told-me-it-didnt-look-bob-mueller-was-reading-his/223845" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Hannity guest John Solomon: "Linguistic experts have told me it didn't look like Bob Mueller was reading his own words" </a></p><div style="">
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</div><div style=""><div class="mag-header" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 19px; padding: 0px; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h3 class="magcat-titlte entry-title" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" px="px" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/06/unbelievable-paul-manaforts-texts-with-sean-hannity-revealed-in-court-filing/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4;">‘Unbelievable’: Paul Manafort’s texts with Sean Hannity revealed in court filing</a></h3><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/cody-fenwick/" title="Posts by Cody Fenwick" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Cody Fenwick</a></span></div></div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;">Texts between former Trump Campaign Chair Paul Manafort and Fox News host Sean Hannity were released on Friday as a court filing entered in Manafort’s sentencing. Manafort is currently in…</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;">basically go between manafort and trump to get pardon?! we have text msg b/c he and his lawyer were violating gag order to keep from skewing witness pool (so they just used hannity to do it for them)</p></div></div><div style="">
<div>=</div><div>mma</div><div>
Saturday, there was another mass shooting at a synagogue. A man opened fire inside the Chabad synagogue in Powoy, CA, just outside of San Diego. NBC's Ben Collins and Andrew Blankstein <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857b8a81d0e3e6a2f253259ce5eda8cd7fec01f9aad5d472d14fb95a6ccb83aca2412b7f122a1b156c0a09b85c8257114d6c" title="reported that">reported that</a> an open letter was posted on far-right forum 8chan in the shooters name, which also took credit for an unsolved arson of a nearby mosque. According to the San Diego County Sheriff, the alleged shooter is <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857bb1cefc3a95f8b8173d20acae39677a89c1c5e4e9e32ef210f704828101556980adfb8e883b1120cba839378695cc44d2" title="now being investigated">now being investigated</a> for that arson as well.<p style="margin-bottom: 1em;">Over at Bellingcat, Robert Evans <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857bd9e6ab72f632910629fbd4efe19d70d5694cb9d23a1e0836e194eb4419bededadc7731cca52952685b69d43ced94098a" title="took a deep dive into 8chan">took a deep dive into 8chan</a>, which was also the place where the Christchurch mosque shooter posted his manifesto. <i>Media Matters</i>' Cristina López has <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857b59768b36abaef162c23c2ce58061ac87b7057541a990bf49475de275a9e6acf7ad668170619db9f2445e3a6767535b5b" title="previously written">previously written</a>about how board users launch harassment campaigns using 8chan. 8chan is also <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857b902396d76e403c15efa929d7f6b673999d59651949bf25d900a6f626711b17cae36864b3d9ab82d2c7b2bcf53b2f1009" title="the hub">the hub</a> of the QAnon conspiracy theory which has swept pro-Trump media; a <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857b9405eb2a3d63dbb6fb78b3d310d68fb30054abe479b2c93943b2c21feee1bb4899354d40844677321285660d195cefc7" title="number of prominent right-wing figures">number of prominent right-wing figures</a> have amplified that conspiracy theory.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b> And board users <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857bae19ca1d1d84cec0667f10e83468c4badb7d64ddb2e6924186f8f00301f814eb940f5257742158bf20352a100bcc5faf" title="absolutely love Sean Hannity">absolutely love Sean Hannity</a>.</b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em;">Over at The New York Times, Charlie Warzel <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857b1c81d5e1150276abdd8f32db295402e5436dd2f4bb67cb5de686b196564b2d881909b6b43960e5c5b112fa0f63be8a30" title="writes about">wrote about</a> how these mass shootings have become a meme in the far-right internet: "The pattern is eerie: it starts with a crude genealogy of the shooter’s ethnic roots, then a self-aggrandizing Q. and A. with himself, followed by a litany of toxic in-jokes meant to confuse the media and those less savvy in far-right online culture. ... Like the Christchurch massacre, the Poway shooting is not only tailored for the internet but also sickeningly standardized. The digital footprint and manifestoes of these white nationalist terrorists follow a familiar template — one that each shooter fills in with their own hideous details. Indeed, it seems real-world murderous hate crimes have become a message board meme of sorts. And like any online meme, the creation cycle only seems to be accelerating, refining itself and, horrifyingly, increasing in frequency."</p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>On Fox News, a guest was linking the rise of anti-Semitism to Trump's permissive rhetoric about the far right,</b> specifically Trump's defense of white nationalists in Charlottesville who chanted "Jews will not replace us." (Trump <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857bccd2ba56a954ef5dba89311ed1dfc4b715e0e50b0f0f8593657600ca85b5e4b11afa2e4146092549a9962c360e8368e3" title="even doubled down">even doubled down</a> on that characterization on Friday in an interview with Mark Levin.) But as the guest described this, <b>the show <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857bf1e9164459b9dd07d23d52e16a525395d029bc8c12a1e2d491c107ca292713370b1d204de5e4d7fb9ebc589717db5d76" title="suddenly cut to commercial">suddenly cut to commercial </a></b>. The guest was invited back on later in the day, but the discussion moved quickly beyond Trump's rhetoric to an assertion that Trump could not possibly be personally anti-Semitic.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Fox News <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857bfc348775a3b38c21ebec59ec9691f60e7e80afeba0ce33b31ac2e26609771efeb79afc1cf0ae50b9e1332ed1e815ab83" title="never stopped pushing">never stopped pushing</a> the anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that motivated the Tree of Life shooter. Glenn Beck was on Fox News earlier this month pushing it. And earlier this week, a Fox Nation guest <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857ba05fea6614f0a7129c5dfb29c26161c967d26057db4661e18e316ff049e7ed63001c2f1cee45b526809af0c9f9c93071" title="fearmongered">fearmongered</a> about George Soros infiltrating the census, harkening back to when a guest <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857b793c8a1d11a64be4fd5e21541db558a73bc6f91f0fc69379c0c1604bbae9fc183d64bbe5ecf68acbc6e9c0cc944055ef" title="was banned">was banned</a> from the network for complaining about the "Soros-occupied State Department."</span></p></div></div><div style="">
</div><div style="">
<div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">mma</font></div><div><b>
</b><div style="line-height: 31px;"><p style="margin-bottom: 1em;"><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Fox News spent weeks in May 2017 spreading the conspiracy theories trying to link murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich to WikiLeaks. </b>From Sean Hannity to Newt Gingrich to Steve Doocy, the objective was clear: If there were any possibility that Rich was the source of the emails, then it would not have been Russia. And if it were not Russia, Trump would be cleared of any malfeasance. But now, thanks to Robert Mueller's final report, we finally have proof that it was all a lie.</span></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em;"><b>In 2017, following Rich's murder, right-wing conspiracy theories arose, asserting that the staffer had provided DNC emails to Wikileaks for publication. There was never a shred of evidence to support this conspiracy theory. No responsible news organization ran with anything close to this. But Fox News did.</b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em;"><b>This was a transparent attempt to protect Trump from the U.S. intelligence community's conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to aid his campaign. After running with the story for days amidst criticism, <b>Fox finally pulled the initial report. Hannity then continued pushing it, stopping only when Rich's family asked him to. Fox News eventually promised an internal investigation into the matter -- and this week marked 700 days since that promise. And still, we've heard nothing.</b></b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1em;"><b>There is no reason to believe that anyone at Fox will be held accountable for their actions. Fox has never cared about the basic ethical standards accepted at most newsrooms. As <i>Media Matters</i>' Matt Gertz <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857b63c2a59d83960acc846e5788983ac126ac8f6664578586fccad8e85efa527f2fd72bb619d247646c6aba33594804ec72" title="explained">explained</a>, "Fox is a propaganda outlet geared toward ensuring the continued dominance of Trump and his movement. The pain of Rich’s family is simply the cost of doing business."</b></p></div></div></div><div style=""><p><b></b></p><p><b>mma</b></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Before perpetrating what’s believed to have been the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in American history, the Tree of Life synagogue shooter posted online,<a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=c178a9092d9e8c21ee855293ac1db41a5c6dff80350c5ae1f8d4b14a68721b70cbc5d2c3df45fc3f9ac40f06fa126013060d5905d2981fb9" title="blaming">blaming</a> Jewish people in the U.S. “for bringing in an invasion of nonwhite immigrants.” He was specifically referring to the caravans of migrants from Central America that conservative media have focused on as an existential threat to the United States.</b></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>The link between conservative media rhetoric and the shooter's words <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=c178a9092d9e8c21ad482a94b0cd73b425202ba5740390187603e333524a558dc86fccc2605d240b0a8bcb94661728e41f3aa19820a645e3" title="was readily apparent at the time">was readily apparent at the time</a>. But instead of course correcting following the massacre, Fox is instead still pushing the conspiracy theory to this day.</b></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><b><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Sean Hannity <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=c178a9092d9e8c21d5cb7747db3c4773813e5d19b0b3075333ea65b23ab3ccd8478a26598bff109701b3351f1a31d936e345ddb3d169b92c" title="hosted conspiracy theory-monger Glenn Beck">hosted conspiracy theory-monger Glenn Beck</a>, who said the migrant caravans were “directly” funded by “George Soros </b>and others” (Soros is Jewish). Beck further claimed that "American communists in Chicago" are orchestrating the caravans with money from Soros.</font></b></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>The New Republic's Jeet Heer <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=c178a9092d9e8c21351bf48ebe945785392cbd0c7c091c4df0892585966888593e5d5447d3c0fad52a8973e605b61a99758402ce78e2577e" title="noted that">noted that</a><b> Beck's words were "a straight up articulation of the theory of Judeo–Bolshevism, the ideological pillar of Nazi anti-Semitism."</b> Many <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=c178a9092d9e8c2162d1f282073d2321053213a21802a3f102666dfab1a170a83089e9bca635114786b0980818fd588e63d2f39ed9309fb9" title="others noticed">others noticed</a> that Beck's words were indistinguishable from those of the Tree of Life shooter.</b></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>(While shocking, this was entirely foreseeable for Fox News: Beck made his name at the network in part through anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about George Soros.)</b></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">It was not just on Hannity, either. On the same night, Lou Dobbs blamed "left-wing money" and "the United Nations" for migrants headed to the border.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> This is a clear dog whistle for Dobbs' audience, as the Fox Business host, his guests, and others on the network have </span><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=c178a9092d9e8c21b7e8049159ba5673759cf802d432fe683476187bb9d3fd2806452af3952a93760206468656fa9c85316e8905a21444e5" title="repeatedly pushed" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">repeatedly pushed</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> the same conspiracy theory. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, a Dobbs guest </span><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=c178a9092d9e8c21b74d164de41ac8edd4fe0340d2f416942730c547765cbb0ba3f165105966e4c22ccd7c0bf1d19e75e72eacde927281fa" title="was banned" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">was banned </a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">from the network after a previously aired show reran in which the guest complained about the "Soros-occupied State Department." Fox has taken no action regarding Beck or Dobbs this week.</span></b></p><div><b>=</b></div></div><div style=""><div><b>---</b></div><div><b>mma</b></div><div><p helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><b>A new Navigator Research <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=aee3354f21e2d89893d7ce4c809f9ccc04ee9e6eeca8ea66b2884f08d73ca4a980da9d4e9bad6c6b4ae2156f17d4b032dc6478855e8e37b5" title="new Navigator Research poll ">poll</a> reports that "the Fox News <b>echo-chamber" </b>has created "an alternative reality in American politics," with Republicans who watch Fox News a few times a month or more showing <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=aee3354f21e2d8981d59f218a6a59d1bdbb6ce52b2ae69a709ae8e2da9fd844719f3c26dec60c0888084854454e1d492b967fbaec68c5df4" title="significantly more radical views">significantly more radical views</a> than those who don't watch the network.