Steve Scalise

Fox News Surprisingly Grills GOP Rep Scalise About His Wacko Charges of ‘Rogue’ FBI Agents

Posted by on August 11, 2022 at 1:01 pm. 2 Comments :

On Monday Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago bunker was served a with search warrant by the FBI who were reportedly looking for classified documents that Trump unlawfully took from the White House and failed to disclose he still had. It is a crime that has serious implications for national security, as well as severe penalties for violators.

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Fox News Friends

Ever since then, Trump’s Republican cult followers, and especially Fox News, have been throwing up all manner of preposterous defenses for Trump’s malfeasance. Much of their psychotic overreactions were drenched with accusations of wrongdoing by the FBI and threats of violence against law enforcement. They even unleashed a coordinated media attack baselessly alleging that the FBI planted evidence.

RELATED: The Trump Cult Knows He’s Guilty, So They’re All on Fox News Yammering About Planted Evidence

However, on Thursday there was an uncharacteristically sane segment on Fox and Friends wherein co-host Steve Doocy actually challenged the Republican House Minority Whip, Steve Scalise, while he was in the process of disseminating the GOP screed about the FBI operation in Palm Beach. Doocy started off by saying…

Doocy: There are a number of people, online and elsewhere, that are demonizing the FBI. And some Republicans. Paul Gosar, a Republican in your caucus from Arizona, said, “We must destroy the FBI. We must save America. I stand with Donald Trump.” Marjorie Taylor Greene said, “Defend [he meant defund] the FBI.” I’m just curious, whatever happened to the Republican Party backing the blue? And in particular, the 35 members of law enforcement at the FBI?
Scalise: We’re very strong supporters of law enforcement, and it concerns everybody to see some agents go rogue, and if you see an agency that doesn’t have the right checks and balances at the top. this is coming from the top

You may have noticed that, rather than answering Doocy’s question, Scalise invented some imaginary “concerns” that “everybody” is having about “rogue” FBI agents. And in the same breath he placed the blame, not on rogue agents, but on the people “at the top.” So Doocy pressed further…

Doocy: Who went rogue? They were following a search warrant.
Scalise: We want to find that out. That’s why we’re asking these questions. Because there were reports yesterday saying that Merrick Garland didn’t even know about this raid. I don’t if anybody believes that, but he should be asked under oath if he knew about the raid prior to it happening. He hasn’t answered that question. Why hasn’t he held a press conference? Why won’t President Biden talk about this? That is deafening right now, that silence.

Scalise is now flagrantly lying. The examples that Doocy gave of Gosar and Greene were not questions. They were overt statements advocating the destruction and/or defunding of the FBI. What’s more, there have been no reports that Attorney General Merrick Garland didn’t know about this raid. To the contrary, almost every report said that Garland, and FBI Director Chris Wray (a Trump appointee), would have almost certainly had to sign off on it.

Scalise then complains that Garland hasn’t talked about the search. But Scalise knows – or should know – that it would be improper for him to do so. The search warrant was issued under seal. And President Biden has correctly remained distanced from the Justice Department’s operations.

The only one who could have provided any additional data about this was Trump himself. He has a copy of the search warrant, and there is nothing stopping him from releasing it. Well, nothing except the likelihood that it contains something that would incriminate him.

RELATED: Eric Trump Admits on Fox News that the Trump Admin Interfered with Justice Department Business

At this point co-host Brian Kilmeade chirps in with the news that GOP Rep. Scott Perry had his cellphone seized by the FBI. And Scalise suggests that there is something untoward about the IRS getting funding to add more agents, who will only be working on high-income individuals and corporations. Both of those matters are obvious deflections that have nothing to do with the search at Mar-a-Lago. But Doocy brings the discussion back to the issue at hand saying…

Doocy: Steve, why not wait a week or so until we know more about this search warrant, then immediately rush to judgment and say, “Yeah, the FBI, they’re crazy.”
Scalise: We’re asking questions right now that no one is answering. We’re not hearing the FBI answer any of these questions. We’re not hearing Justice. And we’re sure not hearing the White House.

