Fox News: The Biden Special Counsel Report Freakout
A condensed overview of 15 hours of Fox News for the week ending 2/11/24
Last week started out like most on the Murdoch owned network - Fox hosts put most of their focus on the border crisis and the bipartisan bill meant to fix it. Things took a dramatic turn when special counsel Robert K. Hur released his 345-page report on President Biden’s handling of classified documents.
Even though Hur concluded that Biden would not be criminally prosecuted the entire right-wing seized on statements he made about Biden’s age and memory.
Within minutes of the release of the report multiple Fox News hosts declared Biden wouldn’t just suspend his re-election bid he would resign immediately. The special counsel scandal was now 10 ‘but her emails’ and 20 ‘Hunter Biden laptops’ combined.
A lawyer just called an 81-year-old man elderly and said he had a poor memory about something that had happened years prior. It was time to shut it all down and just coronate Donald J. Trump as emperor of the United States.
No one actually said that, but it was implied.
Fox News hosts also wildly misrepresented the bipartisan spending package that included changes to asylum policies and border security as well as funding for Ukraine and Israel. Former President Donald J. Trump decided the bill might help Biden get re-elected so he declared that no Republican should support it and most of the GOP fell in line.
Meanwhile Fox largely ignored the Israel-Hamas War as the shows I covered dedicated only 1% of programming to the conflict while it was a major story on the PBS NewsHour and took up 12% of the network’s airtime.
While Fox was over-hyping the special counsel report the network ignored an ISIS terrorist attack in Pakistan, a summer food program for low-income children, and a report on war crimes in Ukraine.
Shows I covered on Fox:
Fox & Friends
The Five
Jesse Watters Primetime
Dana Perino Sets Up Biden Documents Case
On Thursday, on “The Five,” Dana Perino set up the special council report on President Biden’s handling of classified documents. The segment dragged on for 22 minutes.
“President Biden just reacting to a damning special council report on his handling of classified documents, a report that called him an elderly man with a poor memory,” said Perino as she stared down the camera.
She continued.
“The special counsel is also painting a devastating picture about the president's mental acuity. With this quote,
‘We have also considered that at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him as a sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory. It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him. By then, a former president well into his eighties of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.’ Perino said as the quote was plastered on the screen.
As she spoke images of beat up cardboard boxes from Biden’s garage flashed on the screen.
“And that wasn't the only instance of the special counsel bringing up Biden's significant limitations when it comes to memory. The president also could not recall the years that he was vice president or when his son Beau, died,” said Perino.
Judge Jeanine Misrepresents the Special Counsel Report
As soon as Perino introduced the story Judge Jeanine Pirro was one of the first Fox hosts to misrepresent what the special counsel wrote.
Harold Ford Jr., sitting in the liberal chair, pushed back.
“So, sharing all that information about him when you're not a doctor, just seem a little unique to me and different. And I think I understand some of the criticism from the White House about that issue,” said Ford.
Judge Jeanine Pirro interrupted him.
“Can I just say one quick thing? Prosecutors do it every day. Every day will say we're not prosecuting this guy because he's got mental issues, because he's got a legitimate defense in terms of insanity or because we don't believe that he's mentally capable of going forward,” said Pirro.
Ford interjected, “but he didn't say that.”
“He did say it,” said Pirro.
“To be fair Judge he didn’t say that,” said Ford.
“He couldn’t say it that hard because you and I both know that that went through several re-writes before the department of Justice allowed it . . .” said Pirro.
She was cut off by Perino, “yeah, I’d love to see the first draft.”
“That he’s mentally unfit. No, he didn’t say that. He didn’t say that,” said Ford.
This is the wording from the report.
“We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
That was the quote that Pirro and others twisted to mean that President Joe Biden was mentally unfit to stand trial. It reads more like Biden would come across as a kindly old man who didn’t have the best memory.
The Same Lie About Joe Biden Gets Repeated
Pirro’s statements on “The Five” acted like a starters pistol for other hosts on the network. A flood of similar comments about Joe Biden’s mental capacity overwhelmed every program.
“He said he's mentally unfit to stand trial. That is a naked assessment,” said Greg Gutfeld.
Judge Jeanine Pirro took things even further.
“This report is worse than an indictment. This report demands the 25th Amendment and this indictment against Donald Trump for a number of reasons, and I don't want to hog the time should be dismissed based upon the joke that this whole thing is,” said Pirro.
The investigation into Trump’s mishandling of documents is not related to Biden. Pirro can yell all she wants about but there are major differences between the two cases. She should also know that as both an attorney and a judge that Biden’s case has absolutely nothing to do with the case against Trump.
“The special counsel is saying that Biden is too old and incompetent to be held responsible for mishandling classified information and states secret,” said Dana Perino.
Jesse Watters weighed in.