</b></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><b>79% of GOP Fox viewers say that "people within the FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies are trying to sabotage President Trump." That's compared to 49% of Republicans who don't watch Fox, 24% of non-Republicans who watch Fox, and 8% of non-Republicans who don't watch Fox.</b></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><b>That's an astonishing divide between Republicans who watch Fox and the rest of the public on the question of whether or not Trump is the victim of a massive "deep state" conspiracy to remove him from office.</b></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><b>Fox has been feeding this conspiracy to its audience for years. <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=aee3354f21e2d8980719cb8fde7c01dffd41e98e718502129af1628ef8decd95b80a55cfded9eaae6b30c3fb28c17fbc0b06dab2bdb2e904" title="Sean Hannity has led the charge">Sean Hannity has led the charge</a>, but <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=aee3354f21e2d8980dc1c110a627ad50c95586a7b815344969df7f75dd34b334f5d08cb1f25b1593e2d3b2bf798e28c1bcf1531f7acd8bfb" title="many of his colleagues have adopted the same rhetoric.">many of his colleagues have adopted the same rhetoric</a>.</b></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><b>As the Mueller investigation moves toward its conclusion, the overwhelming support among Fox viewers for the idea that the president is being sabotaged by the FBI and intelligence agencies is seriously concerning. The Fox-GOP infrastructure is already <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=aee3354f21e2d898834a1ecaa1470c939f34f3d5bfc7e76387b32af4cbadd18fdd22e5ed7e5272d2db020a4c43df27f00153d9b27df4b09c" title="priming the pump">priming the pump</a> for another investigation into the Obama administration and Hillary Clinton's email server.</b></p></div><div><b></b></div></div><div style=""><p style=""><b> =</b></p><p style=""><b><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/03/fox-news-could-being-trumps-personal-propaganda-network-and-hannity-is-losing-it-report/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/03/fox-news-could-being-trumps-personal-propaganda-network-and-hannity-is-losing-it-report/</a></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Fox News has served as a full-blown propaganda network for President Donald Trump for the first two years of his presidency, but a revolt within the network’s news department is spurring talk of change.</b></p><div class="p1_7" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><b><a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/03/hellfire-at-fox-as-sean-hannity-mulls-leaving" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Vanity Fair’s</em> Gabriel Sherman reports</a> that Lachlan Murdoch, the son of Fox-owning media mogul Rupert Murdoch, is not a big Trump fan and is wary of having his network seen as the president’s personal Soviet-style Pravda.</b></p><div class="p2_7" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="teadsNative" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><b>Although the editorial changes that Murdoch is considering making aren’t expected to be too drastic — the network will continue to be a right-wing news network — they’re reportedly still enough to scare Fox News host Sean Hannity into believing it will hurt Trump politically.</b></p><div class="p3_7" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><b>“Hannity told Trump last year that the Murdochs hate Trump, and Hannity is the only one holding Fox together,” one source tells Sherman.</b></p><div class="p4_7" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><b>Additionally, some sources within Fox believe that the Murdochs will try to create some distance between Fox News and the president as part of a larger strategy to sell the network off to another buyer.</b></p><div class="p5_7" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><b>“Everyone thinks they’re going to sell it,” one Fox News anchor tells Sherman. “It’s too small to be independent.”</b></p><div class="p6_7" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><b><a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/03/hellfire-at-fox-as-sean-hannity-mulls-leaving" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Read the whole report here</a>.</b></p><p><b>
</b></p><p><b></b></p></div><div style=""><b></b></div><div style=""><b>3/19</b></div><div style=""><ul helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><li><b>Sean Hannity <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=bbcc70a0bb93e16068a4f7f0f51f4ffce9ed6038d71116e900d952cb88c1c79c53b06b8ab89f8f77365aed1de8b06c70bddfba9e9d1f2f3e" title="even said">even said</a> that parents are in hospitals killing babies in gladiator-style entertainment. Needless to say, that is not happening.</b></li><li><b>Death panels are back! The previous lie of the year about the Affordable Care Act has returned, with Fox host Mark Levin <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=bbcc70a0bb93e160f85ef8153cb2a422f2608f9ec5759826698081e1ab9e601cbf4d0b18a29fefcc017fbece39da428039ffe53ad454933d" title="suggesting">suggesting</a>that "Medicare-for-all" will lead to senior citizens being murdered.</b></li><li><b>A Fox contributor <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=bbcc70a0bb93e160583236b61c4996f8d5bc1554fdafaacb62ac25fb1bf9624b9a33fbe785f92845b2c8cbd5593e2d2c0c00259e16b27dd7" title="is arguing">is arguing</a> that "Medicare-for-all" would be communists</b></li></ul></div><div style=""><b>=</b></div><div style=""><b>
</b></div><div style=""><div><b>random grab 918 mma</b></div><div>Sean Hannity: "Secret Service now must do everything within their power" to find anonymous op-ed author</div><div>Video September 7, 2018 10:19 PM EDT</div><div>Sean Hannity calls for "the guy that appointed Mueller," Deputy AG Rosenstein, to be "investigated and prosecuted"</div><div>Video September 7, 2018 9:53 PM EDT</div><div>Tucker Carlson attacks American diversity </div><div>Video September 7, 2018 9:29 PM EDT</div><div>Sean Hannity falsely claims George Papadopolous wasn't part of Trump campaign following his sentencing</div><div>Video September 7, 2018 6:05 PM EDT</div><div>Abortion opponents were reassured by Kavanaugh's comments on Roe v. Wade</div><div>Blog September 7, 2018 5:36 PM EDT</div><div>Sean Hannity claims the Beto O'Rourke campaign asked for volunteers to transport undocumented immigrants to polling booths. It didn't happen. </div><div>Video September 7, 2018 4:45 PM EDT</div></div><div style=""><b>=</b></div><div style=""><b>F<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/02/fox-news-sean-hannity-dictated-trumps-national-emergency-plan-and-his-next-demands-are-even-more-frightening/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4; display: inline !important;">ox News’ Sean Hannity dictated Trump’s national emergency plan — and his next demands are even more frightening</a></b></div><div class="mag-header" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 19px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><b><span class="author-italic author vcard" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/cody-fenwick/" title="Posts by Cody Fenwick" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Cody Fenwick</a></span></b></div></div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><b>Fox News host Sean Hannity published an op-ed on Wednesday laying out exactly how he thought President Donald Trump, to whom he serves as an informal adviser, should move forward…</b></p></div><div style=""><b></b></div><div style=""><div><b>=</b></div><div><b><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/02/fox-news-ceo-bizarrely-rejects-ad-for-anti-nazi-documentary-not-appropriate-for-our-air/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/02/fox-news-ceo-bizarrely-rejects-ad-for-anti-nazi-documentary-not-appropriate-for-our-air/</a></b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>hannity</b></div><div><b></b></div></div><div style=""><b></b></div><div style=""><p helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><b>January 25th, the FBI arrested Roger Stone and executed search warrants of his residences in Florida and New York. Stone was charged on seven counts of obstruction, giving false statements, and witness tampering as part of the special counsel's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.</b></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><b>Fox News immediately worked to minimize the importance of Stone's indictment. </b></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><b>The network utilized <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=2dbe8b5a0abfd75e38bfbd1d51782d3a67136af26a1a106c86fd27df6bc7714fba0116a41ba1296f491c342fe5fee7498fa2b44c9480db00" title="Here’s how Fox is downplaying Roger Stone’s indictments">three forms of defense</a> for Trump's longtime adviser:</b></p><ul helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><li><b>Declare the <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=2dbe8b5a0abfd75ee9b01167e835a2924de8bf5ab6f22de8406011fec5e1b1506f10e3ffb1ba383200dcf2b0dab55d20be6308004e87d13d" title="Fox's Andy McCarthy claims Roger Stone indictment should actually rule out Trump-Russia collusion">indictments reveal nothing</a> and assert that there's <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=2dbe8b5a0abfd75ebad06ec87f40faa4185b3617b838644d1555398c6ae1563e9153fbaf7fdd247c6c6ce688ef1847c8b308501725ff3002" title="Dan Bongino: The Stone indictment " proves="proves" that="that" there="there" is="is" zero="zero" evidence="evidence" of="of" russian="Russian" collusion="collusion">no evidence of collusion</a>.</b></li><li><b>Criticize <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=2dbe8b5a0abfd75edefc856291de06e334ffcf3425b21d8ccf2143813c53c46c195f4cd853153092aff0483f5cc883996c33200c4e3d2de9" title="Sean Hannity reacts to Roger Stone indictment by calling Mueller investigation " the="the" biggest="biggest" abuse="abuse" of="of" power="power" scandal="scandal" in="in" modern="modern" american="American" history="history">the manner in which Stone was arrested</a>. As <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=2dbe8b5a0abfd75e532253aec4a6abe92db8725c1786266de6323d3c933d719014dac78cc600e26e80a3cfc38145e428dac942b880ef2f54" title="Watch Chris Hayes call out Fox personalities for objecting to Roger Stone being treated like the " less="less" wealthy="wealthy" and="and" white="white" well="well" connected="connected">Chris Hayes</a>, <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=2dbe8b5a0abfd75ecfa14a6ccad073f0905960519eb6c7dc6a3423b3921b0667533d296e30b1317ef7f2bebaf0a014b815df3b3683bc2d99" title="MSNBC guest calls out conservative outrage over the arrest of Roger Stone: " i="I" apos="apos" m="m" struck="struck" by="by" the="the" sudden="sudden" civil="civil" rights="rights" revelations="revelations">Elliot Williams</a>, and others pointed out, Fox News suddenly cared about potential civil rights violations and a growing police state only when Roger Stone was arrested.</b></li><li><b>Deflecting by bringing up other officials, like Eric Holder, James Comey, Hillary Clinton, and more.</b></li></ul><p helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><b>As Matt Gertz <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=2dbe8b5a0abfd75e9d0ce346781467f6d2ded124ed68eeda50283bf725d4045337f76014a1a0c857bb20fd927a690319a4177a109bdd593b" title="Sean Hannity spent the last year laying the groundwork for an authoritarian response to the Russia probe">wrote</a> of the role that Fox News plays in the Russia probe,<i>"Hannity has primed his audience to reject any conclusions from the Mueller investigation and to support Trump if he fires the special counsel or demands the Justice Department take action against his political foes. If Trump decides to </i><i>undermine the rule of law by taking such steps, he will have the fervent support of the Fox Host and his viewers."</i></b></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><b>And we know that Trump was watching the coverage on Fox. Speaking of that, Trump <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=2dbe8b5a0abfd75e71852cd5d8665a3165d49461a7ad2f72bb9569c2750b1690f03cf147bf10456cfbed7e6676d44c90bc8880d6b70776f4" title="Transcript: President Trump on " face="Face" the="the" nation="Nation" february="February">told</a> <i>Face The Nation</i> in an interview airing today, "You have to get rid of the Russia witch hunt."</b></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><b><i><b>Also: </b></i>Jerome Corsi <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=2c87fd1c3c4a21750404722997a2c67dfd265543db8b14b5a801c3b2f63702cd3e8c5cb66b476ecc74527c425fcf7d50ead6b61ab3b19a14" title="Jerome Corsi: Roger Stone is “pressuring me to change my testimony” and that may be witness tampering">said</a> in an interview this week that Stone is "pressuring me to change my testimony." Meanwhile, Stone's explanation for his witness tampering charge was that <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=2c87fd1c3c4a2175f9e9514ca90d02c6c9a929a8bebc1e867b6be97e40b66fe16c66ec787df5153eee9bd34c38061477a5bb6a1a202d7bc9" title="Roger Stone tries to explain his witness tampering charge: I advised Randy Credico to plead the Fifth so his liberal friends wouldn’t get mad at him for helping Trump">he was trying to help</a> Randy Credico.</b></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><b><i><b>Finally:</b></i> Stone during the campaign <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=2c87fd1c3c4a2175d90916ee4a858e5542dcfefe390ee766f9cc2c2d120d5b08682871a2632fb66c73e3953831918f6e7eff796bfe966624" title="Roger Stone repeatedly bragged about talking with Trump and senior campaign staffers during presidential campaign">repeatedly bragged</a> about talking with Trump and senior campaign officials.</b></p></div><div style=""><b></b></div><div style=""><b><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/01/fox-news-sean-hannity-appears-to-have-acted-on-directives-from-newly-revealed-stone-wikileaks-emails/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/01/fox-news-sean-hannity-appears-to-have-acted-on-directives-from-newly-revealed-stone-wikileaks-emails/</a></b></div><div style=""><b>
</b></div><div style=""><b>no lnx</b></div><div style=""><b>
</b></div><div style=""><div><b><b>Fox News host Sean Hannity appears to have acted on directives from emails between President Donald Trump’s longtime political adviser Roger Stone and an intermediary who claimed to have communicated with WikiLeaks.</b></b></div><div>