Once again, Scalise is not asking questions. And the people he wants to speak out are prohibited by law and ethics from doing so. But what’s truly remarkable about this exchange is that Doocy was the one introducing a rational perspective to the discussion. It would be too soon to assume that there has been any change in Fox’s editorial stance on these matters. They are, after all, the ones who have been ranting about the FBI planting evidence. But it is sufficiently peculiar to keep an eye on.

UPDATE: AG Garland held a press conference Thursday afternoon to announce that the Justice Department will make a motion to unseal parts of the search warrant, so that they can be made public. That should make Scalise happy. Or, more likely, just make him have to contrive a different set of lies to cast aspersions on the FBI, law enforcement, the President, and to absolve his messiah Trump of any wrongdoing.

Garland noted that the Department of Justice intended the search to be conducted quietly, but it was Trump who made it a public spectacle. And when the warrant is made public like Republicans and Fox News have wanted, they will learn why it’s important to be careful what you wish for. You may just get it.

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WHOA! CNN’s Jim Acosta Rips New York Post and Fox News: USDA Grade A Bullshit

Posted by on May 1, 2021 at 4:09 pm. 8 Comments :

Here’s something you don’t see every day. Anchoring CNN’s Saturday Newsroom, Jim Acosta reported on the debunked and ridiculed story that the children’s book – Superheroes Are Everywhere – by Vice-President Kamala Harris was given to every migrant child who arrived at border detention facilities.

Fox News, Fake News

Acosta’s take on the easily disproven story was an epic smackdown of the fake news purveyors that included the New York Post and Fox News. It was a thing of beauty:

“Take for example the uproar over this New York Post story that claimed that copies of a children’s book written by Vice-President Kamala Harris was being given to migrant kids in their “welcome” kit. That tale from the border didn’t just border on BS, This was USDA Grade A bullshit and the reporter who wrote the story resigned claiming she was forced to make it up. But the damage was done, pumped out over the airwaves at the bullshit factory also known as Fox News.”

“From there the lie kept spreading. Prominent Republicans like House Minority Whip, Steve Scalise, who suggested the Vice-President was profiting off the problems at the border. His tweet is still up.”

The story, of course wasn’t true. There was a single book received among donations to help the kids by members of the community. But that didn’t stop the right-wing fabulists intent on manufacturing fake scandals from jumping on the phony allegation and disseminating it to their fact-averse followers.

Numerous high-ranking politicos regurgitated the flagrant falsehood. And their tweets also still remain online. They include GOP Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, GOP Party Chair Ronna McDaniel, Sen. Tom Cotton, Rep. Jim Jordan, to name just a few.

The New York Post deleted the original story and then replaced it with another version that said that “Kamala isn’t at the southern border — but at least one migrant kid got Veep’s book.” The new version, which changed little more than the headline, was also attributed to the original author, despite her having resigned amid complaints that she was forced to write the false article.

The tweet to which Acosta was referring is one that Scalise posted with a video of Biden’s press secretary, Jen Psaki. She was responding to a question from Peter Doocy of Fox News who asked whether Harris “was making any money” off of the book’s distribution that never happened. Scalise asked in his tweet if “Kamala Harris [is] profiting off the border crisis?” No, she wasn’t. And, yes, it’s still there:

It’s satisfying to see the more conventional news networks speaking truthfully about the blatant dishonesty of Rupert Murdoch’s propaganda enterprises. They are the most prominent and prolific source of disinformation and they present an imminent danger to democracy and America. It’s long past time that they be treated by legitimate journalists as the right-wing domestic terror PR agency. Because that is what they are.

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Pence Aide on D.C. Riot: Trump Got ‘Bad Advice’ and Was Dumb Enough to Take It

Posted by on February 21, 2021 at 10:28 am. 4 Comments :

The apologists for Donald Trump scattered furiously to defend him after the January 6th attack on Congress by the Trump Insurrectionists. Some said that he didn’t overtly incite the riots by telling his cult followers to engage in violence. Others said the rioters were actually Antifa provocateurs disguised as MAGAts. Both of those excuses have been thoroughly contradicted by the facts.