“He’s a mentally unfit man. And I bet a lot of the people around the world are looking at this report saying, ‘OH MY GOD!’” said Watters.
Later that evening on “Jesse Watters Primetime,” Stephen Miller, former advisor to Donald J. Trump, got extremely worked up about the report.
“Well, they talk about diminished faculties. Those are phrases you hear in a hospice care setting when they're explaining to the children of the patient why Grandpa is biting the care workers,” said Miller in a fit of rage.
The next morning on “Fox & Friends,” Lawrence Jones also repeated the same warped interpretation of the report.
“Actually, happening in the White House right now, especially after you have this Department of Justice that ruled this. They said that the president is incompetent to take trial.”
Some Things Fox News Left out.
According to reporting by the Washington Post the report showed that some of the documents in Biden’s possession appeared to be packed up by mistake by aides working for the president.
The report also showed that Biden took steps to ensure he did not share classified documents with his ghost writer.
Differences between Biden and Trump
According to reporting by CBS News Federal investigators found 300 documents with classified markings at Mar-a-Lago. In contrast Biden had 37 documents with top secret information along with handwritten notes. Biden wrongfully believed the handwritten notebooks were his personal property.
The documents Trump is charged with retaining allegedly included information about defense and weapons capabilities of the U.S. and other countries, specific military vulnerabilities and how the U.S. might respond to an attack in addition to information about U.S. nuclear programs.
Investigators also found documents in his property at Bedminister, New Jersey along with evidence that Trump shared information with ghost writers.
While Biden immediately contacted the National Archives once classified material was found at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, Donald J. Trump refused to return classified material for months.
Prosecutors also allege that two of Trump’s employees took steps to obstruct justice when they moved documents or attempted to destroy evidence related to the case. Trump also lied when he said repeatedly that he was fully cooperating with the National Archives.
Clutch Your Pearls - President Biden Was Angry!
Fox News has portrayed President Biden as both a fragile old man destroyed by dementia and an evil mastermind since he was elected. The network will sometimes switch back and forth between the two fallacious versions of him in the same segment.
During segments about the special counsel report and Biden’s impromptu press conference that followed the president was described as if he was a raging violent maniac.
This was especially ridiculous considering how former President Donald J. Trump acts all the time. He screamed at and berated members of the press during his entire presidency even calling them the enemy of the people.
Trump has said that protesters at his rallies should be “roughed up.” He’s used dehumanizing language that has echoed actual Nazi rhetoric.
A jury found that he sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll, and many believe he encouraged and fomented a riot on our nation’s capitol.
It’s safe to say that Donald J. Trump has an anger management problem.
President Biden was emotional during his brief press conference but he was far more controlled than Trump is on a good day.
On “Jesse Watters Primetime,” on Thursday, Watters brought on a slew of guests who all had strong words about the president’s behavior.
I pulled quotes from the first thirty minutes of the program.
“President forced to call a hasty press conference, which he never does at this hour, about 10 minutes late to the press conference. Seething with anger at one point that the special counsel for suggesting that he didn't remember when his son Beau died,” said Watters.
“We just watched a wounded political animal hobble to a podium and react with defensiveness, with anger,” said Kayleigh McEnany.
“I don't think I've ever witnessed anything like that. The anger, the defensiveness, the dishonesty,” said Watters.
“I don't know what to say about this one. It looked like he was almost going to throw a punch at one point . . . and he was angry. It was too emotional,” said Watters.
“The insane press conference we just witnessed where the president almost looked like he was going to jump across and hit somebody,” said Watters.
“Peter said he wasn't antagonistic. It looked like he was going to snap her neck,” said Watters.
“Absolutely. He was. He was very antagonistic . . . And you're right, the president just kind of snapped her head off and denied it, gave a real angry old man feel,” said Byron York of the Washington Examiner.
The next morning on “Fox & Friends,” Steve Doocy described the president in a similar way.
“He's surrounded by staff who's doing all this stuff. And he shows up, he coughs, he yells at some reporters,” said Doocy.
Dana Loesch Gets Fact Checked by Fox
Before the special counsel report was released Fox News personalities were busy trashing a bipartisan border security package that was tied to spending for Ukraine and Israel.
On Monday, on “Jesse Watters Primetime,” Dana Loesch, radio host and former NRA spokesperson, discussed the bill with Watters.
“I mean, this legislation is an absolute betrayal to the republic. And no, it is not hysterical to use language this harsh on something this bad. If people are reserving their outrage for something, I don't know what could make you more outraged than this amnesty bill that's essentially going to fast track all of this,” said Loesch.
I remembered a segment from earlier in the day from “Fox & Friends.” Lawrence Jones spoke about the bill at length in front of a giant screen.
Lawrence specifically pointed out that amnesty was not part of the bill. Fox producers even included a graphic on the screen that read ‘No amnesty for anyone already here.”
