MSNBC Discovers the True Villain of the Durham Probe: Fox News

Saturday Alex Witt Reports Witt hosted a discussion on MSNBC with three Democratic operatives about the true villain in the Durham investigation. It was Fox News.

Witt opened the segment with this statement:

Donald Trump and his allies claim this filing proves Hillary Clinton’s campaign was spying on Trump, calling it bigger than Watergate but what’s actually in the court filing doesn’t come close to supporting those allegations. In fact, Durham accuses a tech executive of using legally obtained access to White House computers to look for quote ‘derogatory information’ on Trump. It does not allege crime, it does not say anyone was illegally spied upon. 

The only thing more amazing than the 3-0 Democratic panel was Witt then introducing the fact that she thinks this explanation justifies anything, considering that “derogatory information” was used to create a false Russia collusion narrative.

Witt first went to Kurt Bardella, declaring, “You know, it is a little bit exhausting but when the right is pushing so hard on a narrative that even Durham himself cannot buy into, it deserves a counterbalance.”

Bardella began his statement by saying that Trump’s reaction to the Durham filing was a distraction from the rest of Trump news, even though the Durham news had been first. Clinton agreed that the Durham news reporters are making defamatory statements.

And it says a lot, by the way, that after Hillary Clinton called it out, and pretty much laid out how it’s defaming her, and could be a legal issue for those propaganda outlets who carry John Durham’s water here that all of a sudden yesterday there was hardly any mention of it on Fox, it went away magically when they realized, oh, crap, we may be breaking the law by defaming Hillary Clinton.

After playing a clip of Clinton decrying “conspiracy theories about me” and also alleging a distraction campaign, Witt asked Adrienne Elrod if Clinton was correct.

Elrod easily agreed to this and began an anti-Fox tangent. 

Look, Fox News since it became a network in 1996 has been going after Hillary Clinton, why? Because it makes them a lot of money. They’ve got to have somebody to beat up on. They’ve got to have somebody to use disinformation on, misinformation on to thwart from their own party’s problems, the party that—that– network has been supporting, the GOP, since they became a network.”

Wrapping up the Durham portion of the segment, Elrod declared that part of being a Democratic operative is dealing with Fox, “For a long time, those of us who have been working for Hillary Clinton, those of us working in the Democratic Party, this is something we’re very used to, doesn’t make it right but we’re certainly used to Fox News doing this.”

It is difficult for a Democrat to have to work with just one opponent network.

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The transcript of the show on February 19, 2009 is available here:

MSNBC Alex Witt Reports

2/19/2022

12:00 PM ET

ALEX WITT: A court filing from John Durham, the special counsel investigating the origins of the Russia probe, is making waves across conservative media. Donald Trump and his allies claim this filing proves Hillary Clinton’s campaign was spying on Trump, calling it bigger than Watergate but what’s actually in the court filing doesn’t come close to supporting those allegations, in fact, Durham accuses a tech executive of using legally obtained access to White House computers to look for quote “derogatory information” on Trump. It does not allege crime, it does not say anyone was illegally spied upon. 

Joining me Adrienne Elrod, Democratic strategist and former senior aide to the Biden-Harris campaign, Alencia Johnson, political strategist and Biden campaign consultant, and Kurt Bardella, advisor to the DNC and the DCCC. Welcome all, Kurt, you first here, because I also want to point out that Durham made another court filing suggesting the media outlets were over interpreting his original court filing. I mean, there’s a lot of a bouncy ball to follow here, but essentially he did not want to be blamed for that. You know, it is a little bit exhausting but when the right is pushing so hard on a narrative that even Durham himself cannot buy into, it deserves a counterbalance. Kurt, what are your thoughts?

KURT BARDELLA: Well, it’s very clear when you look at the timing, Donald Trump is in trouble. He’s in legal jeopardy, court—court– filings are going against him left and right all week long. His kids are going to have to testify under oath. He’s going to have to testify under oath in the SDNY stuff. That’s pretty much game over because he’s a walking perjury case all to himself, and here comes this great conspiracy theory from the same chorus that brought you Hillary’s e-mails, they’re now pulling this nonsense stuff about Hillary Clinton in a report, language that doesn’t actually exist, and it’s clear misdirection, it’s clear an effort to take any attention away from what’s going on with Donald Trump and put it on somebody else. And it says a lot, by the way, that after Hillary Clinton called it out, and pretty much laid out how it’s defaming her, and could be a legal issue for those propaganda outlets who carry John Durham’s water here that all of a sudden yesterday there was hardly any mention of it on Fox, it went away magically when they realized, oh, crap, we may be breaking the law by defaming Hillary Clinton.” 

WITT: Look, John Durham’s even saying “hey, I don’t have the water for them to carry.” He’s flat out saying that. So, you made the point about Hillary Clinton and how she responded, here you go viewers, take a listen to this. 

HILLARY CLINTON: Funny, the more trouble Trump gets into, the wilder the charges and conspiracy theories about me seem to get. So now his accountants have fired him, and investigations draw closer to him, and right on cue, the noise machine gets turned up, doesn’t it. 

WITT: Adrienne, how do you read what she said, is she spot on? 

Alex, ADRIENNE ELROD: Yes. I mean, there’s not a whole lot more to say because she is exactly right. Look, Fox News since it became a network in 1996 has been going after Hillary Clinton, why? Because it makes them a lot of money. They’ve got to have somebody to beat up on. They’ve got to have somebody to use disinformation on, misinformation on to thwart from their own party’s problems, the party that—that– network has been supporting, the GOP, since they became a network. 

This is also part of what Hillary Clinton called the right wing vast, or the vast conspiracy machine by the right-wing. This has been going on for a long time and, look, Hillary Clinton makes Fox News a lot of money. They get more eyeballs on their shows, they get more advertising dollars as a result. This is not only Fox. It’s the whole right-wing, you know, machine that’s been going on for a long time. 

It’s perfect. I mean, you know, what John Durham was doing, whether or not this is intentional or not, we do not know. Certainly he knew as special counsel that the moment he put her name in a report that the right-wing media was going to go crazy and that’s exactly what he happened, what happened and, you know, I think she’s exactly right, diverting from Trump’s problems every time he starts to get investigated and he starts to get back on the news on the wrong things, somehow her name magically appears and it’s no coincidence, I don’t think, certainly not lost on any of us who have had to deal with this. For a long time, those of us who have been working for Hillary Clinton, those of us working in the Democratic Party, this is something we’re very used to, doesn’t make it right but we’re certainly used to Fox News doing this.