Mike Pence, Donald Trump

On Sunday morning there was a new justification offered to explain Trump’s responsibility for the assault that resulted in at least five deaths and many more injured. Not to mention the stain on American democracy by people who hate the very thought of it. Marc Short, the former chief of staff to Mike Pence, was interviewed on CNN and asked about Trump’s inflammatory behavior that led to the riots. He replied that…

“I think, unfortunately, the President was getting bad advice from people who had articulated that the Vice-President would have some sort of extraordinary powers that had never been used before in the history of our country during Electoral College meetings and certifications by Congress. So that’s what we were heading into on the 6th [of January]. But I think that the Vice-President knows he swore an oath to the Constitution and was gonna fulfill that.”

This answer serves a dual purpose. First, it’s an attempt on Short’s part to absolve his former boss and Trumpy lapdog, Pence, of any liability. But more significantly, Short is trying to place the blame for Trump’s months-long incendiary and seditious rabble-rousing on unnamed “advisers” leading Trump astray.

The problem with this weaselly strategy is that it ends up holding no one accountable. But even worse, it implies that Trump is so stupid that he took advice that was legally preposterous and manifestly unconstitutional. Trump’s stupidity will not come as a shock to anyone. But the fact that Pence’s top aide is proposing it to vindicate Trump reveals that the Trump contingent has run out of plausible excuses.

In the meantime, Another Trump flunky, Republican minority whip Steve Scalise, continues to perpetuate the Big Lie that sparked the Trump Insurrection in the first place. After all the time that has passed – and the evidence that has been revealed – Scalise still can’t say without qualification that Joe Biden was elected legitimately. This is the sort of dangerous rhetoric that will fuel the next series of riots.

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Fox News Covers for QAnon Crackpot with Leading, Softball Questions for GOP Whip

Posted by on February 3, 2021 at 1:19 pm. 6 Comments :

The nauseating tale of the Republican’s QAnon congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene, just keeps descending into an ever-deepening abyss of muck. But it’s not bad enough that we have a GOP representative who believes that 9/11 was an inside job; that the mass murder of children was staged; and that Democrats are sex-trafficking baby-eaters, We also have a national “news” network that backs her up.

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Marjorie Taylor Greene, Gun

This week Tucker Carlson devoted a segment of his White Nationalist Power Hour on Fox to defending Greene. And on Wednesday morning Fox continued the Greene-boosting campaign with an interview of GOP Whip, Steve Scalise (video below). Host Harris Faulkner led off the segment with a shamelessly leading question that mangled reality:

“Democrats are preparing to debate a resolution stripping congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments because of past statements in support of conspiracy theories. You are proposing the House instead strip congresswoman Ilhan Omar from her committees over past statements that both Republicans and Democrats have deemed anti-Semitic.”

First of all, Democrats are not seeking to strip Greene of her committee assignments merely because she believes some insane, nonsensical, conspiracy theories. Although that would be sufficient reason by itself. The bigger problem is that Greene has also advocated assassinating members of Congress, including Democratic leaders like Speaker Nancy Pelosi. How could anyone not regard that as good cause to not only bump Greene from committees, but to expel her from Congress?

Faulkner went on to provide Scalise with an answer to her question by making an absurd connection between Greene’s homicidal raving and some awkward remarks by Rep. Ilhan Omar. Never mind that Omar clarified her original, benign intent, while Greene stubbornly stands by her inflammatory madness that included inciting Trump’s deadly Capitol insurrection. The answer was to evade criticism of Greene by pointing fingers at Omar.

Faulkner failed to mention that both Democrats and Republicans also deemed Greene’s comments offensive. In fact, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell said that her “loony lies and conspiracy theories are a cancer for the Republican Party and our country.” And Scalise took the bait:

“The Democrats actually have the authority to remove Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committees, but we’re talking about statements that were made before she was even a candidate for Congress. And that, I think, has some bearing here.”

How does Greene having made her remarks before being elected to Congress have any bearing? Does Scalise really think it’s okay to threaten to murder members of Congress so long as your aren’t a member yourself at the time of the threat? That would mean if someone threatened to murder him today, then later get elected to Congress, he’d be cool with that.

Scalise went on to draw fatuous equivalencies between Greene and what he called “a whole plethora of folks” (Ilhan Omar, Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters, Ayanna Pressley), who he said “made offensive or dangerous statements,” and that “We’re really trying to say ‘What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.'” But none of that “plethora” ever advocated violence or spread crazy lies about satanic cult-worshipping Republicans.

