How the Leaked Pentagon Document Story Got Increasingly Warped on Fox News
A condensed overview of 17 hours of Fox News for the week ending 4/16/23
The biggest story on Fox News last week involved leaked military secrets, a 21-year-old Air National Guardsman and the network’s attempts to make excuses for espionage.
When a right-winger does something terrible Fox News tend to bend its coverage in any way possible to promote its overarching narrative - that the left is out of control and the only hope for the United States is a return to traditional values and the twisted version of what’s become of the Republican Party.
In this case the young man who carelessly shared top secret military secrets was too close to their target demographic - he was white, Christian, a lover of guns and a Libertarian. There was no way they could possibly demonize him so the network turned itself into knots to defend his actions.
This week the newsletter/podcast is dedicated to how Fox News handled this story from the it was first mentioned on the network until it became part of the conspiracy theory canon that its most popular host, Tucker Carlson, will promote to defend Russia’s actions.
Hosts on Fox News also spent time complaining that President Biden hasn’t formally declared his candidacy for president in 2024. They also decried electric cars, Biden’s trip to Ireland, the rise of China as a threat to the United States and predicted the complete collapse of the city of Chicago. It was a typical week filled with sunshine and rainbows on the Murdoch owned network.
The Shows I covered
Fox & Friends - first hour
The Five
Hannity
Tucker Carlson Tonight - Tuesday and Thursday.
The Evolving Spin around the Leaked Military Intelligence Documents
The following a breakdown of how a story about leaked classified documents on a Discord server got warped and twisted by the Fox News propaganda machine.
This is an excerpt of a timeline via ABC News
December 2022 - According to reporting by the Washington Post highly classified documents are posted on a Discord server, which is a private social media site. The leaker continued to post documents over the nest few months.
February: The first of 107 images of possible documents are reportedly shared by one user of a YouTube creator’s Discord server, according to Bellingcat researcher Aric Toler. More images appear over the next couple of months and eventually end up on 4chan and pro-Russian Telegram channels.
April 6th - The New York Times publishes a story about the existence of leaked highly classified military documents on a Discord server.
April 7th - The Discord channel is identified.
April 10th - The FBI interviews an unidentified member of the channel and spoke to him about the suspected leaker.
April 11th - The next day the story is briefly mentioned during an interview with Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) on Fox & Friends.
April 12th - The Washington Post publishes an interview with a member of the Discord chat.
Wednesday 4/12/23 - Fox & Friends
On Wednesday during an extended segment about the leaks the cast of Fox & Friends treated the story seriously as a major breach that could harm U.S. intelligence. Ainsley Earhardt introduced a clip from Special Report with Bret Baier from the night before featuring Marc A. Thiessen a conservative columnist at the Washington Post.
“It's a huge deal and it is worse than Snowden because Snowden gave away older intelligence and he gave away programs. This is exposing human sources. I mean, we are exposing how we penetrated the Russian Ministry of Defense, how we posed no threat to the Wagner group. There are people right now, I would assume, who are in danger of being killed or in hiding, because when you when you when the Russians find out that we knew certain information, they knew who had it and who didn't have, and they can go after them and, you know, if you see all these oligarchs happening to fall out of buildings, you might see some U.S. forces pulling out of buildings, too. So that's going to cut off intelligence to us and it's going to deter other people from sharing with us because we can't be trusted to keep those secrets,” said Thiessen.
Thiessen’s tone seemed appropriate given the nature of the situation. He didn’t promote any conspiracy theories or push any false narratives. Thiessen didn’t doubt any of the basic information that had been released in the press.
Thursday 4/12/23 - Fox & Friends
Brian Kilmeade began the shift to directly blaming President Biden for the document leak.
“But we're getting the inside source on wars, operations, communications. But it might be intriguing, and I get it. It's fascinating. I understand it. But for America, it could not be worse. And where is our president? He's on a family vacation in Ireland,” said Killmeade.
Later in the program Kilmeade claimed the intelligence that was leaked involved some type of hacking or electronic surveillance.
So they get 27 new pages now out there that The New York Times found and they reinforced how deeply the American spy agencies have gotten into Russian intelligence. There's no human intelligence. It is electronic intelligence that they've been able to hack into. And it chronicles the divisions that Vladimir Putin had a personally getting involved between the Wagner group and the regular military. It talked about the battle over casualties, how many actually were in Russia, how many aren't. They talked about a lot of their ineptness,” said Kilmeade.
