Yesterday, I posted about Bill O’Reilly’s not-so-thinly veiled threat to Mexico if they don’t submit to his demands to release American Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi from jail. Tahmooressi, you may recall, was arrested for driving into the country – mistakenly, he says – with three guns. Last night, O’Reilly revealed how he plans to make the country submit. You know, the way he got them to bend to his will over another jailed American.
Yesterday, presumably before The O’Reilly Factor aired, Tahmooressi’s hearing was suspended when he fired his lawyer. The hearing has now been rescheduled for June 4, according to CNN.
Last night, O’Reilly announced, “We’ll now apply some pressure on the Mexican government.”
He urged viewers to sign a petition at his website. O’Reilly read the petition, which respectfully asked the Mexican government to release Tahmooressi. But then O’Reilly announced that he was going to send his ambush producer, Jesse Watters to smear and harass “take it personally” to the ambassador in Washington D.C.
Apparently, Mexico’s national economy is now in danger if they don’t do O’Reilly’s bidding.
As he explained to his two guests (neither of whom seemed especially worried about the country’s imminent collapse):
Does the Mexican government not understand how badly this hurts their country? Because people aren’t going to Mexico! Tourists won’t go! The last time, we had to threaten a boycott! You know how much money they lose? Then Americans going: “I’m not going there. I’m not going down there!” I am not going there and I like Mexico. But I’m not going as long as this culture is pervasive!
…Doesn’t Mexico City and President Nieto understand how this tees off Americans? How angry they get? Does the president not understand that?
I’m sure those Mexican politicians are scared now!
You are right that in this week’s “Is It Legal” segment they all agreed it was a mistake. But in the first one, which I believe was three weeks ago, O’Reilly was skeptical and WIehl and Guilfoyle were arguing that it really was a mistake. I believe O’Reilly asked for proof and he was satisfied with whatever they gave him the following week.
I rewatched the segment this morning to make sure I didn’t miss something and I still don’t see anything that Geraldo said that was about the Marine in Mexico (which would cause BOR to say that he agrees with Geraldo that the story needs to be checked out more). The only mention of the Marine was at the very end of the segment when BOR asked the folks to go sign his own petition so it can be delivered to the Mex. Ambassador next week.
Maybe there was something said about the Marine in the Geraldo segment that BOR edited out? It there was, I didn’t see anything that looked like an obvious edit. Maybe it was something Geraldo said off air?
As far as the “Is It Legal” segment, it looked to me that he, Wiehl and Guilfoyle all agreed that the Marine simply made a mistake. Wiehl said, “There was a lot of construction and a lot of small signs that he didn’t see. He didn’t know the area well.” Guilfoyle said that Tahmooressi is most likely imprisoned for a crime he committed “inadvertently” and that ‘it doesn’t look like there was anything nefarious, this is an individual who was gainfully employed prior to the military. It was a poorly lit area and he clearly states that he mis-read the signs." BOR continued with the “mistake” scenario in his interview the next night with Hernandez and Contreras.
Up until his response to the viewer email, BOR was all about it just being a mistake — but he now he’s saying that perhaps something nefarious was going on? BOR has definitely come around to the idea that, even if the border crossing with weapons was done unintentionally, there’s something about the case that doesn’t smell right. It just makes me wonder why – is there some other info out there about the situation that the folks are not being told? BOR agrees with Geraldo about what?
Btw, today’s F&F did a quick mention of the Marine by playing a clip from Greta’s show where we hear the Marine (on audio) talking about his escape attempt. What’s funny is that Anna Kooiman told the viewers to go sign the whitehouse.gov petition. BOR’s petition got no mention. LOL!
But there is definitely something about the case that bothers him or did bother him.
I will say that there was obviously something about the story that O’Reilly didn’t like and he didn’t want to say too much because Greta has been making such a big deal out of it.
I missed the end of the show tonight but this is the first I’ve heard O’Reilly say he thought the American was up to something nefarious.
