There are terrifying implications about Donald Trump’s reckless disregard for the truth in his “quote” from a Fox News report on the newly-released Democratic intelligence memo.
As NewsHound Richard tweeted yesterday, Fox anchor Molly Line interviewed Reuters reporter Jeff Mason shortly after the release of the Democratic memo. It rebutted Republican claims that the FBI misled a FISA court in its application for a warrant to spy on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
In her interview, Line summed up the Democratic memo by saying of the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, “Congressman [Adam] Schiff, he argues the Republican memo omitted and distorted key facts.”
You can see from the time stamp in the video below that Line asked that question at 7:11 PM ET. Less than an hour later, Trump tweeted what he presented as a Fox News quote, presumably from Line: “Congressman Schiff omitted and distorted key facts.”
In other words, Trump omitted the words “he argues the Republican memo” to falsely claim that that Fox had discredited the Democratic memo when Line said nothing of the sort.
“Congressman Schiff omitted and distorted key facts” @FoxNews So, what else is new. He is a total phony!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2018
It’s easy to laugh at such ignorance or such blatant deceit. Or the fact that Trump is obviously so accustomed to Fox News’ pro-Trump mission that he either figured it didn’t matter if he twisted its reporting on his own behalf or he literally couldn’t believe that the network hadn’t.
But whatever led Trump to tweet this falsehood, the implications of such carelessness and/or deceit with important information are frightening. What will he get wrong or report falsely next? Information about North Korea? Syria? Iran? A terrorist attack?
See what Line really said below, from the February 24, 2018 Fox Report Weekend, via NewsHound Richard.
Trump dishonestly selective edits comments from FOX News anchor @MollyLineFNC.
— Richard W. (@IceManNYR) February 25, 2018
This is what she actually said:
Congressman @RepAdamSchiff he argues the Republican memo omitted and distorted key facts."@FoxNews should demand a correction from @PressSec. pic.twitter.com/4nx8RtlsmC