In the last half of the first hour Kilmeade had a brief interview with Kurt Volker, a former ambassador to NATO who worked under the George W. Bush administration. Volker was also exceptionally qualified to talk about Ukraine and the region as he was also U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations.
Instead of feeding they hysteria he offered a far more tempered perspective.
“Well, I don't think it's that damaging in terms of the content. There's very little that has come out so far that we didn't already know. You know, we knew the Russian military was in a shambles. We knew the Ukrainians are low on ammunition. Some of this is a few months old as well. So operational plans keep changing. So I don't think it's damaging in that way.
It is embarrassing for the United States that, you know, it's revealed yet again we spy on our allies. We can't keep our secrets. That is a little troubling. And on the presence in the embassy, let me just say, I think it is terrific that we have people there. I would be concerned if we didn't. I think we do have to keep an eye on what we're providing to Ukraine and we have to be giving them good advice and we have to have our own eyes and ears on the ground,” said Volker.
Thursday afternoon - The Leaker is Captured and Identified
On Thursday Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the Massachussets Air National Guard, was arrested for illegally posting highly classified documents involving U.S. military intelligence. Teixeira allegedly shared the documents and information to impress a small group of gamers on a Discord chat server.
According to reporting by the Washington Post, Teixeira posted a video of himself wearing protective glasses and ear covers at a shooting range. "He yells a series of racial and antisemitic slurs into the camera, then fires several rounds from a rifle at a target," the Post reported.
He also referenced government raids at Ruby Ridge in Idaho and in Waco, Texas - two incidents that are rallying cries of a sort for the far-right and antigovernment extremists.
According to sources cited by both the Washington Post and New York Times, Teixeira wasn’t a whistle blower concerned about government malfeasance or overreach. He was just an immature young man trying to impress his online friends. He also expressed a deep love of his Catholic faith.
Thursday 4/13/23 - The Five
Now that details about the leaker were released in the press the coverage on Fox News abruptly changed course.
Greg Gutfeld was the first person on The Five to declare he had doubts about the story.
“I usually get upset about Intel leaks because it puts lives at risk. But I don't trust any information that we're getting anymore from our government or from Ukraine or Russia. I mean, you know what? If in that leaking material was actual truth. Right. I mean, we seem to remember, you know, Obama saying that we were winning the Afghan war and that the Taliban were being destroyed and that's the reason we draw down the troops. And then, of course, we find out that's all B.S.,” said Gutfeld.
It’s notable that Gutfeld only mentioned Barack Obama who was president for eight years during the 20 year war that was started by President George W. Bush. It’s also downright humorous to mention false intelligence and not bring up George W. Bush as his administration lied to the American public and the entire world in regards to weapons of mass destruction in the lead up to the Iraq War.
Jesse Watters shared a similar sentiment.
“I don't trust anything about this story. I'm with Greg. This isn't more than the fog of war. I assume the government's lying to me. I assume the media is lying to me. So when they say these things all wrapped up and it's some gamer in Massachusetts that leaked this thing, I don't know. I don't even know if these leaks are real,” said Watters.
His co-host Katie Pavlich had even stronger feelings about it.
“I'm going to need a lot more information about the situation before I'm willing to hang this guy or even say that he's guilty. I'm not really sure I believe what they're telling us about the situation, given that this information that John Kirby essentially said was that was was authentic by berating the press for reporting on it, all of a sudden, President Biden's strategy in Ukraine, which he's been saying is working, gets revealed as failing because the Ukrainians are going to run out of ammunition and may they're not winning against Russia, as we've been told that they are.
And now all of a sudden they've tracked down an IT guy, a reservist in Maryland, to say that he's the one who did it. I mean, I just think that there's going to be a lot more to the story. And given the fact that they have lied about this, that the Afghanistan papers, which is a great book by Craig Whitlock, revealed that for decades they were lying to us about the progress of the war.
It's the same pattern. And so while we're talking about the guy who possibly did this, we're not talking about what the information reveals, which is that the government isn't telling us one thing and the reality on the ground is quite different,” said Pavlich.
I couldn’t help but think that if the leaker was a left-wing anti-war activist they might feel differently about the situation.
Thursday 4/13/23 - Tucker Carlson Tonight
Tucker Carlson took things to a whole new level. Instead of doubting the story he defended for the leaker.
According to the depraved fever dream Carlson was promoting to his viewers, Teixeira was a fearless crusader exposing the United States government for starting World War 3 without anyone knowing it.