“Concessions from both the Democrats and Republicans first should go to no amnesty for anyone already here. Apparently, this was a big deal for the Democrats. They wanted amnesty, especially when it came down to some of those Dreamers. But that is not in the bill,” said Jones.
Jesse Watters - Fox Guest Goes Rogue!
On Tuesday as part of the network’s never-ending migration hysteria Jesse Watters included a segment with a man he described as a former gang member.
Watters started the segment with a xenophobic tirade where he described migrants using terms and phrases such as: vulture economics, assault on America, elites orchestrating, sadomasochism, feasting on workers, and carpet-bombing caravans.
He then introduced his guest “Spanky Loco.”
Loco looked every part of the stereotype of a Latino gang member. His face was covered in tattoos, his head was shaved and his eyes were hidden behind dark sunglasses.
Watters quickly found out he got more than he bargained for with Loco. He started with a leading question.
“How easy is it to operate as a street gang, as an undocumented guy in a sanctuary city, it must be heaven on earth.”
Loco responded.
“I mean, I couldn't say my early recollections of dealing with dealing with the matter was like my own parents migrating from Mexico and coming to the West Coast. But I would like to say was in a it was, not a luxury to say we're going to leave our family behind and leave everyone behind to go try and do something new. I would like to call these migrants more refugees,” said Loco.
As he spoke images of hundreds of shirtless tattooed prisoners in an a prison in El Salvador dominated the screen. The producers of “Jesse Watters Primetime,” might have expected Loco to talk about his gang activity but his words didn’t match the images they selected for the segment.
Loco continued.
“And at that time, I can only speak on my experience, which was, you know, my family needing to be in a better environment, hardworking family, responsible family. My parents moved to the west L.A., Venice Beach area, and crime was never part of our background. Now, systemically, because I have parents that didn't understand the language and didn't have a relationship with law enforcement, in a relationship with, you know, ex school administrators. Of course, you know, people like those guileless guys like us, first generation fell through the cracks. That was a very common story. ” said Loco.
“So, you're a dreamer, Spanky?” asked Watters. Watter might have been referencing the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as minors. Immigrants in the DACA program are often referred to as dreamers.
Loco responded, “I'm actually a doer. I'm not a dreamer. I'm a doer because of my shortcomings and because of the example that my parents, you know, put in front of me, I've been able to start my own business, be proactive in my community, talk about my lived experience and kind of what I saw systemically and say, hey, there's options. There's choices.”
As I was watching this I actually started to cheer as Loco spoke. It was probably the best example of a Fox News guest turning the tables on the network.
Spanky Loco is a 49-year-old man who lives in Los Angeles. He runs his own tattoo shop and is an aspiring Hip hop artist with large following on Instagram. He also sells original artwork on his website.
I was taken by his paintings of butterflies. Butterfly motifs are often used by artists who are rebuilding their lives as the insect is seen as a symbol of rebirth.
Jesse Watters Oozes
The conversation just got stranger for Watters.
“To understand is to show empathy. I know it's really hard these days. No, I didn't see that guy right there. And that guy right there is the cause of why we're falling apart. But having a little empathy is going into your community and saying, ‘what are the needs?’ and being first listen, as opposed to being on the couch and giving your opinion and saying, ‘this is what I think would make America better,’ go out there. Go out there and be grassroots and go out there and connect with your local leaders in your community and see what's needed, see what would what your immediate area needs,” said Loco.
Then Watters made an odd choice.
“Well, I ooze empathy. I ooze it. Because you always know if you don’t ooze it, you lose it,” said Watters.
Loco smiled.
Greg Gutfeld and the Art of Projection
Projection as defined by Psychology Today - the process of displacing one’s feelings onto a different person, animal, or object. The term is most commonly used to describe defensive projection—attributing one’s own unacceptable urges to another.
Donald J. Trump uses projection constantly. It’s also a frequent tool used by propagandists. The Prop Watch Project even includes examples of various political figures from both sides of the political spectrum using projection.
On Wednesday, on “The Five,” Greg Gutfeld describes the Democratic Party in a way that most Democrats would describe Republicans and Donald J. Trump.
“The Democratic Party for some reason lately is addicted to chaos. And we have to keep doing these interventions. Right. And like an addict, the left has to hit rock bottom. The problem is they're taking everybody with them,” said Gutfeld.
Stories Fox News Ignored
Every week I compare the hours I’ve watched on Fox News to five hours of the PBS News Hour. The following are stories that PBS covered that Fox News did not.
Updates on the war in Ukraine
Russia fired drones, cruise and ballistic missiles at six regions across Ukraine killing at least five civilians and wounding almost 50 others, including a pregnant woman.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired his top general after a prolonged stalemate in the Russian occupied areas. He replaced him with Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces.
