Trump’s New York criminal trial must be going pretty well for Fox News to be grasping at fake straws over the Access Hollywood tape.
Fox News Digital writer Brianna Herlihy acknowledges in her article that while Trump prosecutors are barred from playing the audio or video from the now-infamous Access Hollywood tape, in which Donald Trump boasts about grabbing women by the p**sy, the judge has allowed the transcript to be entered into evidence and read at trial. That ruling happened in March.
Nevertheless, Herlihy repeatedly suggests that the prosecutors have wrongly prejudiced the jury by quoting from the Access Hollywood tape. She got the misleading propaganda going right in the headline: “Prosecutors repeatedly reference Trump’s Access Hollywood scandal after judge ruled tape itself 'prejudicial.'”
In the opening to her article, below, notice how Herlihy buried the fact that the prosecutors acted within the judge’s guidelines in her opening. She also whitewashed Trump's boast about committing sexual assault in the Access Hollywood video:
New York City prosecutors again made numerous references on Friday to the leaked Access Hollywood tape where former President Donald Trump made crude comments — after the judge reiterated that the jury could not hear or watch the comments.
Judge Juan Merchan ruled that playing the tape itself would be overly prejudicial towards Trump, but not the comments Trump made in the 2005 incident that leaked just before the 2016 presidential election. In the tape, Trump used lewd language about groping women in the presence of a TV host ahead of a cameo appearance on a soap opera.
But wait, there’s more misleading spin on behalf of Herlihy’s (presumably) favorite p***y grabber:
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his team have made numerous references to the tape — in court and in legal filings — apparently attempting to make the case that the damage from the leaked tape was a catalyst for the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels. Trump is charged with falsifying business records related to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, to quiet her story about an alleged affair with Trump. Trump has repeatedly denied the affair.
On Friday, Merchan reiterated that the tape cannot be introduced as evidence or played aloud in the courtroom because it would be prejudicial to Trump.
Trump is not just charged with falsifying business records “to quiet” Stormy Daniels' story about an alleged affair. The Manhattan district attorney accused him of falsifying records “in order to conceal damaging information and unlawful activity from American voters before and after the 2016 election.” In other words, election interference.
In the last paragraph quoted above, Herlihy suggests that prosecutors were smacked down by Merchan after trying to unfairly and improperly use the Access Hollywood tape against Trump. But real news reports indicate nothing of the sort happened. CNN’s blow-by-blow account of Friday’s trial proceedings reported that there was a second discussion about the tape, that Merchan reiterated his previous ruling allowing the full transcript of the Access Hollywood video but not a related Washington Post article. MSNBC anchor and lawyer Katie Phang tweeted similarly. There was no mention of any hanky-panky from the prosecution or any scolding or criticism from the judge over it.
Sadly, Herlihy probably has a bright future ahead of her at the propaganda network.
(H/T reader Andrew S.)