Carlson’s full length diatribe went on for nearly 11 minutes. I extracted every time he claimed that U.S. troops were engaged in actual combat with the Russian army.
What makes his rant even more absurd is that the classified documents revealed exactly 14 special forces troops stationed in the United States Embassy in Ukraine. The troops are there to help the Ukrainian forces in terms of managing the war. They are not involved in any combat.
The presence of special forces was first revealed by the Pentagon last November but that’s not going to stop Tucker Carlson from creating another fantastical conspiracy theory to rile up his viewers.
“The United States is a direct combatant in a war against Russia. As we speak, American soldiers are fighting Russian soldiers. Their only job is to tell the truth. And yet tonight, the news media are celebrating the capture of the kid who told Americans what's actually happening in Ukraine. They are treating him like Osama bin Laden. Maybe a little worse, actually, because unlike al Qaeda, apparently this kid is a racist,” said Carlson.
So the fact that U.S. soldiers are fighting Russian soldiers in a war in Ukraine has no business in the public domain. One question about the substance of the information. We're fighting a war against Russia directly, really, don't they? The largest nuclear arsenal in the world. They're covering up the crimes committed to getting this information. The administration apparently used illegal surveillance techniques to identify this kid, apparently with the help of The Washington Post and The New York Times, who are its accomplices that are holding government accountable.
They're helping government keep you from knowing what government is doing. And by the way, just last week, the plan was to lie in an even more grotesque way and blame Russia for this. And we're quoting Russia or pro-Russian elements are likely behind the leak of several classified U.S. military documents posted on social media that offer a partial month old snapshot of the war in Ukraine. Three U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday. I just don't understand how any journalist could collaborate in hiding the fact that we're in a direct hot war with Russia.
The Reuters quote was not inaccurate. Once the documents were released on YouTube they were picked up by any number of different groups including Russians. There’s evidence that documents were altered to make it seem as if Russia had fewer casualties and was faring better in the war overall.
The quote Carlson claimed was a lie.
“Russia or pro-Russian elements are likely behind the leak of several classified U.S. military documents posted on social media . . .”
This statement doesn’t mention the origin of the documents simply that the classified information was now being reposted on social media sites. Reuters isn’t promoting a false story Carlson is just taking a quote out of context.
Thursday - 4/13/23 - Hannity
Any viewer who watched Tucker Carlson Tonight then Hannity might be a bit confused. For Hannity this was all about the Biden family.
“Let me be very clear here tonight. This is a big deal. Number one, all of us, all of you have been lied to by Joe Biden and the Biden administration and their inability to safeguard this country's most sensitive secrets. This is a clear and present danger, a major threat to our national security. By the way, a major threat to our allies, national security, by the way, it gives Vladimir Putin.
I know the Biden family syndicate loves to do business with Russia and Putin. It gives them critical intelligence that they would not have otherwise had. And worst of all, it exposed that Joe Biden authorized putting U.S. Special Forces on the ground in Ukraine and lied to we, the American people. We should have known about some of this. They should have at least gone through Congress.
And this needs to be gotten to the bottom of these documents, exposed our entire Ukraine war strategy, our level of involvement. It revealed that there are the special forces stationed at the embassy in Ukraine. They gave the location of where our forces are. All that means that makes them a target of Vladimir Putin.”
Hannity also didn’t defend Teixeira or even mention him. For the senior Fox host this scandal had nothing to do with a reckless young man who lived with his parents, it was about a doddering old fool in the White House who had completely lost control of the military and the country.
Friday - 4/14/23 - Fox & Friends
Things got closer to reality the next morning on Fox & Friends. Brian Kilmeade stood before a giant screen that featured bullet points about the various findings in the leaked documents.
“So the state of the war in Ukraine is among the things that are out there, including the hits that Ukraine has taken. The fact that we have special forces on the ground in and out, the embassy revealed the secrets about friends and foes. It damaged our relationship with South Korea, damaged our relationship with Israel, damage our relationship with the UAE, and also the way we do operations with Russia and with China to be able to listen in to Russian intel and the turbulence that they have at the highest level.
Also important to point out when you talk about what's happening with this war, the Russians are fighting with each other. They're fighting with each other on the casualty numbers. They're fighting with each other on who gets the ammo. They're fighting with each other on the bargaining group as well as the FSB. They are not on board with this war. Ukraine has taken tremendous punishment,” said Kilmeade.
