In a vicious cycle of Fox News/Donald Trump synergy, Fox’s Sandra Smith helped validate and build on Trump’s tweet calling for jailing Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin which, in turn, seemed to arise from a Fox News discussion hyping their supposed email misdeeds.
As Media Matters’ Matthew Gertz caught, Trump’s tweet calling for Abedin to be jailed over her alleged misuse of passwords came a little over an hour after Fox & Friends had aired a discussion on the same subject:
Crooked Hillary Clinton’s top aid, Huma Abedin, has been accused of disregarding basic security protocols. She put Classified Passwords into the hands of foreign agents. Remember sailors pictures on submarine? Jail! Deep State Justice Dept must finally act? Also on Comey & others
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 2 January 2018
Taking a time-out from Trump's vacation tweets to track today's.
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) January 2, 2018
Left, Fox & Friends, 6:24 am
Right, Trump, 7:48 am pic.twitter.com/uQQXeAtOf4
Smith, guest host for The Story with Martha MacCallum last night, opened the show with an interview with convicted felon Kristian Saucier. He’s a former Navy machinist’s mate who took a series of cellphone photos of sensitive areas inside his nuclear submarine and bumbled his way into prison.
Saucier had previously tried to use the “Clinton Defense” when he was sentenced in 2016 - which the judge all but laughed out of court. Saucier was subsequently sentenced to one year in prison, followed by house arrest and three years of probation. Saucier has previously tried, and failed, to be pardoned by Donald Trump.
Since Trump obliquely referred to Saucier in his Abedin tweet, it’s clear that both he and Fox News saw a mutual benefit in trotting him out to attack Abedin and Clinton.
Smith told viewers none of Saucier’s incriminating history that separates his case from Clinton and Abedin: namely his intent and his efforts to destroy the evidence of what he had done. On top of that, a handgun not registered to Saucier was found in his home and allegedly bleached and hidden under the dishwasher after he had been questioned by the FBI and NCIS.
Instead, Smith all but argued Saucier’s case on his behalf, on the off chance he wasn’t incriminating enough of Clinton and/or Abedin on his own. This was her first “question” to him:
SMITH: To be clear, Kristian, and I think this is important to get this out here: You took responsibility for your actions. You owned it. You plead guilty. And then you served time. So it’s a double standard that you say that you believe exists.
After giving Saucier an opportunity to argue on his own behalf, Smith actually pushed this all the way over the edge:
SMITH: So based on what we’ve just learned with Huma Abedin and this latest email release, what do you think should happen to her? Should she face jail time?
Saucier has no apparent legal credentials. Yet, not surprisingly, he quickly opined that Abedin “should be prosecuted,” though maybe not face jail time. “That’s what a grand jury and what a jury of her peers say,” Saucier ignorantly declared (judges almost always decide sentences). “They should still be charged,” Saucier added, apparently referring to Clinton as well as Abedin.
“I know it,” Smith replied.
Watch Smith display her bias, her lack of concern for informing her viewers and her over-the-top propaganda techniques below, from the January 2, 2018 The Story with Martha MacCallum.
Given the intense pressure the Pence White House is feeling right now with the continuing Mueller investigation, and given the lack of accomplishments they can show, it’s not surprising that they are serious about getting that PR opportunity. The one surprise here is that they didn’t push for this to happen last summer.