</div><div>On Twitter, author Kurt Eichenwald points out that, among the details in the indictment of Stone, is a passage about WikiLeaks’ plan to leak emails suggesting Hillary Clinton was seriously ill and Sean Hannity’s focus on Clinton’s health in the following days.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Would not hurt to start suggesting HRC old, memory bad, has stroke, neither he nor she well. I expect that much of next dump focus,” Stone’s link to WikiLeaks told him via email on August 2, 2016.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Also in the email, Stone’s link to WikiLeaks told him that Wikileaks’ head Julian Assange was planning a document dump in October.</div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>A few days after the email was sent to Stone, Fox News host Sean Hannity began to focus on Hillary’s health, suggesting that she was having “seizures” and had some sort of neurological problem.</b></div><div>
</div><div>Specifically, Hannity focused on a short video clip where Clinton bobbed her head as someone stuck a microphone in her face.</div><div>
</div><div>[vid?]</div><div>
</div><div>“Are there many seizures like that?” Hannity said on the air. “This looks like violent, out of control movements on her part.”</div><div>
</div><div>Eichenwald thus argues that Hannity may have had strategy information that originated with WikiLeaks and should no longer be on the air with Fox.</div><div>
</div><div>Read his thoughts below.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Kurt Eichenwald</div><div>?</div><div>@kurteichenwald</div><div> 1. As I continue to research the spread of info described in the Stone indictment, it has become clear that @FoxNews needs to explain what role @s<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">eanhannity - Cohen's mystery client - had to do with the Russian conspiracy. </span>And why the hell he is still on the air. The key date...</div><div>
</div><div>3,234</div><div>1:49 PM - Jan 25, 2019</div><div>Twitter Ads info and privacy</div><div>1,627 people are talking about this</div><div>
</div><div>Kurt Eichenwald</div><div>?</div><div>@kurteichenwald</div><div> · Jan 25, 2019</div><div> 1. As I continue to research the spread of info described in the Stone indictment, it has become clear that @FoxNews needs to explain what role @seanhannity - Cohen's mystery client - had to do with the Russian conspiracy. And why the hell he is still on the air. The key date...</div><div>
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</div><div>Kurt Eichenwald</div><div>?</div><div>@kurteichenwald</div><div>2...is<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> August 2, 2016, when Corsi sent an email to Stone. In that email, Corsi says that Assange is planning a document dump on October 2 to cause the most damage possible. (Do you Wikileaks fans FINALLY understand what this fraud is?) I</span>n preparation of that, Corsi says that....</div><div>
</div><div>719</div><div>1:51 PM - Jan 25, 2019</div><div>Twitter Ads info and privacy</div><div>188 people are talking about this</div><div>
</div><div>Kurt Eichenwald</div><div>?</div><div>@kurteichenwald</div><div> · Jan 25, 2019</div><div>Replying to @kurteichenwald and 2 others</div><div>
</div><div>2...is August 2, 2016, when Corsi sent an email to Stone. In that email, Corsi says that Assange is planning a document dump on October 2 to cause the most damage possible. (Do you Wikileaks fans FINALLY understand what this fraud is?) In preparation of that, Corsi says that....</div><div>
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</div><div>Kurt Eichenwald</div><div>?</div><div>@kurteichenwald</div><div>3...'That appears to be the game hackers are now about. Would not hurt to start suggesting HRC old, memory bad, has stroke – neither he nor she well. I expect that much of next dump focus..."<b> We do not need any further evidence of collusion - THIS is it. These bastards are....</b></div><div>
</div><div>661</div><div>1:53 PM - Jan 25, 2019</div><div>Twitter Ads info and privacy</div><div>164 people are talking about this</div><div>
</div><div>Kurt Eichenwald</div><div>?</div><div>@kurteichenwald</div><div> · Jan 25, 2019</div><div>Replying to @kurteichenwald and 2 others</div><div>3...'That appears to be the game hackers are now about. Would not hurt to start suggesting HRC old, memory bad, has stroke – neither he nor she well. I expect that much of next dump focus..." We do not need any further evidence of collusion - THIS is it. These bastards are....</div><div>
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</div><div>Kurt Eichenwald</div><div>?</div><div>@kurteichenwald</div><div>4..<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">.willing to undermine democracy with lies. Drudge picks it up in a few days. Then, EIGHT days after this conspiracy involving Corsi, Stone, Russian hackers, Assange, frigging @seanhannity jumps into the mix. Hillary makes a goofy head movement when someone shoves a mike in...</span>.</div><div>
</div><div>616</div><div>1:55 PM - Jan 25, 2019</div><div>Twitter Ads info and privacy</div><div>156 people are talking about this</div><div>
</div><div>Kurt Eichenwald</div><div>?</div><div>@kurteichenwald</div><div> · Jan 25, 2019</div><div>Replying to @kurteichenwald and 2 others</div><div>4...willing to undermine democracy with lies. Drudge picks it up in a few days. Then, EIGHT days after this conspiracy involving Corsi, Stone, Russian hackers, Assange, frigging @seanhannity jumps into the mix. Hillary makes a goofy head movement when someone shoves a mike in....</div><div>
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</div><div>Kurt Eichenwald</div><div>?</div><div>@kurteichenwald</div><div>5...h<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">er face. (A mic, not a mike) No one looking at that could see it as anything but what it was - physical humor. But, building on Drudge's "she needs to be helped up the stairs" lie, @seanhannity jumps all over this stupid movement to proclaim - JUST LIKE CORSI URGED -...</span></div><div>
</div><div>555</div><div>1:57 PM - Jan 25, 2019</div><div>Twitter Ads info and privacy</div><div>142 people are talking about this</div><div>
</div><div>Kurt Eichenwald</div><div>?</div><div>@kurteichenwald</div><div> · Jan 25, 2019</div><div>Replying to @kurteichenwald and 2 others</div><div>5...her face. (A mic, not a mike) No one looking at that could see it as anything but what it was - physical humor. But, building on Drudge's "she needs to be helped up the stairs" lie, @seanhannity jumps all over this stupid movement to proclaim - JUST LIKE CORSI URGED -...</div><div>
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</div><div>Kurt Eichenwald</div><div>?</div><div>@kurteichenwald</div><div>6...<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">.That Hillary had a neurological problem. On August 10, eight days after the "lie about her health" email, Hannity says on her show after showing the goofy head movement, "“This looks like violent, out of control movements on her part.” He then goes on to say "seizures...</span></div><div>
</div><div>535</div><div>1:58 PM - Jan 25, 2019</div></div><div style=""><b></b></div><div style=""><p style="font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 18px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 25.2px; vertical-align: top;"><b><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: top;">Conservatives Throw a Temper Tantrum</strong></b></p><p style="font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 18px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 25.2px; vertical-align: top;"><b><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="font-weight: inherit;">The loudest outcry came from the right-wing shock jocks like Rush Limbaugh, who claimed that Janet Napolitano and Barack Obama were "portraying standard, ordinary, everyday conservatives as posing a bigger threat to this country than al-Qaeda terrorists or genuine enemies of this country like Kim Jong-Il."</span><b> Sean Hannity </b><span style="font-weight: inherit;">warned his Fox News viewers that “if you have a pro-life bumper sticker on your car, if you have an 'America is overtaxed' bumper sticker, if you have a pro-Second Amendment bumper sticker, they're viewing you potentially as a radical.”</span></font></b></p><p style="font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 18px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 25.2px; vertical-align: top;"><b><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>In possibly the most deranged interpretation, conservative blogger Michelle Malkin</b><span style="font-weight: inherit;"> wrote that the report was a “hit job on conservatives” and “one of the most embarrassingly shoddy pieces of propaganda I’d ever read out of DHS. I couldn’t believe it was real….the piece of crap report issued on April 7 is a sweeping indictment of conservatives.”</span></font></b></p><p style="font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 18px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 25.2px; vertical-align: top;"><b><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In a sad sort of irony, Johnson told SPLC that the conservative media personalities who misinterpreted and attacked his report “would have been shocked to know that I personify conservatism. I'm an Eagle Scout. I'm a registered Republican. I'm Mormon. In fact, I was helping the Boy Scouts with a fundraiser when I heard the report being attacked on the news."</font></b></p><p style="font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 18px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 25.2px; vertical-align: top;"><b><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Outrage over the report's findings quickly spread to Congress, where several conservative lawmakers demanded the ouster of DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. Among them was Rep. John Carter, R-Tex., who remarked, "We shouldn't even give her the respect of letting her resign. She should be fired by the administration for accusing honest, American citizens — because of their political beliefs — of being domestic terrorists."</font></b></p><p style="font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 18px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 25.2px; vertical-align: top;"><b><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The self-described conservative and Christian non-profit Thomas More Law Center went even further and filed a lawsuit against Secretary Napolitano on behalf a Michigan-based anti-abortion group, claiming the DHS report was all part of a conspiracy between the Obama administration and liberal groups to violate their constitutional rights.</font></b></p><p style="font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 18px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 25.2px; vertical-align: top;"><b>The section of the report that stirred the most controversy referred to “disgruntled military veterans” and cautioned that “rightwing extremists would attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans to boost their violent capabilities.”</b></p></div><div style=""><b></b></div><div style=""><b>mma</b></div><div style=""><b> Hannity <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=3YhLhUxTGfXV40jjcf0E7z4H6Szh2ve6Id8D7jzs328yKcqL-u9BJBakEasx_eTXkrYkvaZ0D-WSnsvAz9dL1F8PHn5BWbYqe4-G80XgXar5aWQY-m7ARehZnJWm9DcQlQwp81DA1gUFA4NauCsxTXQv37AA-zW8Moy0f-B_L6pY8Qj_QBpLrR2ponCFXE7&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1111weekly&n=50&v=1464">is absolutely furious</a> that Michelle Obama attacked Trump's birther lies.</b></div><div style=""><b>---</b></div><div style=""><p><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On the eve of the 2018 midterm elections, Sean Hannity <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=YqgukYA3Mrlri-dqG7I8TmSbUeTMMR9SfV_D3Gm6egOHi0MZ1PLqyYK6vompUhwZWPxHQTC4VK_5tRHHs7Kt0g&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1111weekly&n=8&v=1464">said he wasn’t going to campaign for Trump</a>. His employer Fox News <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=9j2xrPCwd3yFLU_EZoBgHlq2jXFSxCsIs1q3uwRlDkAui3G6jSqFGYso-jRR8nVgn7KbYjP3z5Ikgn5BqPBTjtKFFUgUDLE-zUhvlk04UyMNmQ2KwlABCnOdunB0SvoE&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1111weekly&n=9&v=1464">said he wasn’t going to campaign for Trump</a>. And yet, that night, Hannity <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=3YhLhUxTGfXV40jjcf0E7z4H6Szh2ve6Id8D7jzs32_GMJGq2F8kz-dBSl_gvTHBJ2_p5UtV-5usgdXt3Aw_8ZWQ4PFnNml8639EZIsovxCL4gHQTJEPd_jpgocvZcOO9zd7QVzr9Rooxx8CdjA2HhYSHgFWnB2ZyeYNFdG_yGNWDFtrXralTQgaujZCDZi53t9UrM4cSoZlFq135YdkuA&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1111weekly&n=10&v=1464">got up on the stage</a> with Trump at the president’s final campaign rally of the election cycle and praised the administration for “promises made, promises kept</span>.” He gestured to the journalists covering the event and called them “fake news.” Fellow Fox News host Jeanine Pirro soon followed him on stage to urge the crowd to vote Republican.</b></p><p><b>While Fox has halfheartedly disciplined Hannity in the past for his blatantly unethical conduct, the network seems to have finally dropped the charade. As <em>Media Matters</em>’ Matt Gertz explained, Hannity’s close ties to the White House and his role as a Trump confidant have apparently <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=3YhLhUxTGfXV40jjcf0E7zQgA_lKgFY2qUmWqav0z4TjV3ux5Rma_rOtr2f7jnNGQh0R_el9vAFrmhi_FkzMKD0Cn15OyNAidWPd-zA7ef8LdTDwxr4JIuL4ZDGpQIC8&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1111weekly&n=11&v=1464">rendered him untouchable by the network</a>.</b></p><p><b>In response to the backlash to Hannity’s appearance at the rally, an anonymous Fox spokesperson <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=YqgukYA3Mrlri-dqG7I8Tlsl71ScdPaR6s9hBH2VbK22oYmRVAIR9ZDG7nKAkciqqQblHw8aS8eukYPQSUw54A&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1111weekly&n=12&v=1464">released the following statement:</a> “FOX News does not condone any talent participating in campaign events. We have an extraordinary team of journalists helming our coverage tonight and we are extremely proud of their work. This was an unfortunate distraction and has been addressed.”
