Billy Murphy, the attorney for the Freddie Gray family, gave Fox host Greta Van Susteren more than she wanted to hear yesterday when she interviewed him about the acquittal of one of the police officers involved in Gray’s arrest.
Van Susteren set the tone in her introduction when she “asked” whether the prosecution was “a case of a prosecutor gone wild.” The judge did not suggest in his verdict that the prosecution had been irresponsible. But Van Susteren questioned whether the case had been brought either because of a “personal vendetta” or “personal gain.” Apparently, “mistaken belief there was a legitimate case” was not a possibility.
I don’t think Murphy helped his case by coyly evading Van Susteren’s questions rather than confronting what he thought of the setup head on. So, for example, when asked what he thought of the verdict, Murphy said, “Those of us who didn’t sit through the trial, however, have no further comment on the evidence because that’s irresponsible.”
When asked if he knew of any evidence that Officer Edward Nero, the just-acquitted officer, had done anything wrong, Murphy said, “I’m not prepared to answer that question.”
Murphy could have answered the way Black Lives Matter activist DeRay McKesson did later, on The Kelly File, by saying that just because the judge found no criminal wrongdoing doesn’t mean that a review of police procedures is not warranted. By wriggling away from questions, he looked wily and untrustworthy, at least to me.
It wasn’t until several minutes into the interview that Murphy took his shot at Fox News. When discussing the judge, Murphy said, “We’re blessed to have somebody who’s not going to be influenced by public opinion and your station was rife with speculation about whether Judge Williams was playing to the audience or whether he was…”
Van Susteren interrupted. “I don’t know where you get that Billy. Billy, now stop that.”
“Come on, Greta, come on,” he shot back.
“Let’s talk about my show,” Van Susteren said. “If you have a gripe with me, tell me. If you have a gripe with my show, tell me.”
No, Murphy did not have a gripe with Van Susteren’s show. But he did say, “So, if I think that the whole network’s approach to the black community is racist, then that’s an irrelevant thing to say during this program. I can’t say it?”
“I know you very well,” Van Susteren said. “I know the way that you’re trying to play this. I got the picture. I wasn’t born yesterday.”
And within seconds, the interview was over.
Watch it below, from the May 23 On The Record.
“No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other or be attentive to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money”
In the same way, in the world of Herr Goebbels II (i.e. Rupert Murdoch), IT IS IMPOSSIBLE for Greta Van Susteren to serve both truth and Jabba the Ailes’s (i.e. Roger Ailes, head of Faux Spews) FAT HUMONGOUS PAYCHECKS!
’Nuff said.
And I would say the same to Greta for abruptly ending an interview that brought up issues Greta doesn’t want to talk or hear about.
Fox doesn’t really need to bring in real guests such as this one, since their audience doesn’t give a flip anyway, they should just hire actors to follow a script.
What a noble gesture for such an ignoble home team.