Fox claims that its published report on former FBI Director Andrew McCabe’s firing - hours before the news broke - was “prepared on standby in the event that Andrew McCabe was fired” and “the result of a technical error.” Who believes that story? Nah, me neither.
CNN's Oliver Darcy tweeted the news earlier today:
Serious mistake at Fox News. A draft story has accidentally been published and is live online saying Andrew McCabe has been fired. https://t.co/8QXZYTbzli pic.twitter.com/qmcLAc62Ng
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) March 16, 2018
The article was subsequently removed. According to Mediaite, it was up for about 45 minutes. FoxNews.com editor-in-Chief and VP of Fox News digital Noah Kotch (the same guy who's obsessed with the female-sexual-predator stories) issued a statement to Mediaite:
FoxNews.com accidentally published on Friday evening a draft version of a news report that was being prepared on standby in the event that Andrew McCabe was fired. This mistake was the result of a technical error. The article was never surfaced on the website, and it was immediately taken down. We sincerely regret this serious error.
Then, low and behold, McCabe was actually fired.
Of course, Fox is delighted.
BREAKING: Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was fired on Friday night, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced. https://t.co/zx0n6S7Rbl pic.twitter.com/APQXNBS44k
— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 17, 2018
(Andrew McCabe image via FBI)
To be honest, the posting of the story wasn’t the biggest problem seen at the channel over the past few days. It was bad, to be sure, but in the greater context of Fox News’ coverage this week, it was more like the icing on a rancid cake. It was frankly more distasteful to see pundit after pundit at Fox News cheerleading the notion of firing a man as an act of political revenge, with the express purpose of trying to destroy his pension. Some of the Fox News personalities actually took it a bit farther, in advocating for McCabe to somehow be thrown in jail too, for his temerity. It was interesting to see how much gleefulness Fox News showed throughout the week about finding this technicality so they could try to put a personal hurt on the man. The last time I saw that kind of approach was when Dick Cheney and Karl Rove went after Joe Wilson by trying to endanger his wife. You’d think these people would learn at some point.
It’s a guarantee that McCabe will appeal this action, given the way it was handled and given the capricious approach taken by the Pence White House. If I had to guess, I’d say that a federal judge will restore his pension but allow the firing to stand – in other words, the courtroom result will be that the Pence White House will be affirmed in its right to fire who it wishes but not in its blatant attempt to strip someone of their 20-year-earned pension as a cheap political shot.
It’s also a guarantee that Jeff Sessions will be taking other actions fairly soon – particularly when Mueller indicts Trump Jr and Kushner. If Sessions wants to keep his job and knows what’s good for him, he’ll have indictments ready to throw at the Clintons, so that we’ll wind up with competing coverage and headlines – one set about Trump’s blanket pardoning of his kids and another with the juicy footage of the Clintons being arrested and publicly frog-marched.
Meanwhile, Judge Jeanine and Judge Nappy are ready to take over as AG when Sessions is ultimately fired.