This is nonsense, of course. As <em>Media Matters</em>’ <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=3YhLhUxTGfXV40jjcf0E7zQgA_lKgFY2qUmWqav0z4RZ_BL2F8oUiU3L43iNz4YRCq_a-KEkm3Bnhj5Hiy1EAUXu0IRDM0nR58vi9n0Fq-Osi2tpv0dKZDhqtk3dWlPEGlkynynqLP4dKdikK3PB7moCXBh94YQuwT3MeGeeL4DxIXGP5VOZS9t4peZY4I92&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1111weekly&n=13&v=1464">Eric Hananoki reported</a>, regardless of what the network says it does or “does not condone,” more than a dozen Fox hosts and contributors raised funds for Republican Party organizations in the first year of Trump’s administration -- continuing a <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=3YhLhUxTGfXV40jjcf0E7zQgA_lKgFY2qUmWqav0z4RXu_beB4a52dm9y3A_PUTeKPLbjEum7CiQWRX46T1ie5zOOAVi59KIXqXn05Ql4r-fuZ1GBpfDUhsm6ZhngJEt&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1111weekly&n=14&v=1464">yearslong pattern</a>.</b></p></div><div style=""><b></b></div><div style=""><h2 class="news--politics frontpage_dedup" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: 20px;"><b><a href="https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/fox-news-was-just-humiliated-when-sean-hannity-spoke-trump-rally-contradicting" style="text-decoration-line: none; border: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 10px 0px; line-height: 20px; letter-spacing: 0px; text-align: right;">Fox News Was Just Humiliated When Sean Hannity Spoke at a Trump Rally — Contradicting the Network's Promises</a></b></h2></div><div style=""><b>=</b><div><b><a href="https://www.alternet.org/heres-why-proud-boys-claim-self-defense-when-defending-ring-wing-violence-total-joke">https://www.alternet.org/heres-why-proud-boys-claim-self-defense-when-defending-ring-wing-violence-total-joke</a></b></div><div>
</div><div>amanda m</div><div>
</div><div>When far-right groups like the Proud Boys or Patriot Prayer get into street brawls, they have a go-to rationalization: It was self-defense. The argument is that fringe right-wingers are out there peacefully protesting or attending speeches, and that the violence that often seems to erupt afterward is merely a reaction to leftist provocation.</div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">"Antifa terrorists attacked us, not the other way around," argues a typical post at the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheProudBoysUSA/posts/759331481076443?xts%5B0%5D=68.ARAzIg-6li5-w59jR1RZLqAnBTO0Ttr8j-lYmKsCSD4N-KtJCH2tlmy6XQi-wZtREYFc41uD-r-qHqAlZ06dL5dPwrQOVN6UYw1CL2sbhKqcBWZ_WvUuWvkoarRaAKxg0lGOtf061Wy2dja5XBZCFV924ypmr2j9sLndKLJ_Iyk07OWBJjrNspa-d6xj6_6-n7z1e_CMMlfroiVSMLcB&tn_=-R" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Proud Boys Facebook page</a>, after <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/nypd-looks-to-charge-9-proud-boys-with-assault-for-manhattan-fight" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">members of the group were filmed beating up anti-fascist protesters</a> after Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes gave a speech at New York's Metropolitan Republican Club.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Conservative media has picked up this talking point and has aggressively defended and promoted far-right groups — who have also gotten into <a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2018/10/patriot_prayer_flash_march_cal.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">street fights in Portland, Oregon</a>, and <a href="https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20181006/state-police-intervene-as-protest-groups-clash-at-state-house--videos" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Providence, Rhode Island,</a> in the past month — painting them as victims who only engage in violence as a last resort to defend themselves.</font></p><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On her Fox News show, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/10/15/laura-ingraham-hosts-leader-right-wing-group-responsible-violent-portland-riots-softball-interview/221697" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Laura Ingraham interviewed Joey Gibson</a>, the head of Patriot Prayer, who denied "any intention to get violent" and said the violence in Portland was purely self-defense.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Sean Hannity, on his own Fox News show,</b> <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2018/10/15/hannity-and-his-guests-lie-about-violent-rioting-pro-trump-supporters-claim-it-was-left/221695" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">put the blame on for these outbreaks of violence on Democratic rhetoric he considers rude</a>, even though none of the figures or incidents he mentioned were anywhere near these events. He explained what happened last week this way: "A bunch of anarchists go to the New York GOP club, Republican club, whatever it happens to be, and they’re<b> committing vandalism, anarchist signs that they’re putting up, etc., and then there’s a confrontation on the street there."</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>...</b></font></p></div></div><div style=""><b></b></div><div style=""><p><b>Twelve Russian military officers <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fworld%2Fnational-security%2Frod-rosenstein-expected-to-announce-new-indictment-by-mueller%2F2018%2F07%2F13%2Fbc565582-86a9-11e8-8553-a3ce89036c78_story.html%3Futm_term%3D.ac8da93ce92f&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=715weekly&n=43&v=1411">were indicted</a> for hacking into Democrats' computers and disseminating the stolen information to disrupt the 2016 election. The indictment also <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.emptywheel.net%2F2018%2F07%2F14%2Fyesterday-roger-stone-answered-then-backtracked-on-a-question-mueller-has-already-posed-to-trump%2F&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=715weekly&n=44&v=1411">has</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.emptywheel.net%2F2018%2F07%2F13%2Fthe-russian-hack%2F&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=715weekly&n=45&v=1411">references</a> of Infowars host and a then-Breitbart columnist.</b></p><p><b><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But perhaps the most immediately notable part of the indictment from special counsel Robert Mueller's probe is that it directly rebuts the long-simmering right-wing media conspiracy theory about murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich. While the indictment alleges that Russians were behind the hacking (something that intelligence had reportedly concluded long ago), right-wing media have <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Fblog%2F2017%2F05%2F24%2Fhow-murder-dnc-staffer-turned-right-wing-conspiracy%2F216644&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=715weekly&n=46&v=1411">for years</a> -- without any evidence -- pressed the idea that it was actually Rich who did it.</font></b></p><p><b><b>Sean Hannity became the ringleader of this effort</b>, relentlessly dedicating his show in May 2016 to the conspiracy theory until pressure from dropped advertisers <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Fblog%2F2017%2F08%2F02%2Fwhat-seth-rich-conspiracy-theory-why-it-matters-and-why-sean-hannity-must-be-one-pay-price%2F217498&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=715weekly&n=47&v=1411">forced him</a> to stop covering it, even though he promised he was "closer to the TRUTH than ever." Neither Fox News nor Hannity have ever apologized or even explained their botched reports.</b></p><p><b>Now that the office of special counsel Robert Mueller has laid out the actual facts (that Russian hacking came <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2018%2F07%2F13%2Fpolitics%2Ftrump-asked-russians-to-get-clinton-emails-they-immediately-started-trying-%2Findex.html&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=715weekly&n=48&v=1411">very shortly after</a> then-candidate Donald Trump publicly asked for their assistance), it's <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Fblog%2F2018%2F07%2F13%2FNow-would-be-a-great-time-for-Sean-Hannity-to-revisit-his-Seth-Rich-lies%2F220670&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=715weekly&n=49&v=1411">time for Hannity</a> to come clean.</b></p><p><b>But we all know he won't. And neither will Fox News. Newt Gingrich has already <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Fblog%2F2018%2F07%2F13%2Ffox-s-newt-gingrich-refuses-walk-back-claim-murdered-dnc-staffer-was-responsible-dnc-email-hacks%2F220675&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=715weekly&n=50&v=1411">refused to apologize</a>. And that's why it's more important than ever for people like you <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/stop-hannity?recruiter_id=3237800&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=715weekly&n=51&v=1411">to take action</a> and force Hannity's hand.</b></p><p><b>That's the only thing that works.</b></p><p><b><em>Also</em>: An Infowars host <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Fvideo%2F2018%2F07%2F13%2Finfowars-reacts-doj-indictments-dnc-hacking-thank-you-russia%2F220669&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=715weekly&n=52&v=1411">reacted</a> to news of the indictments by screaming out "Thank you Russia." Fox host Lou Dobbs downplayed them, <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Fvideo%2F2018%2F07%2F13%2Flou-dobbs-mueller-indictments-are-based-hearsay%2F220676&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=715weekly&n=53&v=1411">saying</a> they were just based on hearsay. And Hannity <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Fvideo%2F2018%2F07%2F13%2Fsean-hannity-timing-mueller-indicting-12-russians-very-dubious-me%2F220674&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=715weekly&n=54&v=1411">said that</a> the indictments were suspicious because of the timing; Hannity, while absurdly and bizarrely <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Fvideo%2F2018%2F07%2F13%2Fafter-mueller-indicts-12-russians-sean-hannity-blames-stupid-americans-letting-hack-happen-says-we%2F220672&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=715weekly&n=55&v=1411">claiming</a> that we still don't know who leaked the emails, said that it could be any other country.</b></p></div><div style=""><b></b></div><div style=""><p><b>Fox News is reportedly <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Fblog%2F2018%2F06%2F04%2Ffox-news-reportedly-having-difficulty-selling-ads-sean-hannity-and-laura-ingraham-s-shows-pro-trump%2F220370&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=610weekly&n=7&v=1396">having trouble selling</a> ads for Sean Hannity's and Laura Ingraham's shows. One Fox News staffer told <em>Vanity Fair</em>'s Gabriel Sherman that "The pro-Trump thing isn't working. We can't monetize DACA and the wall and that right-wing shit."</b></p><p><b>This follows an October 2017 report that Fox News' ad revenue had dropped 17 percent, while revenue for its competitors had remained virtually unchanged.</b></p><p><b>The toxic conspiracy theories, the pro-Trump propaganda, the racism and sexism and bigotry, and the extreme measures to defend anything that comes out of the White House (including conspiracy theories, racism, sexism, and bigotry) make Fox News unsafe for most advertisers. And whether it's Sean Hannity or Laura Ingraham's show, the core issue is that Fox News management, from the Murdochs on down, is not interested in fixing the problem.</b></p><p><b><em>Also</em>: Once again, Fox News anchor Shep Smith <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fmmfa%2Fstatus%2F1004823733662609408&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=610weekly&n=8&v=1396">has debunked</a> a pro-Trump lie spread by Hannity. This same thing <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fmmfa%2Fstatus%2F1001841898632474624&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=610weekly&n=9&v=1396">keeps happening</a>.</b></p></div><div style=""><b></b></div><div style=""><b>escalator</b></div><div style=""><b>
</b></div><div style=""><div><b><a href="https://www.gq.com/story/spygate-conspiracy-theory-explained" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.gq.com/story/spygate-conspiracy-theory-explained</a></b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>escalator</b></div><div><div><b>no many lnx</b></div><div>
</div><div><b>Spygate: How Right-Wing Media Creates a Conspiracy Theory Out of Thin Air</b></div><div>
</div><div>BY JAY WILLIS</div><div>
</div><div><b>This is how conservative media transformed a small news item into a full-blown conspiracy theory that the president (apparently) believes to be true.</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>The plot goes like this:</b> During the summer of 2016, on the clandestine orders of then-president Barack Obama, the FBI and CIA hatched an ambitious plan to topple the Trump campaign from the inside. In a scandal of unprecedented scope, Democratic politicians commandeered American counterintelligence resources to spy on their primary political opponent and boost Hillary Clinton's chances of winning the election. The Russia investigation that has dominated headlines for nearly two years is, in fact, a desperate smokescreen conjured up by terrified Deep State actors to conceal evidence of their own wrongdoing, and to frame the president for heinous crimes he didn't commit.</span></div><div>
</div><div>On May 8, The Washington Post reported on the White House's decision to back the Justice Department's withholding of information from House Intelligence Committee <b>chairman Devin Nunes,</b> on the grounds that disclosure would expose the identity of "a U.S. citizen who has provided information to the FBI and CIA." The authors added, though, that the individual had been a source of information used by the special counsel's office—and that it was unclear whether Trump knew this "key fact" when his administration chose to side with law enforcement.</div><div>
</div><div>It didn't take long for him to find out. Almost immediately, the right-wing-media ecosystem began laundering and repackaging this news item, weaving its constituent elements together with Trumpian talking points until a full-blown conspiracy theory worthy of the president's tweets emerged on the other side. This metamorphosis is what would happen if a word cloud sourced from a Trump rally were used in a giant game of telephone—but one in which the gibberish end result were then broadcast as news to hundreds of millions of recipients.</div><div>
</div><div>How did this happen?</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">May 10</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Two days after the initial report, citing "the Washington Post's unnamed law-enforcement leakers," The Wall Street Journal publishes an analysis by conservative commentator Kim Strassel</span>. "[W]e might take this to mean that the FBI secretly had a person on the payroll who used his or her non-FBI credentials to interact in some capacity with the Trump campaign." Such a development, she writes, "would amount to spying, and it is hugely disconcerting." Strassel continues (all emphasis mine):</div><div>
</div><div>[W]hen precisely was this human source operating? Because if it was prior to that infamous Papadopoulos tip, then the FBI isn’t being straight. It would mean the bureau was spying on the Trump campaign prior to that moment. And that in turn would mean that the FBI had been spurred to act on the basis of something other than a junior campaign aide’s loose lips.</div><div>
</div><div>This is at once cautious and bold, introducing the salacious vocabulary of espionage to a detail about an intelligence source—but only, she clarifies, if the allegations are true. Strassel does not offer a reason for entertaining her hypothetical, other than her characterization of the players' accounts of the investigation as "suspiciously vague."<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">She is, in the classic style of <b>well-compensated public intellectuals</b> filling up column inches, just asking question</span>s.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">That night, other journalists are happy to offer answers. On <b>Sean Hannity's Fox News show, journalist Sara Carter, citing Strassel, </b>tells listeners of “concern that the FBI actually had a spy within the Trump campaign.” Hannity is dumbfounded: “What? What?” he splutters. </span>"Yes," replies Carter. Blogs like Gateway Pundit kick off the breathless hyperbole category. "Now we know why the Deep State has been working so hard to take down President Trump and the republic," said the post, linking to and block-quoting Strassel. "OBAMA DEEP STATE HAD A SPY INSIDE THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN!"</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>May 11</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The baton is passed to Fox News, which syndicates Strassel's article and changes the headline from “About that FBI ‘source’” to “Did the FBI place a mole inside the 2016 Trump campaign?” On Fox & Friends, the president's morning program of choice, Pete Hegseth weighs in, hesitantly at first. </span>"Did the FBI have a spy in the Trump campaign? Just asking the question. There’s an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal about it." Ainsley Earhardt quotes at length from the column before positing that it means the FBI and DOJ had someone "paid to go and spy on President Trump."</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>On his radio show, Rush Limbaugh picks up the thread,</b> encouraging the conflation of the FBI and President Obama. Strassel's article mentions Obama only once, and only in passing. But this is Rush Limbaugh, not a major newspaper; he can say things like this without fear of repercussions.</span></div><div>
