MSNBC’s Chris O’Donnell regretfully stared into the faces of millions of Americans on Wednesday night.
He had a confession to make.
He said sorry.
This apology came after the late night host had the audacity to tell a bold-faced lie to his viewers the previous night — yet another Trump-Russia lie.
On Tuesday night O’Donnell was quick to take a story that he had no idea whether or not was true, and run it as facts. He mouthed off on-air about a so-called tip he got from a secret source, who claimed that President Donald Trump had taken out loans at Deutsche Bank and co-signed by Russian oligarchs…
“…this is a single source who has told me that Deutsche Bank obtained tax returns,” he told fellow host Rachel Maddow (who was foaming at the mouth about the “news”), “this single source close to Deutsche Bank has told me that Donald Trump’s loan documents there show that he has co-signers. That’s how he was able to obtain those loans and that the co-signers are Russian oligarchs.”
But he was wrong. Trump knew he was wrong, so much that the president’s legal counsel demanded a full retraction or else they’d be taking legal action.
The totally inaccurate reporting by Lawrence O’Donnell, for which he has been forced by NBC to apologize, is NO DIFFERENT than the horrible, corrupt and fraudulent Fake News that I (and many millions of GREAT supporters) have had to put up with for years. So bad for the USA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 29, 2019
O’Donnell had some owning up to do.
So when Wednesday’s show opened, O’Donnell offered up what was a shameful retraction at best. With the threat of battling Trump in court, he had no choice.
“Last night on this show, I discussed information that wasn’t ready for reporting,” O’Donnell said remorsefully. “I did not go through the rigorous verification and standards process here at MSNBC before repeating what I heard from my source. Had it gone through that process, I would not have been permitted to report it. I should not have said it on-air or post it on Twitter. I was wrong to do so.”
More than ever MSNBC is under fire.
First Brian Williams, then Maddow’s web of lies, and now the liberal bias has infected O’Donnell to the point that he ran a story out of the wheelhouse without a care in the world.
The entire network quickly became a dumpster fire of hearsay and rumors ever since Trump stepped in the White House.
Now its anchors can’t quit stepping in it.
The Horn editorial team