I don’t know how to reconcile his position for sure but my guess is that O’Reilly thinks that even though the American may not be totally innocent, O’Reilly is persuaded that he did go to Mexico by mistake and was not smuggling guns so should be released. Or may have been up to no good but never committed whatever crime he was about to or was not caught at it.
I believe O’Reilly’s change of heart came when discussing the case with Lis Wiehl and Kimberly Guilfoyle in their weekly “Is it legal” segment. He had asked them to provide proof because he was skeptical. And I believe they gave him enough material to convince him.
But there may have been more action behind the scenes that I’m not aware of.
Hey, BOR, there is no need for another petition — unless, of course, you are using this Marine’s very unfortunate situation to get attention for yourself, hmm? Looking to air some tense film footage of your toadie, Watters, attempting to get past the Mexican Ambassador’s bodyguards while waving YOUR petition in the air? It rather looks like BOR is trying to pull off a publicity stunt when he should just be encouraging the folks to sign the already existing petition.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/demand-release-usmc-sgt-tahmooressi-suffering-ptsd-mexico-imprisonment/qslJk2Xd
BOR answered back saying the the Marine was basically homeless and that all of his possessions were in his vehicle. He went on to say, “I agree with Geraldo; we’re going to have to check this story out. That’s why I didn’t jump on the bandwagon in the beginning. Alright?”
He went on to say that the Marine “may have been doing something nefarious. However, he’s getting beat up in prison – we believe that and he shouldn’t be there in the first place. There’ got to be due process. He called 911. He should be back in the USA.”
First of all, I haven’t seen a discussion between BOR and Geraldo about the Marine who is being held in Mexico. Just what did Geraldo say that BOR agrees with? Anyone know?
And, secondly, why is BOR changing his tune on this matter? I’ve seen his discussion with Wiehl and Guilfoyle and BOR wasn’t showing any concern about “checking out the story” then. In fact, he stated that “We believe the sergeant made an honest mistake, and we believe the Mexicans are once again over-reacting and punishing an American when they don’t have to.”
In the other segment I saw with Francisco Hernandez and Raoul Contreras, BOR asserted that, “This is completely bogus, the sergeant simply made a mistake. So we will now apply some pressure on the Mexican government.”
So why is he NOW (on tonight’s “Factor”) saying that the Marine’s story needs to be checked out? And why is he NOW saying that the Marine may have been doing something nefarious when just a few nights ago he had clearly declared all of it to be “bogus” and a “mistake”? Hmm…
NOTE TO BILLY
If Jesse is arrested by police will you bail him out? Or, create a petition demanding his release?
Just sayin’.
But I have to ask why Fox News isn’t addressing the other parts of this case. They note their opinions that he was apparently chained to his bed and supposedly was beaten by guards. We don’t know these to be facts, and frankly they sound like conjecture designed to garner support for him.
We do know that in his earlier hearings, he lied in court, telling the Mexican officials that he had never been to Tijuana before. This was of course quickly shown to be untrue by photos of him having been across the border at an earlier time. We also know that he attempted to escape his first prison and was then transferred. If his conditions were more restricted at the second prison, one could presume that this was due to his having tried to break out of the first one.
It sounds likely that the Mexican authorities will let him return to the US after these hearings are done, provided that the judge agrees to do so. He’ll likely be told not to come back any time soon. But this isn’t a matter of “victory” for Bill O’Reilly or even for this man. It’s a situation where he should never have been bringing guns across the border, and following that, he should never have lied in court and tried to break out of prison. None of these ideas tend to work out so well.
As opposed to Americans who are less likely to go there because, oh, maybe drug cartel violence or the occasional kidnapping……..yeah. I know that “American asshole caught taking guns illegally into Mexico” is the biggest reason to not visit Mexico.
I suppose Bill wouldn’t have a problem if, say, a Mexican tourist to the US were to bring in a handgun.