</div><div>When I say “the FBI,” I mean the Obama administration. They infiltrated the Trump campaign with a spy, and while they had that spy implanted, they were unmasking and leaking and obtaining FISA spying warrants and conducting criminal investigations of Trump advisers. This is a big deal...For our purposes, folks, the important thing is that the Obama administration infiltrated the Trump campaign with a spy.</div><div>
</div><div>The buzz grows louder online. "Did the FBI have a spy in the Trump campaign?"<b> asks Andrew McCarthy, praising Strassel's column as "essential reporting," in a National Review article t</b>hat published early the next morning.<b> Right-wing blog ZeroHedge makes an affirmative statement</b>—“WSJ: The FBI Hid a Mole in the Trump Campaign”—out of his question. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Also citing Strassel, Tucker Carlson refers to a "government spy" and a "mole" sent by "the Obama administration." His guest, NRATV personality Dan Bongino, reveals that he believes there to have been more than one spy, referring to "reporting." He does not elaborate on-air.</span></div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>May 14</div><div><b>The week begins with lawmakers joining the fray. On Fox & Friends, GOP congressman Ron DeSantis calls for a follow-up investigation into the matter.</b> "I know that we’re actively trying to get the underlying documents that would tell us: Did they spy on the Trump campaign or not?” he asks, implicitly treating the premises of that query as if they were beyond dispute.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> To Lou Dobbs on Fox Business Network, Matt Gaetz expresses unease with "reports" he'd heard "about potential human intelligence being collected on a rival presidential campaign."</span></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>These men are egged on by, among others, Rush Limbaugh, </b>who asserts he knows the identity of the spy that the FBI "put in the Trump campaign," and Hannity, whose radio guest David Limbaugh—Rush's younger brother—opines that "an official policy inserting a confidential source into a presidential campaign" would be "unprecedented" and "worse than Watergate." Like DeSantis, he includes a soft qualifier, though: "If it happened! We have to get to the bottom of it."</span></div><div>
</div><div>May 15</div><div><b>Nunes appears on the Fox & Friends set, hinting that the campaign might have been "set up" by the FBI.</b> “I believe they never should have opened a counterintelligence investigation into a political party,” he explains. And although he at first avoids using the word "spy," his hosts are happy to put it in his mouth. Steve Doocy suggests that Nunes's narrative implies that Trump was "framed," while Earhardt adds that "it makes it sound like there was a spy."</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Some 12 hours later, Hannity is again agape at the "possibility of an FBI mole that was inside the Trump campaign." He runs snippets of the "stunning" Nunes interview, scarcely able to believe his ears. "The powerful tools of intelligence used to spy on an opposition party candidate, and those powerful tools used against Americans?" he muses. "No, that can't happen here.</span>"</div><div>
</div><div>May 16</div><div><b>On Laura Ingraham's show, Rudy Giuliani at once broaches the subject of the FBI "possibly placing a spy in the Trump campaign"</b> while admitting that he doesn't know if the gossip is true. The next morning, on Fox & Friends, he’ll again dip his toes in the water before retreating to solid ground. "That would be the biggest scandal in the history of this town—at least, involving law enforcement," Giuliani warns.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>He's intrigued by the possibility, though. "Maybe two spies!" he wonders aloud.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Meanwhile, outside the MAGAsphere, a New York Times article helps breathe new life into the conspiracy theory.</b> The authors of that report—an account of the 2016 law-enforcement inquiry into the Trump campaign—note that “at least one government informant met several times with Mr. Page and Mr. Papadopoulos.” Referring to the preceding week of innuendo, they characterize this detail as a “politically contentious point, with Mr. Trump’s allies questioning whether the F.B.I. was spying on the Trump campaign or trying to entrap campaign officials.”</span></div><div>
</div><div>As noted by USA Today's Brad Heath, FBI guidelines allow agents to use informants, among many other methods of information-gathering, when assessing whether a matter warrants a full criminal investigation. The Bureau's partial reliance on a "source" here isn't especially remarkable.</div><div>
</div><div>Furthermore, given their knowledge of the Kremlin's election-meddling efforts, it isn't difficult to understand why the intelligence community might have an interest in a campaign's ties to Russia, regardless of the candidate's political affiliation. <b>Marco Rubio—</b>a man not known for being fond of Hillary Clinton—said as much after reviewing the underlying evidence along with the rest of the members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which found no secret political motivation for opening the inquiry. “There was a growing body of evidence that a foreign government was attempting to interfere in both the process and the debate surrounding our elections, and their job is to investigate counterintelligence,” he reasoned in comments cited by the Times. “That’s what they did.”</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">It doesn't matter. One little opening is all it takes. <b>Breitbart</b>, mentioning the May 8 Post story and Strassel's follow-up, proclaims that the Times report "confirmed" that the FBI ran a "spy operation on the Trump campaign that involved government informants, secret subpoenas, and possible wiretaps." (The article itself mentions only the FISA warrant on Page, but the headline's<b> plural form—"wiretaps"</b>—does its job of making things sound especially ominous.)</span></div><div>
</div><div>May 17</div><div><b>Other right-wing outlets aggregating the Times </b>report draw the same conclusions Breitbart did. “FBI officials admit they spied on the Trump campaign,” blares The Federalist, which justifies its assertion with a helpful explanatory aside.</div><div>
</div><div>This paragraph [in the Times report] is noteworthy for the way it describes spying on the campaign—“at least one government informant met several times with Mr. Page and Mr. Papadopoulos”—before suggesting that might not be spying. The definition of spying is to secretly collect information, so it’s not really in dispute whether a government informant fits the bill.”</div><div>
</div><div>Note that the write-up does not actually suggest that the FBI "planted" anyone in the campaign. But by setting out an expansive definition of "spying," articles like this one allow other publications—ones that might not so carefully define their terms—to use the word in that more specific (and more nefarious) context.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>It is the National Review's coverage—assisted by cable news—that finally allows this story to reach the hallways of the Executive Residence. </b>"With the blessing of the Obama White House," writes Andrew McCarthy, again attributing the actions of law-enforcement officials to affirmative decisions of the then-president, the FBI "took the powers that enable our government to spy on foreign adversaries and used them to spy on Americans—Americans who just happened to be their political adversaries."</span>He continues:</div><div>
</div><div>Obviously, Russia was trying to meddle in the election, mainly through cyber-espionage—hacking. There would, then, have been nothing inappropriate about the FBI’s opening up a counterintelligence investigation against Russia. Indeed, it would have been irresponsible not to do so. That’s what counterintelligence powers are for.</div><div>
</div><div>But opening up a counterintelligence investigation against Russia is not the same thing as opening up a counterintelligence investigation against the Trump campaign.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This is the thrust of his argument, and it is nonsensical. McCarthy seems to assume that counterintelligence investigations "against Russia" and counterintelligence investigations "against the Trump campaign" must be mutually exclusive propositions,</span> and that under no circumstances could a Russia-related intelligence probe look at the activities of Russia-related Trump officials. (His analysis is aided by a gross oversimplification of a key provision of FISA.) It would be "irresponsible," he urges, not to investigate what Russia may have been doing. But by virtue of their affiliation with a politician, everyone on the campaign should be insulated from any attendant scrutiny.</div><div>
</div><div><b>Before his column publishes, McCarthy hops on Fox & Friends to promote it.</b> “There’s probably no doubt that they had at least one confidential informant in the campaign,” he says in a strange moment of confidence and timidity. (In a fun, incestuous right-wing-media aside, while listing McCarthy's credentials, F&F co-host Brian Kilmeade adds, "Hopefully a Fox News contributor soon.") Not long afterward, Trump takes to Twitter to express his outrage, shouting out McCarthy by name for a job well done.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Donald J. Trump</div><div>?</div><div>@realDonaldTrump</div><div> Wow, word seems to be coming out that the Obama FBI “SPIED ON THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN WITH AN EMBEDDED INFORMANT.” Andrew McCarthy says, “There’s probably no doubt that they had at least one confidential informant in the campaign.” If so, this is bigger than Watergate!</div><div>
</div><div>...</div><div>
</div><div><b>Law-enforcement pushback begins in earnest. </b>Sources tell CNN that, no, the source was not placed within the Trump campaign. The Times provides even more details about the timeline, affirming that the informant spoke to campaign members only after the FBI learned of their dubious contacts with Russia. "No evidence has emerged," it reiterates, "that the informant acted improperly when the F.B.I. asked for help in gathering information on the former campaign advisers, or that agents veered from the F.B.I.’s investigative guidelines and began a politically motivated inquiry, which would be illegal."</div><div>
</div><div><b>It's too late.</b> Because Donald Trump is president of the United States, the content of his tweets becomes breaking news regardless of its accuracy. "Trump: Justice Department planted spy in 2016 campaign," declares an AP headline that runs, among other places, in The Washington Post and U.S. News & World Report. The body text notes that Trump's "own lawyer" has said that the allegation "might not be true."<b> But for readers inclined to believe what Donald Trump says, or for those who only saw the headline as they scrolled through their social feeds, it might as well have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.</b></div><div>
</div><div>Epilogue: May 18–20</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The next day, the president tweets again, and again, with grateful acknowledgements for the hard work put in by Fox News personalities Lou Dobbs, David Asman, and Gregg Jarrett.</span></div></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b></b></div></div><div style=""><p><b>While Fox & Friends may be Trump's favorite show, Trump's close relationship with Sean Hannity is unparalleled. Hannity and Trump <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=http%3A%2F%2Fnymag.com%2Fdaily%2Fintelligencer%2F2018%2F05%2Fsean-hannity-donald-trump-late-night-calls.html&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=527weekly&n=34&v=1391">speak before bedtime</a>, and Hannity has been called Trump's <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fpolitics%2Fhannitys-rising-role-in-trumps-world-he-basically-has-a-desk-in-the-place%2F2018%2F04%2F17%2Fe2483018-4260-11e8-8569-26fda6b404c7_story.html%3Futm_term%3D.dbd3f54975b2&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=527weekly&n=35&v=1391">unofficial chief of staff</a>. Trump also <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Fblog%2F2018%2F04%2F12%2FIs-Sean-Hannity-coordinating-with-the-White-House%2F219928&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=527weekly&n=36&v=1391">encourages people</a> to watch Hannity's show. Matt Gertz reviewed everything that Sean Hannity said about Robert Mueller's probe for a year, and found that Hannity has been <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Fblog%2F2018%2F05%2F23%2Fstudy-sean-hannity-spent-last-year-laying-groundwork-authoritarian-response-russia-probe%2F220281&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=527weekly&n=37&v=1391">laying the groundwork</a>for Trump to use any means necessary to stop the investigation.</b></p><p><b><em>Also</em>: There is a <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Fblog%2F2018%2F05%2F23%2Fintroducing-ean-hannity-expanded-universe-fox-s-anti-mueller-alternative-reality%2F220274&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=527weekly&n=38&v=1391">small, recurring cast of characters</a> that is primarily seen on Hannity, Lou Dobbs Tonight, and Justice with Jeanine Pirro. These are the people who are telling Trump to act on his authoritarian impulses, and who are normalizing extreme, authoritarian actions within Trump's base before Trump does anything. </b></p><p><b><em>What Fox News doesn't tell its viewers</em>: Getting <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Fblog%2F2018%2F05%2F21%2Ffox-news-virtually-ignores-report-saudi-emirati-princes-offered-assistance-trump-campaign%2F220267&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=527weekly&n=39&v=1391">no mention</a> on <em>Hannity</em> or elsewhere on Fox News was a report that Saudi and Emirati princes offered assistance to the Trump campaign. Erik Prince (Blackwater founder and brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos) and George Nader, emissary for the princes of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, were both present at an August 2016 meeting in Trump Tower with Donald Trump Jr. Following this meeting, Nader became close with members of the Trump campaign and had multiple meetings with Jared Kushner and Michael Flynn.</b></p></div><div style=""><div><b>=</b></div><div><b><a href="https://www.alternet.org/how-right-wing-media-help-trump-spin-lies-about-russia-investigation">https://www.alternet.org/how-right-wing-media-help-trump-spin-lies-about-russia-investigation</a></b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>2 mtgs gang 8</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>... crucial to view this attempt by the White House to assert the existence of an anti-Trump cabal within the government in context: It's the latest in a series of fraudulent and debunked attemps to push such a claim. Trump’s demand that his investigators be investigated rests on a foundation of lies that was built with the critical assistance of a credulous and complicit right-wing media.</b></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><b>Let’s run through all the major conspiracy theories that brought us to this point.</b></p><b>Wiretapping </b><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><b>The effort by Trump and his defenders to deflect attention from the Russia investigation onto the previous administration started with this early-morning tweet from March 2017:</b></p><blockquote cite="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/837989835818287106" data-scribe="subject" data-tweet-id="837989835818287106"><a aria-label=" realDonaldTrump)" data-scribe="user_link" href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Donald J. Trump</a> <a aria-label=" realDonaldTrump)" data-scribe="user_link" href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump" style="text-decoration-line: none;">✔@realDonaldTrump</a> <p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!</p><a data-datetime="20+0000" data-scribe="full_timestamp" href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/837989835818287106" style="text-decoration-line: none;">4:35 AM - Mar 4, 2017</a><ul aria-label="Tweet actions" data-scribe="actions" role="menu"><li> <a data-scribe="actions" href="https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=837989835818287106" title="Like" style="text-decoration-line: none;">144K</a></li><li> <a data-scribe="news" href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/837989835818287106" title="View the conversation on Twitter" style="text-decoration-line: none;">103K people are talking about this</a></li></ul></blockquote><a href="https://support.twitter.com/articles/20175256" title="Twitter Ads info and privacy" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Twitter Ads info and privacy</a> <p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">It was a deathly serious allegation for the president to make, and it was <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2017/09/revisiting-trumps-wiretap-tweets/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">completely false</a>. Top Justice Department officials denied the allegation, a DOJ <a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3985960/DOJ-Motion-for-Summary-Judgment-in-Trump-Tower.