Yesterday, Fox’s Shepard Smith blasted Donald Trump’s lies about Hurricane Dorian and his sick insistence that he wasn’t wrong when he wrongly told America that Alabama was in danger of being slammed by the storm. Trump responded by calling Fox correspondent John Roberts to the Oval Office, apparently for a dressing down.

I’ve already written about how potentially dangerous Trump’s mistake was and how shocking his cover up.

Smith noticed, too. He not only blasted Trump’s behavior but tied it into a larger picture of Trump dishonesty and deceit.

SMITH: He decries fake news that isn’t and disseminates fake news that is. Think: China pays the tariffs; the wall is going up; historic inauguration crowds; Russia probe is a witch hunt; you need an ID to buy cereal; noise from windmills causes cancer. It’s endless. And now the Sharpie map that hurricanes Alabama.

During the same segment, Smith got a report from White House correspondent Roberts. He began by saying, “This is one of those things that probably, as you mentioned earlier, could have easily been dispatched with but instead, it has become more and more convoluted.” However, Roberts went on to suggest justifications for Trump’s lies.

Later in the day, CNN’s Jake Tapper reported on Roberts’ summons to the Oval. Apparently, Roberts had sent an internal email (it was not clear to whom) about the meeting that got leaked to Tapper. He wrote (with my emphases added):

Roberts' analysis of the meeting was that the President was "just looking for acknowledgment that he was not wrong for saying that at some point, Alabama was at risk -- even if the situation had changed by the time he issued the tweet" on Sunday morning, in which he said the state "will most likely be hit." The President also provided Roberts with graphics to make his points.

…

The President "seemed to agree that the forecast track had moved -- but he was adamant that at some point, Alabama was at risk," Roberts wrote. "He also reminded that on occasions in the past, forecast tracks have changed dramatically."

However, it seems that Roberts was putting a friendly face on a tirade. In addition to providing graphics “to make his points” and being “adamant that at some point, Alabama was at risk,” Roberts also wrote that Trump “insisted that it is unfair to say Alabama was never threatened by the storm."

And then there was this: “A White House aide familiar with the Oval Office meeting with Roberts” told Tapper that “Trump also voiced his displeasure” about Smith’s reporting and that the reason Roberts had been called into the office was “to hit back at Shepard Smith.”

In other words, Trump was striking out crazily at a network he thinks should do his bidding.

Watch Smith’s blistering report below, from the September 5, 2019 Shepard Smith Reporting.