Megyn Kelly didn’t just give a friendly interview to a police union spokesman, she actively helped him accuse President Obama of having “blood on his hands.”
Jerry Flynn, executive director of the New England Police Benevolent Association, got more than a softball interview when he appeared on The Kelly File to discuss his union's recommendation that its members boycott President Obama’s Labor Day address in Boston. Flynn got an active partner in anti-Obama messaging in host Kelly.
Kelly helped promote the Obama attack right in her first question: “So you said earlier you believe that President Obama actually has blood on his hands. Why?”
Flynn wrongly said that “we have heard nothing from the president” after eight police killings in the last month. In fact, The Washington Post reported that on August 31, President Obama called the widow of the Texas sheriff’s deputy who had been fatally shot a few days before "to offer his condolences and condemn any violence against police officers." Last week, NPR noted U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch had "strongly condemned shootings of law enforcement officers in Texas and Illinois and issued an unequivocal message of support for police."
Rather than correct the record, Kelly interrupted Flynn to help further the attack. “I know you actually went to the White House. You met a while back with Vice President Biden and he made you a promise. What was it?” she asked. She was obviously setting that up as a broken promise.
And surprise! That's exactly what Flynn said. Although he praised Biden as “The Thomas Jefferson of the crime bill that was signed into law by President Clinton” and said he has “a lot of respect and admiration for the man,” Flynn complained that Biden had broken his promise to be "the voice of law enforcement." Flynn called Biden’s supposed silence “a real hindrance.”
Flynn added, "So this isn’t just a Obama problem. This is an administration problem and going up so far as the Attorney General Holder. He’s been nothing more than a puppet for this administration.”
Kelly did note that Holder is no longer attorney general, that he has been replaced “by someone who has made statements on behalf of law enforcement although I know that law enforcement hasn’t been satisfied.” Yet “straight news anchor” Kelly did not play a clip to underscore just how forcefully Lynch spoke out (the video is below).
What Kelly did instead was to give Flynn a boost of credibility by making sure her viewers saw him as a non-partisan actor. “Is this a partisan thing for you? Do you like President Obama for political reasons?” Kelly asked, as if she didn’t know in advance that Flynn would say, “We’ve endorsed both sides of the aisle.”
As Flynn went on to name Republican and Democratic individuals his group has supported, Kelly interrupted to give him more independent cred. “So it’s about protecting cops,” she helpfully interjected. “It’s about police lives.”
Maybe for Flynn it is but it’s definitely not about that for Kelly. Where was her outrage when (white) rancher Cliven Bundy and his gang were overtly threatening to shoot law enforcers? Kelly was here: painting Bundy in a flattering light.
Watch Kelly’s hypocrisy below, from the September 8 The Kelly File. You can watch Attorney General Lynch underneath, via C-Span.