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none;">court filing</a> affirmed that there are “no records related to wiretaps as described by the March 4, 2017 tweets,” and the president has not produced any evidence to back up his accusation.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">Unmasking</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">Nonetheless, Trump’s defenders in the conservative media <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2017/03/20/hannity-theres-no-evidence-obama-wiretapped-trump-tower-doesnt-mean-they-didnt-surveil-trump-tower/215767" style="text-decoration-line: none;">contorted themselves</a> to try to prove Trump was right, especially following House intelligence committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes’ March 22, 2017, <a href="https://intelligence.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=774" style="text-decoration-line: none;">press conference</a> (which Nunes <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nunes-met-source-trump-monitoring-claim-white-house-n738906" style="text-decoration-line: none;">secretly coordinated</a> with the White House) announcing that “surveillance activities were used against President Trump and his associates.”</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">Speaking of Nunes, he became the driving force behind the allegation that Obama administration officials had improperly unmasked the identities of Trump associates whose conversations were incidentally captured by intelligence agencies. Once again acting on information <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/30/us/politics/devin-nunes-intelligence-reports.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">provided by the Trump White House</a>, Nunes accused former national security adviser Susan Rice and other Obama officials of abusing the unmasking process. Rice acknowledged that she had requested certain identities, but congressional investigators from both parties <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/susan-rice-did-nothing-wrong-say-both-dems-republicans-n747406" style="text-decoration-line: none;">said</a>she’d done nothing wrong.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">The “unmasking” nonsense <a href="https://insider.foxnews.com/2017/04/03/sean-hannity-susan-rice-unmasking-names-trump-tower-surveillance-spying-during-obama-era" style="text-decoration-line: none;">permeated conservative media</a> and was <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2017/04/05/why-susan-rices-role-in-the-trump-spying-scandal-is-a-big-deal/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">presented as evidence</a> of an Obama-led conspiracy to undermine Trump as president-elect. Trump himself told <em>The New York Times</em> that he believed Rice had <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/05/us/politics/trump-interview-susan-rice.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">committed a crime</a>.</p>“Secret society”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">This was an especially stupid fiasco kicked up by Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) and Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX). The pair went on Fox News to reveal the existence of a text message exchange between two FBI agents sent the day after the 2016 election that referenced a “secret society” supposedly populated by anti-Trump law enforcement officials. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), chairman of the Senate homeland security committee, seized on the message to <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/955947841826033665" style="text-decoration-line: none;">allege</a> “corruption at the highest levels of the FBI.” Conservative media went <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/01/23/newest-pro-trump-conspiracy-theory-secret-society-fbi-undermining-trump/219144" style="text-decoration-line: none;">absolutely crazy</a> with the “<a href="https://www.facebook.com/Mediamatters/videos/10155267901581167/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">secret society</a>” allegation, holding it up as proof of a “deep state” conspiracy against Trump.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">The “secret society” turned out to be <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fbi-text-secret-society-putin-beefcake-calendar_us_5a6940d1e4b0e56300762ffe" style="text-decoration-line: none;">nothing more than an inside joke</a> between the two agents.</p>
Obama “wants to know everything we’re doing”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">The White House’s deflection strategy rests on the idea that Barack Obama corrupted law enforcement agencies by directing them to investigate Donald Trump’s campaign as a way of undermining his candidacy. To that end, Republicans and conservatives are invested in demonstrating that Obama actively meddled in politically sensitive law enforcement business, such as the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">In February, Johnson’s committee released a <a href="https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/media/majority-media/chairman-johnson-releases-interim-report-including-strzok-page-fbi-text-messages" style="text-decoration-line: none;">report</a> alleging that <a href="https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2018-02-07%20Interim%20Report_The%20Clinton%20Email%20Scandal%20and%20the%20FBI's%20Investigation%20of%20It.pdf#page=15" style="text-decoration-line: none;">a text message</a> from an FBI agent stating that Obama “wants to know everything we’re doing” raised “questions about the type and extent of President Obama’s personal involvement in the Clinton email scandal and the FBI investigation of it.”</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">Once again, conservative media was <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/02/08/life-made-fox-news-scandal-obama-fbi-texts-edition/219321" style="text-decoration-line: none;">driven to a frenzy</a>, fueled partially by <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/961270833569202176" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Trump’s tweet</a> that the “NEW FBI TEXTS ARE BOMBSHELLS!” And, once again, it <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/texts-from-2016-show-fbi-employees-preparing-obama-briefing-on-russia-1518036629" style="text-decoration-line: none;">all turned out to be false</a> -- the text in question referred to presidential briefing materials regarding the investigation into Russian election interference, not Clinton.</p>FBI hid info from the FISA court <p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">In February, Nunes’ committee <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/03/what-is-the-nunes-memo-and-why-important" style="text-decoration-line: none;">released a memo</a> that, according to the frantic hype that preceded its release, would reveal rampant surveillance abuses committed by intelligence agencies against the Trump campaign. Chief among the alleged abuses was the accusation that the FBI had illicitly obtained a warrant to surveil former Trump aide Carter Page by concealing from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court the political origin of some of the evidence it cited in its application.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">Right-wing media figures like Sean Hannity <a href="https://youtu.be/84a-6tSI9go?t=32s" style="text-decoration-line: none;">called</a> this “Watergate times a thousand” and said the FBI “lie[d] to a foreign intelligence surveillance court.” Trump <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/959798743842349056" style="text-decoration-line: none;">tweeted</a> that the memo “totally vindicates” him and showed the Russia investigation to be “an American disgrace.”</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">It was <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/05/fbi-footnote-carter-page-warrant-390795" style="text-decoration-line: none;">a lie</a> -- the political origin of the evidence was indeed disclosed in the FBI application -- and Nunes and his Republican colleagues admitted as much in the days following the memo’s release.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">What emerges from all this is a damning picture of a Republican political operation -- involving the White House and key members of Congress -- to concoct blatant falsehoods and conspiracy theories, and a conservative media apparatus that readily absorbs and rebroadcasts that propaganda. At a certain level, behavior like this is to be expected -- these same characters spent all eight years of the Obama administration cobbling together ridiculous conspiracy theories about Benghazi, the former president’s birthplace, and a <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/jade-helm-wild-conspiracy-theories" style="text-decoration-line: none;">secret military invasion of Texas</a>.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">There is a key difference, however, in all the lying about the Russia investigation. These conspiracy theories are <em>defensive</em>. Most conservative pundits will describe the Russia investigation as a threat to the very fabric of American government; they recognize the extreme danger it poses to Trump’s presidency. Trump himself has no discernible legal strategy. Instead, he’s fighting a public relations campaign and casting himself as the victim of a “witch hunt.”</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">These attacks on the legitimacy of the investigation are the only weapon they have against it. And as the investigation exposes Trump to more and more legal and political peril, the conspiratorial attacks on the Justice Department and the Obama administration become more strident. Trump used to be content to vent on Twitter about the Russia investigation, but now he’s using the weight of his office to give life to an evidence-free accusation of political persecution. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">Trump relies on the conservative media’s unthinking support as he wages this increasingly unhinged campaign. He needs to hear the hosts of <em>Fox & Friends</em> chirp every morning about how each new phony “bombshell” about the Russia investigation vindicates him. He needs to chat with Sean Hannity <a href="https://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/05/sean-hannity-donald-trump-late-night-calls.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">every night before bedtime</a> about how Robert Mueller is out to get him. But Trump is only going to get more frustrated as each increasingly elaborate falsehood fails to produce the desired outcome, and that means the coordinated lying and conspiracy-mongering are only going to get worse as the investigation moves forward.</p><div></div></div><div style=""><b>
5/18 under investigation?
=</b></div><div style=""><b><a href="https://www.alternet.org/fox-news-sean-hannity-and-donald-trumps-bromance-extends-them-chatting-bed-night-report">https://www.alternet.org/fox-news-sean-hannity-and-donald-trumps-bromance-extends-them-chatting-bed-night-report</a></b></div><div style=""><b>
</b></div><div style=""><b>Every night the phone rings for Fox News host Sean Hannity from the White House. While the first lady is in her own bedroom down the hall of the executive residence, the bromance between the two men is glowing through the phone as they gush over the president’s latest coverage on the network.</b><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><b>A shocking expose in <em>New York Magazine</em> revealed Sunday the many sources that are intimately aware of the relationship the two men share and how it has crafted the communications strategy for the White House.</b></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">"White House staff are aware that the calls happen, thanks to the president entering a room and announcing, 'I just hung up with Hannity,' or referring to what Hannity said during their conversations, or even ringing Hannity up from his desk in their presence," the report outlined.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><span style="text-align: center;">E</span><span style="text-align: center;">arly on in the Trump presidency, the morning was spent flipping from cable news shows like MSNBC's</span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><em style="text-align: center;">Morning Joe</em><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;">to CNN's</span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><em style="text-align: center;">New Day</em><span style="text-align: center;">, which ultimately lead to rage tweeting and an entire day's plans thrown out onto the White House lawn.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">“It got to the point that they were just like, ‘We need to get him off these channels and onto <em>Fox & Friends</em> or else we’re going to be chasing down this crazy-train bullshit from MSNBC and CNN all day,’” one former White House official told <em>New York Magazine</em>.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">Thanks to former chief of staff Reince Priebus and press secretary Sean Spicer, however, the team was able to move the president to Fox News. The result has been a happier and more blissfully benighted Trump less likely to ignite World War III after a Chris Cuomo quip. That's not to say that there aren't other problems.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">“Sometimes on Fox, a lot of stories are embellished, and they don’t necessarily cover the big news stories of the day," explained the current White House official. "When they cover the smaller stories, if that gets the president riled up, then that becomes an issue. Whenever he tweets, all of us do a mad dash or mad scramble to find out as much information about that random topic as possible. We’re used to it in a lot of ways, so it’s part of our morning routine.”</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">To make matters worse, Trump doesn't trust anyone willing to work for him. Instead he flocks to his phone, begging for outsiders to confirm he's right. At the center of those on speed dial, however, is Hannity.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">“Sean Hannity understands the basic issues of economic nationalism and ‘America First’ foreign policy at a deeper level than the august staff of Jonathan Chait and the f*ckin’ clowns at <em>New York Magazine</em>,” Bannon replied.“Generally, the feeling is that Sean is the leader of the outside kitchen cabinet,” another White House official told <em>New York Magazine</em>.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">A White House official explained it as the influence of administration officials are essentially equal to Fox News.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><a href="https://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/05/sean-hannity-donald-trump-late-night-calls.html" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Read more of the extensive details of the relationship at <em>New York Magazine</em>.</a></p>
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trump, dobbs, rudy<p>...
president gets his information from Fox, makes his decisions and tweets accordingly, repeating network talking points minutes after he has heard them, no matter how goofy. In turn, the personalities of Fox have become presidential advisers; former judge and Fox host Jeanine Pirro and attorney, conspiracy theorist and <a href="https://www.cnn/com/2018/03/25/politics/joseph-digenova-trump-legal-team/index.html">Fox regular Joe diGenova</a>, who was on Trump’s legal team for about a week before conflicts of interest forced him out, remain on the president’s speed dial.</p><p>What’s more, Trump “cherishes” Lou Dobbs over at Fox Business, <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-cherishes-lou-dobbs-so-much-he-puts-him-on-speaker-phone-for-oval-office-meetings">according to The Daily Beast</a>, places him on speakerphone for meetings in the Oval Office and makes sure “he is involved in some of the administration’s more sensitive discussions.” And an insider tells <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/hannitys-rising-role-in-trumps-world-he-basically-has-a-desk-in-the-place/2018/04/17/e2483018-4260-11e8-8569-26fda6b404c7_story.html?utm_term=.8c51d0f437af">The Washington Post</a> that Fox<b> superstar Sean Hannity is so omnipresent at the White House, “he basically has a desk in the place.”</b></p><p>Conversely, the president and his minions repeatedly go on Fox programs to bluster and dissemble. In the last week and a half, Trump himself has phoned into his favorite show “Fox and Friends” for a thirty-minute, Grandpa Simpsons-style rant – and threatens to do it again soon. And former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, the latest addition to Trump’s squad of nerve-wracked legal eagles, has appeared on Fox almost as much as those commercials for catheters.</p><p>Ostensibly, Giuliani’s mission has been to defend his boss against the Stormy Daniels and Russia scandals, and whatever else may soon rear its head when it comes to Michael Cohen, money laundering and other alleged high crimes and misdemeanors. Yet his comments don’t seem to be helping the president’s cause; quite the contrary. This <a href="https://politics.theonion.com/mueller-poses-as-fox-news-host-to-coax-rudy-giuliani-in-1825782607?utm_source=TheOnion_Weekly_RSS&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=&utm_term=">headline from The Onion</a> says it all, “Mueller Poses As Fox News Host To Coax Rudy Giuliani Into Giving Him Testimony On Trump.”</p><p>....