It’s interesting to note that Scalise’s argument doesn’t actually defend Greene. He’s just saying – falsely – that Omar is just as bad. But even so, Scalise still won’t vote to remove Greene from her committee assignments, even though his “goose and gander” rhetoric seems to suggest that it’s warranted.

As for Fox News, they have whined incessantly about the fuss being made over Greene, a freshman back-bencher in congress. They apparently have forgotten about how they obsessed over Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other Democratic newcomers like Omar. They literally called AOC the face of the Democratic Party. Even worse, they demanded that Omar “go back to her country” (she is an American citizen).

In the meantime, Fox News has hardly mentioned Greene in the past month. Which is further proof that this whole charade is just another attempt by Fox News to muddy the waters and allow a cretinous slimeball to get away with her toxic hate speech. It’s the Fox Way.

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How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
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Trump, Jr and Other Republicans are Already Blaming Democrats for Scalise Shooting

Posted by on June 14, 2017 at 1:49 pm. 3 Comments :

Wednesday morning a deranged man opened fire on a group of Republicans practicing for a charity baseball event. Fortunately there were no fatalities, but several people were wounded including the GOP House Whip, Steve Scalise. Capital Police returned fire and killed the gunman. This is a horrific act of violence for which there is no excuse, and members of both parties have come together to condemn it. For the most part.

Donald Trump, Jr

Sadly, there are some on the right who leaped to the opportunity to take political advantage of this tragedy. And at the top of the list is the eldest son of Donald Trump, Don, Jr. The Trump scion retweeted conservative pundit Harlan Hill who posted this offensive and false sentiment: “Events like today are EXACTLY why we took issue with NY elites glorifying the assassination of our President.”

Trump and Hill are referencing a production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar where the title character was made up to resemble Trump. But they are woefully ignorant of the content of the play which concludes that political violence is abhorrent and counterproductive. What’s more, they never had any complaints when the same play was staged with President Obama in the role of Caesar.

More to the point, Trump, Jr. is demonstrating a callous disrespect for the victims and their families by rushing to politicize this shooting. It exposes his obsession with partisan antics aimed at disparaging Democrats. And he isn’t alone. Other Republicans have also dived into the scummy end of the pool. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) called it a “political rhetorical terrorist attack.” Fringe wingnut radio talker Michael Savage tweeted “I warned America the Dems constant drumbeat of hatred would lead to violence!” Alex Jones’ InfoWars deemed it “media-inspired terror attacks.” That’s notably different than his take on the Sandy Hook murder of twenty children as a hoax staged with actors.

Conservative websites like the Drudge Report and Breitbart News joined in the pile on against Democrats and liberals. Never mind that every Democrat who has spoken out about this has unconditionally condemned it. And then there’s GOP congressman Chris Collins (R-NY), who assigned the blame solely to Democrats for rhetoric that he said “fuels the fires.” He continued:

“I can only hope that the Democrats do tone down the rhetoric. The rhetoric has been outrageous. The finger-pointing, just the tone and the angst and the anger directed at Donald Trump, his supporters. […] Maybe this is a wake-up call. I’m not saying it will be. But let’s hope we could disagree on a more polite, conversational basis.”

So Collins’ idea of being more polite is to accuse Democrats – and only Democrats – of inciting violence. And his solution to finger-pointing is finger-pointing. Just for the record, Republicans have been notoriously hostile toward Democrats for decades. And that has only worsened during the Era of Trump, who famously suggested “2nd Amendment solutions” to handle Hillary Clinton. And who can forget the images of Obama being lynched that were circulated endlessly by right-wing trolls. In many cases they were further disseminated by GOP officials.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
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Republicans are right to admonish anyone who glorifies violence against political adversaries. They’re right to condemn such violence when it occurs. But they are just bending the arc of hypocrisy to the breaking point when they assert that they are not at least as guilty of hostile partisan rhetoric. And they need to extend their outrage to abortion clinic bombings, assaults on Muslims, LGBTQ people, women, African Americans, Latinos, etc. Then they can start to consider lecturing Democrats on civility.