Stories Fox News Ignored
Every week I compared 15 hours of Fox News to five hours of PBS News Hour. The following are stories that PBS covered that Fox News did not.
Jury selection for the Dominion Voting Systems $1.6 billion defamation suit against Fox News started on Thursday. The trial is slated to begin next week.
The mother of a six-year-old student who shot his teacher in an elementary school in Newport News, Virginia, in January was charged with felony child neglect.
France's Constitutional Council approved President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. Protests, strikes and riots continued throughout the country over the change.
Junior doctors in the UK went on strike over a 30% pay increase over the next five years to keep up with increasing cost of living.
Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinian gunman after a drive by shooting in the West Bank. Also in the West Bank, Israeli Cabinet ministers led thousands in pro-settlement march and rally.
The federal government will expand Medicaid and access to the ACA to eligible undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children - a program also known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA.
PBS produced an extended segment about Medicaid expansion in North Carolina and how it will help hundreds of thousands of residents access healthcare.
Millions will be kicked off Medicaid plans in most of the country after emergency provisions for the COVID-19 pandemic expire. During the health crisis people on Medicaid did not have prove they were still eligible for the program. Over the next few months people who do not qualify for Medicaid will either lose health insurance, get a new plan through the ACA or in the private market.
Annual inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, dropped in March for the ninth month in a row. But core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, increased 0.4% from February following a 0.5% bump in the previous month. That pushed up the annual increase from 5.5% to 5.6%
Harlan Crow, a Republican mega donor, purchased property from Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. A federal disclosure law requires justices and other officials to disclose the details of most real estate sales over $1,000. Thomas did not disclose the deal.
The Justice Department charged three sons of drug kingpin "El Chapo" and dozens of others involved with the Sinaloa cartel in a fentanyl trafficking investigation.
Mexico’s top immigration official faces charges over a fire in a detention center that killed 40 last month.
The Biden administration declared fentanyl laced with the animal tranquilizer xylazine ‘an emerging threat’ in the U.S.
A large industrial fire broke out in a shuttered plastic recycling and retailer in eastern Indiana prompting the evacuation of nearby residents.
Part-time faculty were joined with tenured professors during their strike at Rutgers University last week. The strike by 9,000 employees could set a precedent for labor disputes in higher education across the country.
PBS produced a segment about the increase in swatting - intentionally provoking false alarms about mass shooting events in school campuses across the country.
Hundreds of Houthi prisoners of war and 16 Saudis were released in a prisoner swap in a concerted effort to end the civil war in Yemen.
Supporters of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny claim he is being poisoned while incarcerated.
Both Russian and Chinese backed actors are attempting to covertly sow division among Americans and increase distrust of institutions following the criminal indictment of former President Donald J. Trump.
Somalia is facing its worst drought in 40 years. Humanitarian agencies warn that as many as 8 million people are in dire need of assistance.
The International Monetary Fund dimmed its outlook for the global economy citing prolonged high inflation and rising interest rates. Janet Yellen remains optimistic about the U.S. economy.
Minneapolis mayor signed a change to the noise ordinance which will allow amplified call for Muslim prayer five times a day.
Residents of small South Pacific islands are suing UN's International Court of Justice in an effort to slow climate change and formally asking the ICJ to specify what states' legal obligations are to address climate change and what the consequences should be for those who fail to act.
Dozens of people in central Myanmar were killed in air strikes last Tuesday including several children. The attack was condemned by the international community and the U.N.. Myanmar has been in chaos and its economy wrecked since the military seized power in a February 2021 coup.
North Korea tested a new solid fuel long-range missile. This new type of weapon would make it harder to detect and shoot down. South Korea and the U.S. responded with more defensive air exercises.
A Spanish athlete spent 500 days isolated deep underground in a cave. She was monitored from afar by a group of scientists to test the effects of extreme isolation on the human body.
PBS caught up with Paul Salopek a man who is halfway through his years-long journey of walking around the world by himself.
The National Recording Registry just added 25 new songs including tunes sung by Madonna, Mariah Carey, Queen Latifah, and Daddy Yankee
British fashion designer Mary Quant died at the age of 93. She was best known for her mini skirt designs in the 1960’s.
By the Numbers
Coming up…
This week I’ll be covering the first hour of Fox & Friends, The Five and The Ingraham Angle in addition to trying my best to keep up with the Dominion defamation trial.
We deceive. You believe is my fav of the week. Thanks for what you do! Am interested in seeing the next week after they paid Dominion about ½ of what they asked for.