</p><p><a href="https://www.alternet.org/fox-news-and-white-house-created-massive-toxic-bubble-its-about-pop">https://www.alternet.org/fox-news-and-white-house-created-massive-toxic-bubble-its-about-pop</a>
</p>=
</div><div style=""><b><a href="https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/sean-hannity-coordinating-white-house">https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/sean-hannity-coordinating-white-house</a></b></div><div style=""><b>
</b></div><div style=""><b>no lnx</b></div><div style=""><div><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Every episode of Fox News’ Hannity follows a fairly basic formula these days: pugnacious cube-headed goon Sean Hannity serves up a monologue devoted almost entirely to the vituperative (and frequently incoherent) slander of President Donald Trump’s political adversaries, and then he lards out the hour with panel discussions featuring a small, rotating cast of like-minded Trump sycophants and the odd sacrificial liberal.</span></b></div><div>
</div><div>As Donald Trump’s many scandals have mushroomed, Hannity has been forced to get louder and crazier. Last night’s episode was an especially psychotic exercise in Hannity-brand demonization as he attempted to counterpunch former FBI Director James Comey, who is ramping up a book tour for his forthcoming memoir. You can watch Hannity’s monologue below, in which the host places Comey, the Clintons, and special counsel Robert Mueller as the heads of their respective “crime families.”</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>It’s insane, but it's what Sean Hannity does. What was interesting about last night’s show, however, was the tweet that President Trump posted at 8:48 p.m. EST, 12 minutes before Hannity started:</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Donald J. Trump</div><div>?</div><div>@realDonaldTrump</div><div> Big show tonight on @seanhannity! 9:00 P.M. on @FoxNews</div><div>
</div><div>5:48 PM - Apr 11, 2018</div><div>51.5K</div><div>33.2K people are talking about this</div><div>Twitter Ads info and privacy</div><div>Big show! How would Trump know that last night’s Hannity would be a big show? Why would he want everyone to watch this specific episode of Hannity, which featured some of his favorite pundits calling for the heads of top Justice Department officials alongside an elaborate, acid-burned harangue against James Comey and Robert Mueller? What possible explanation could there be?</div><div>
</div><div>Well, the obvious and extremely satisfying one is that Trump knew it was coming and this was all one big coordinated attack on the credibility of the Russia investigation. That, at least, was the explanation put forth by well-sourced Trumpworld reporters. We know that Trump is in regular contact with his favorite Fox News hosts/propagandists (some of whom are old friends) and even solicits their input on policy matters. And given that Fox News is absolutely critical to the White House’s PR war against the Russia investigation, it’s not crazy to assume some level of coordination.</div><div>
</div><div>Hannity, however, is aghast and insulted that anyone would ever accuse him of such corruption.</div><div>
</div><div>Sean Hannity</div><div>?</div><div>@seanhannity</div><div> And the answer is “NO” to the Fake news industrial complex @ Potus was not given ANY heads up on my monologue using the “Comey” standard!!! Nice try. https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/984244920293699584 …</div><div>
</div><div>6:48 PM - Apr 11, 2018</div><div>3,871</div><div>
</div><div>“No collusion,” as it were. One should take a moment to note the specificity of Hannity’s denial -- Trump had no advance knowledge of the monologue. What about the rest of the show? If Trump had no idea what was coming, then why was he boosting the program before it aired?</div><div>
</div><div>Also, Hannity’s angry denials are not worth the flung spittle that accompanies them. He is so thoroughly compromised by his feral Trump advocacy that nothing he says can be taken at face value. Hannity has admitted to giving Trump advice on strategy and messaging in 2016 and described himself as “a little bit of a liaison” between the Trump campaign and Fox News. He has dinner with Trump frequently. Hannity has no core, no animating philosophy, and nothing of substance to say -- his job is to yell louder than the president's critics.</div><div>
</div><div>But Hannity would have us believe that he comes by his maniacal Trump boosterism honestly, that he is beyond official influence in his straight-shooting mission to cover the president as an infallible sun god molested by foul heretics and despicable blasphemers. So, I guess denying or admitting coordination doesn’t really matter because his end product is already functionally indistinct from official propaganda. Hannity’s either giving us the official White House line or the line the White House just happens to agree with entirely.</div><div>
</div><div>Simon Maloy is Salon's political writer</div></div><div style=""><p><b>=</b></p><p><b>also politico</b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 344.859px 1em 0px; line-height: 1.5em; background-color: rgb(247, 248, 248);"><b> If you’re a regular listener of Glenn Beck’s radio show and you wanted to contribute to a political group that would advance the populist conservative ideals he touts on his show, you’d have plenty of reason to think that FreedomWorks was your best investment.</b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 344.859px 1em 0px; line-height: 1.5em; background-color: rgb(247, 248, 248);"><b>But if you’re a fan of <b>Mark Levin</b>’s radio show, you’d have just as much cause to believe that Americans for Prosperity, a FreedomWorks rival, was the most effective conservative advocacy group. And, if Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity are who you listen to, you’d be hearing a steady stream of entreaties to support the important work of the Heritage Foundation.</b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 344.859px 1em 0px; line-height: 1.5em; background-color: rgb(247, 248, 248);"><b>
“The point that people don’t realize,” said Michael Harrison, founder and publisher of the talk media trade publication TALKERS Magazine, “is that (big time political talk show hosts) are radio personalities – they are in the same business that people like Casey Kasem are in – and what they do is no different than people who broadcast from used car lots or restaurants or who endorse the local roofer or gardener.”That’s not coincidence. In search of donations and influence, the three prominent conservative groups are paying hefty sponsorship fees to the popular talk show hosts. Those fees buy them a variety of <a target="blank" href="http://www.politico.com/static/PPM170_110614_levinafp.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">promotional</a> <a target="blank" href="http://www.politico.com/static/PPM170_freedomworks.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">tie-ins</a>, as well as regular on-air plugs – praising or sometimes defending the groups, while urging listeners to donate – often woven seamlessly into programming in ways that do not seem like paid advertising.</b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 344.859px 1em 0px; line-height: 1.5em;"><b><b><span style="background-color: rgb(247, 248, 248);">The Heritage Foundation pays about $2 million to sponsor Limbaugh’s show and about $1.3 million to do the same with </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Hannity’s </span><span style="background-color: rgb(247, 248, 248);">– and considers it money well spent.</span></b></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 344.859px 1em 0px; line-height: 1.5em; background-color: rgb(247, 248, 248);"><b>“We approach it the way anyone approaches advertising: where is our audience that wants to buy what you sell?” Genevieve Wood, Heritage’s vice president for operations and marketing. “And their audiences obviously fit that model for us. They promote conservative ideas and that’s what we do.”</b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 344.859px 1em 0px; line-height: 1.5em;"><b><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Last month, in the midst of a <a target="blank" href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/55051.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">flurry of scrutiny</a> of GOP presidential candidates’ stances on health insurance <a target="blank" href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/54651.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">mandates</a> similar to one included in the 2010 Democratic healthcare overhaul, Limbaugh took to the airwaves to defend Heritage’s past support for such a proposal.</font></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 344.859px 1em 0px; line-height: 1.5em; background-color: rgb(247, 248, 248);"><b>“The Heritage Foundation to this day says they are being impugned and misrepresented in terms of their advocacy for such a thing,” <a target="blank" href="http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_051811/content/01125107.guest.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Limbaugh said</a>, explaining that the venerable think tank “abandoned the idea once they saw it implemented” and realized “it doesn’t work.”</b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 344.859px 1em 0px; line-height: 1.5em; background-color: rgb(247, 248, 248);"><b><b>Limbaugh, who has been a paid Heritage endorser <a target="blank" href="http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_010709/content/01125109.guest.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">since 2009</a>, said the reversal did nothing to detract from the “profound … respect for Heritage.</b> Heritage is the gold standard. Heritage was every bit as involved in Reaganism as Reagan was, and nothing’s changed.”</b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 344.859px 1em 0px; line-height: 1.5em; background-color: rgb(247, 248, 248);"><b>Levin, whose endorsement deal with the tea party organizing group Americans for Prosperity started last summer, was similarly protective of his sponsor last year after President Barack Obama singled out the group in making the case that anonymously funded attack ads <a target="blank" href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/43470.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">were distorting</a> the midterm elections.</b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 344.859px 1em 0px; line-height: 1.5em; background-color: rgb(247, 248, 248);"><b>“Americans for Prosperity is a magnificent organization that people join voluntarily. You. Me,” Levin said <a target="blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiJQWtE8mm0" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">on his syndicated radio show</a>. Obama, Levin continued, “wants you to hate Americans for Prosperity. So if he wants you to hate it, then you should embrace it, and promote it, and support it and join it, because it’s effective.”</b></p><p><b></b></p><p><b><b>...</b><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman"><b>Beck, lavishing praise on FreedomWorks’</b>s new social network website this year, seemed to acknowledge the blurriness of the line between his show’s content and messages paid for by advertisers.</span></b></p><p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman"><b>“This is a new thing from FreedomWorks and by the way, they are sponsor of this program and I have a commercial to do for them in, well, in just a few minutes. I don’t think they’re going to get one because this is pretty much it,” he said on his show, in a clip that’s <a target="blank" href="http://www.glennbeck.com/2011/02/14/freedom-connector-get-organized">posted</a> on his personal website. “But it is something that I believe in, I’m not saying this because they’re paying me to do a commercial in a couple of minutes. This is something that I think is absolutely critical.”</b></p><div class="story-embed" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman"><div id="storyControls" class="embed-mod js"><div id="listenToStory"><p id="continue" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman"><b>To be sure, the hosts’ political perspectives dovetail with those of their endorsees and their paid sponsorships do not preclude them from discussing – or even praising – other groups.</b></p><p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">And the<b> integration of sponsors and their causes into the content of conservative talkers’ shows is not unique to advocacy groups and think tanks, as Beck demonstrated in 2009 when he melded his frequent warnings of impending economic collapse with his promotion of <a target="blank" href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30231.html">gold</a>, generally, and the precious metals retailer that sponsored his show, <a target="blank" href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/42222.html">Goldline</a>, specifically.</b></span></b></p><p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">That prompted liberals – led by now-embattled Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner – to accuse Beck and, to a lesser extent, other conservative talk show hosts sponsored by gold retailers, of using misleading fear-mongering <a target="blank" href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/37413.html">tactics</a> “to cheat consumers.”</span></b></p><p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The increased willingness of non-profits to write big checks for such radio endorsements – which appears to have started in 2008, when Heritage <a target="blank" href="http://www.politico.com/static/PPM191_heritagefoundation.html">paid $1.2 million</a> to sponsor the talk shows hosted by<b> Hannity</b> and Laura Ingraham – seems to be a primarily, if not entirely, a conservative phenomenon.</span></b></p><p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman"><b>That’s perhaps attributable to the enduring power of talk radio on the right, as well as a newer development, the explosion of grassroots engagement by tea partiers and other newly mobilized Republican activists, which has spurred a competition for grass roots support – <a target="blank" href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30595.html">and contributions</a> - among conservative groups.</b></p><p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Heritage estimates that it in each of the past two years, its sponsorships with Limbaugh and Hannity brought in more than 40,000 new memberships </b>starting at the $25 level, while FreedomWorks said that in the three months after its Beck sponsorship started in April 2010, the group saw a huge spike in traffic to its website</span> (which featured a photo of Beck linked to a fundraising <a target="blank" href="http://mediamatters.org/research/201006140030">appeal</a>), resulting in 50,000 new email sign-ups.</b></p><p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Americans for Prosperity wouldn’t divulge any details about its sponsorship of Levin, but board member Art Pope said the endorsement “makes AfP’s position on issues and policies more widely known and it also does attract grassroots activists or potential donors to AfP.”</span></b></p><p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman"><b>The groups pay the companies that distribute the hosts’ shows, and not the hosts directly, for the endorsements.</b></p><p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman"><b>While the deals differ, most provide the sponsoring group a certain number of messages or so called “live-reads,” in which the host will use a script, outline or set of talking points to deliver an advertisement touting the group and encouraging listeners to visit its website or contribute to it.</b></p><p><b></b></p></div></div></div></div><div style=""><p><b>=</b></p><p><b><a href="https://www.alternet.org/media/fox-news-trump-fire-rosenstein">https://www.alternet.org/media/fox-news-trump-fire-rosenstein</a></b></p><p><b>hannity</b></p><div><b></b></div></div><div style=""><div><b></b></div><div>Right-wing hosts like Sean Hannity get paid to pitch guns as a way to “survive a mass shooting”</div><div>Blog ››› October 6, 2017 11:40 AM EDT ››› ERIC HANANOKI</div><div>[vid]</div><div>Right-wing radio hosts such as Sean Hannity and Mark Levin have been acting as paid pitch people for a company that promises to help train members on how to use guns to “survive a mass shooting.” Hannity has been especially vocal about the company and used the recent Las Vegas mass shooting to shill for it on his radio program.</div><div>