A joint report by Human Rights Watch, Truth Hounds and SITU Research found evidence of widespread war crimes committed by Russia in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol between February and May 2022. Thousands of civilians were killed while hundreds of thousands more were trapped for weeks without basic services. The 224-page report, “‘Our City Was Gone’: Russia’s Devastation of Mariupol, Ukraine,” an accompanying digital multimedia feature, and a 20-minute video, analyze the civilian suffering and damage to thousands of buildings, including several hundred high-rise apartments, hospitals, educational facilities, and electricity and water infrastructure.
President Biden met with Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany in the Oval Office to discuss how to urge Congress to pass billions more in aid for Ukraine.
During a two-hour interview with Tucker Carlson, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he wanted Ukraine to come to the table with peace talks, and implied he might be open to a prisoner swap in exchange for the release of American journalist Evan Gershkovich who has been held in Russia on espionage charges since March. The interview was full of historical inaccuracies as Putin rambled on about a highly inaccurate version of European history. Putin also repeated a false claim that Boris Johnson, then the prime minister of the UK, scuttled a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia soon after the war started.
Updates in the Israel-Hamas War
According to Israeli intelligence at least 32 of the 136 hostages still in Gaza have died. Israel and Gaza are still in negotiations about a possible cease-fire and the release of the remaining hostages.
Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, 17, an American citizen and Palestinian is one of the 94 children, and 370 Palestinians total, killed in the West Bank since Oct. 7. PBS interviewed his father in New Orleans. His family is demanding an investigation into his death.
Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, a doomsday cult leader in Kenya, was charged along with 29 others in the death of 191 children. Kenyan authorities say Mackenzie ordered his followers to starve themselves.
Meta’s oversight board called the companies policies for altered and misleading videos “incoherent” and too narrowly focused on AI-generated content. The board suggested Meta update the rule to cover both audio and video content, regardless of whether AI was used, and to apply labels identifying it as manipulated.
PBS produced a segment marking the one year anniversary of a devastating earthquake that caused major damage in southern Turkey and northwest Syria. The segment focused on the terrible living conditions people in Syria still face.
Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) was asked about his possible presidential run as a third party candidate. Manchin was evasive and gave broad statements that did not give a clear indication of his intentions. He was critical of Republicans for blocking the border bill for political reasons.
At least 30 people were killed in two bombings at political offices the day before a parliamentary election in Pakistan. The Islamic State (ISIS) branch in Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The elections in Pakistan left no clear winner as supporters and allies of imprisoned ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan won the most seats in the lower house of parliament while the two opposition parties also did well but no party won enough to form a government. The parties will have to form a coalition government.
PBS produced a segment about a militia group in Iraq that suffered casualties and damage from recent U.S. airstrikes. The group claimed to have no connection with the recent attacks on U.S. troops.
The Prime Minister of Haiti appealed for calm after three days of violent protests as angry citizens called for his resignation. The country has spiraled into chaos following the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. The country failed to hold planned elections in 2019 and 2023 and the legislature is currently empty as the last 10 senators terms expired in 2023. Gang violence has dominated the country as poverty has soared.
The FCC ruled on an immediate ban on the use of A.I. voices in automated phone calls. The ruling went into effect immediately - it makes voice cloning technology used in common robocall scams targeting consumers illegal.
PBS produced a segment about the rising costs of rents all over the country. According to a new report by Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies half of American renters pay more than 30% of their income in housing costs.
Senators pressed big Pharma leadership over the high costs of drugs in the United States. The CEO’s of Bristol Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson, and Merck faced rigorous questions about drug prices in the U.S. compared to other countries.
St. Paul, Minnesota became the first major city in the United States to elect an all-female city council.
Earthquakes struck Hawaii and California last week. No serious damage was reported.
Michael Mann, a climatologist and geophysicist, won a million dollar verdict in a defamation suit against two conservative writers, Rand Simberg and Mark Steyn. The bloggers said that he had manipulated his data and compared him to a child molester. Steyn was once a frequent guest on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” The case stretched back 12 years.
A summer program to help feed low-income children was rejected in some states. The program called Summer EBT would give needy families $40 a month for each child who's eligible while the school is not in session. Thirty-five states accepted Summer EBT including 13 states with Republican governors. Some of the states that rejected the program also have some of the highest rates of child poverty such as Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Alabama.
Seiji Ozawa, a charismatic conductor has died of heart failure in Tokyo at age 88. He earned the Koussevitzky Prize at Tanglewood Music Center and worked with Leonard Bernstein at the New York Philharmonic. Ozawa served as the longest running conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 29 seasons from 1973 to 2002.
The mainstream press is about as bad as Faux this week, per Biden’s age. I mean this as sarcasm, but — while they can never equal Faux — they tried. Esp. Peter Baker, NYT. Thanks