</div><div>The U.S. Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) is a pro-gun company that sells membership plans featuring“education, training, and self-defense insurance” for gun owners. It also criticizes attempts to enact gun control laws and publishes Concealed Carry Magazine. The group claims to have over 250,000 members and has attempted to grow its membership over the years through numerous advertising buys with conservative media.</div><div>
</div><div>Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and Ben Shapiro are all part of the association’s latest advertising campaign for a “100% FREE Complete Concealed Carry & Family Defense Guide,” which includes tips on “how to survive a mass shooting” and “the safest AND most dangerous places to sit in a restaurant” (the sign-up takes people to a page that urges them to pay for a membership).</div><div>
</div><div>The USCCA created dedicated landing pages for each individual host participating in the advertising campaign, including the following identical quote which was cut and pasted for each person:</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Prior to the Las Vegas shooting, these media personalities did advertisements for the campaign that aired in late September. Here are those ads, along with their dedicated website URL: ?Beck (ProtectAndDefend.com), ?Hannity (DefendFamily.com), ?Levin (DefendThem.com), and ?Shapiro (DefendMyFamilyNow.com) .</div><div>
</div><div>Hannity has continued to tout USCCA as a solution to surviving a mass shooting following the Las Vegas tragedy. During his October 5 radio program, Hannity segued from talking about the mass shooting to introducing “our friends at the United States Concealed Carry Association,” saying, “I’m proud to be associated with them. They have offered a family defense guide. You’re going to learn -- and this is 164 pages -- how to survive a mass shooting. How to detect attackers before they see you.”</div><div>
</div><div>Previously, Hannity used the shooting at a congressional baseball practice in June to push USCCA membership.</div><div>
</div><div>The association, which did not respond to requests for comment, features a Hannity testimonial on its websiteunder the headline: “Why Sean Hannity Joined The USCCA… Hear Why One Of The Most Trusted Conservative Voices In America Is A Proud Card-Carrying Member.”</div><div>
</div><div>[audio]</div><div>
</div><div>Hannity used his October 4 Fox News program to advocate for concealed carry while discussing the Las Vegas shooting. He praised right-to-carry laws and said that “having more citizens that are armed leads to a decrease in violent crime.” He did not mention he’s being paid by a pro-right-to-carry group during the program.</div><div>
</div><div>Despite Hannity’s claim, as The Atlantic noted in June, “academic studies have strongly suggested” that right-to-carry laws “lead to higher rates of violent crime. The latest -- and, at least according to one of its authors, most comprehensive -- was released earlier this month by the non-partisan National Bureau of Economic Research.” The study concluded, “There is not even the slightest hint in the data that [these] laws reduce violent crime.”</div><div>
</div><div>Media Matters previously documented that Hannity repeatedly used his Fox New program to push his radio sponsor’s concealed carry agenda without any disclosure about his financial relationship. He similarly used his Fox News program in 2014 to promote the fundraising efforts of the Tea Party Patriots, which sponsored his radio program.</div><div><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/people/ben-shapiro">
</a></div><div><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/people/ben-shapiro">https://www.mediamatters.org/people/ben-shapiro</a></div><div></div><div>
</div><div><table id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1517687781406_194037" style="padding-inline-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); width: 524px;" border="0"><tbody id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1517687781406_194036" style="padding-inline-start: 0px; width: 524px;"><tr id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1517687781406_194035" style="padding-inline-start: 0px;"><td id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1517687781406_194034" style="padding-inline-start: 0px; border-spacing: 2px; line-height: 21px;"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1517687781406_194054" style="padding-inline-start: 0px;">Hannity is still blaming Obama for things</span><p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1517687781406_194050" style="padding-inline-start: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">The stock market has been more volatile of late, and on Monday had a historic drop of over a thousand points. Sean Hannity <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Fvideo%2F2018%2F02%2F05%2Fsean-hannity-blames-obama-historic-market-crash%2F219279&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=211weekly&n=23" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1517687781406_194051" style="padding-inline-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background: transparent; outline: none;">immediately blamed</a> the drop on Barack Obama. In fact, Hannity has been blaming Obama for downturns in the stock market <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Fresearch%2F2018%2F02%2F05%2Fhannity-has-been-blaming-obama-downturns-stock-market-decade%2F219280&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=211weekly&n=24" style="padding-inline-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background: transparent; outline: none;">for a decade now</a>; Hannity even blamed the market crash of 2008 on Obama. Far-right circles are <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Fblog%2F2018%2F02%2F06%2Ffar-right-figures-are-saying-deep-state-responsible-stock-market-crash%2F219281&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=211weekly&n=25" style="padding-inline-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background: transparent; outline: none;">blaming</a> the stock market troubles on the deep state, and one Fox host <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Fvideo%2F2018%2F02%2F06%2Ffox-host-says-trump-should-take-credit-good-stock-market-not-bad%2F219283&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=211weekly&n=26" style="padding-inline-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background: transparent; outline: none;">argued</a>that Trump should take credit for the good of the stock market, but not the bad.</p><p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1517687781406_194039" style="padding-inline-start: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;"><em style="padding-inline-start: 0px;">Also</em>: With the retirements of so many Americans in 401ks, it makes sense that the stock market gets a certain amount of coverage. But it is important to also remember that the stock market is <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Finteractive%2F2018%2F02%2F08%2Fbusiness%2Fstock-market-is-not-economy.html&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=211weekly&n=27" style="padding-inline-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background: transparent; outline: none;">not synonymous with the economy</a> as a whole. While the stock market gets lots of television coverage, comparatively little notice is paid to things like Oklahoma schools <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fboingboing.net%2F2018%2F02%2F07%2Fthis-is-not-ok.html&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=211weekly&n=28" style="padding-inline-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background: transparent; outline: none;">shifting to a four-day week</a> so that teachers can work at Walmart on Mondays, or ten percent of Amazon's employees in Ohio <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnbc.com%2F2018%2F01%2F25%2F10-percent-of-amazons-ohio-employees-are-on-food-stamps-liberal-think-tank-says.html&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=211weekly&n=29" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1517687781406_194038" style="padding-inline-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background: transparent; outline: none;">using food stamps</a>. And as for the stock market swing, it <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftheintercept.com%2F2018%2F02%2F08%2Fstock-market-crash-jobs-report-wages%2F&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=211weekly&n=30" style="padding-inline-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background: transparent; outline: none;">says a lot</a> about how Wall Street wants to suppress the wages of everyday Americans.</p></td></tr></tbody></table><table id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1517687781406_193956" style="padding-inline-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); width: 524px;" border="0"><tbody id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1517687781406_193955" style="padding-inline-start: 0px; width: 524px;"><tr id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1517687781406_193954" style="padding-inline-start: 0px;"><td style="padding-inline-start: 0px; border-spacing: 2px;">
</td><td style="padding-inline-start: 0px; border-spacing: 2px;" width="25"> </td><td id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1517687781406_193953" style="padding-inline-start: 0px; border-spacing: 2px; line-height: 21px;"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1517687781406_194033" style="padding-inline-start: 0px;">Study: Trump supporters spread most of the "junk news"</span><p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1517687781406_193952" style="padding-inline-start: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;">A new Oxford study shows that most "junk news" on social media is spread by Trump supporters. As <em style="padding-inline-start: 0px;">Media Matters</em> visiting fellow <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://mediamatters.nationbuilder.com/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Fblog%2F2018%2F02%2F07%2FNew-research-shows-Trumps-army-spreads-the-most-junk-news-Heres-why-it-matters%2F219296&e=2fd18ded548fce9ef66e074aaf01da3d5df1923b&utm_source=mediamatters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=211weekly&n=31" style="padding-inline-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background: transparent; outline: none;">Melissa Ryan shows</a>, this is a huge structural problem that ends up infecting the entire media ecosystem. Take for example the #ReleaseTheMemo hashtag, which research shows was driven both by Russian-linked bots and Trump supporters on social media. That it was trending on social media gave it a push to be covered by mainstream outlets. Nowadays, there often seems to be way too many things for the news to cover; that Trump supporters have figured out a way to game that without the media really understanding how is a huge problem.</p></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><div style=""><b></b></div><div style=""><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>CONFERENCES</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>islam conf banner</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>One way we do that is through conferences: click here for posts related to our August 2016 conference on Islam, here for photos and videos, and here for our youtube channel</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>LITERARY CAFES</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>Our past cafes in 2016 were</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>June: Jesse Lee Peterson and his new book ANTIDOTE: Healing America from the poison of victimhood, hate and blame</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>Jesse Lee Peterson is the most courageous, outspoken critic of the “civil rights” establishment in America today. Raised without his father on a plantation near Tuskegee, Alabama during the Jim Crow era, Peterson has lived a part of America’s history few have experienced. After a spiritual transformation, Peterson founded BOND, a nationally recognized nonprofit organization dedicated to “Rebuilding the Family by Rebuilding the Man.” Peterson is also the founder of The BOND Leadership Academy, a private school in Los Angeles. He’s a radio talk show host, speaker, and the author of SCAM: How the Black Leadership Exploits Black America, and From Rage to Responsibility. Peterson writes a weekly column for WND.com and appears as a media commentator on Fox News Channel, CNN, and other national TV and radio networks.</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>Product details</b></div><div><b>Hardcover: 240 pages</b></div><div><b>Publisher: WND Books (November 24, 2015)</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>Scam: How the Black Leadership Exploits Black America</b></div><div><b>Scam: How the Black Leadership Exploits Black America</b></div><div><b>Jesse Lee Peterson</b></div><div><b>4.1 out of 5 stars 105</b></div><div><b>Paperback</b></div><div><b>$12.31 Prime</b></div><div><b>From Rage to Responsibility: Black Conservative Jesse Lee Peterson and America Today</b></div><div><b>From Rage to Responsibility: Black Conservative Jesse Lee…</b></div><div><b>Jesse Lee Peterson</b></div><div><b>4.0 out of 5 stars 19</b></div><div><b>Hardcover</b></div><div><b>$18.90 Prime</b></div><div><b>The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists, and Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised As Freedom</b></div><div><b>The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists, and Pseudo-Experts Sell Us…</b></div><div><b>David Kupelian</b></div><div><b>4.7 out of 5 stars 601</b></div><div><b>Paperback</b></div><div><b>$13.38 Prime</b></div><div><b>Stolen Sovereignty: How to Stop Unelected Judges from Transforming America</b></div><div><b>Stolen Sovereignty: How to Stop Unelected Judges from Transforming America</b></div><div><b>Daniel Horowitz</b></div><div><b>4.8 out of 5 stars 38</b></div><div><b>Hardcover</b></div><div><b>$17.17 Prime</b></div><div><b>Scam: How the Black Leadership Exploits Black America</b></div><div><b>Scam: How the Black Leadership Exploits Black America</b></div><div><b>Jesse Lee Peterson</b></div><div><b>4.1 out of 5 stars 105</b></div><div><b>Hardcover</b></div><div><b>57 offers from $1.99</b></div><div><b>Black Yellowdogs: The Most Dangerous Citizen Is Not Armed, But Uninformed</b></div><div><b>Black Yellowdogs: The Most Dangerous Citizen Is Not Armed, But Uninformed</b></div><div><b>Ben Kinchlow</b></div><div><b>4.8 out of 5 stars 128</b></div><div><b>Paperback</b></div></div><div style=""><b style=""><font style=""></font></b></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>