On last night's NBC Nightly News, news of the sentencing of convicted felon Paul Manafort managed to get buried nearly half- way through the broadcast. When it did appear, former Justice Department spokesman under George "Dumbya" Bush, Pete Williams allowed a bold Trump camp lie to stand, i.e., that Judge Amy Berman Jackson had said the case showed "no collusion" with the Russians. The
“The ‘no collusion’ refrain that runs through the entire defense memorandum is unrelated to matters at hand,” she said. “The ‘no collusion’ mantra is simply a non sequitur.”
Then she added: “The ‘no collusion’ mantra is also not accurate, because the investigation is still ongoing.”Downing is working hard here to signal Trump that Manafort remains a loyal stooge and should be granted a pardon.
You'll note, if you saw other footage of Downing, that NBC cut the video before crowd chants of "Liar!" and "That's not what she said!" could be heard. Here's the footage from NBC Nightly News, with the salient part starting at 13:19:
For reference, here's a clip with the crowd reaction that NBC News cut out:
Just so it's crystal clear, this is all part of the campaign for a presidential pardon. https://t.co/crCEqzycgb— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) March 13, 2019
Judge Berman Jackson also said,
“Court is one of those places where facts still matter,” Jackson said, adding at another point: “If the people don’t have the facts, democracy can’t work.”It appears the facts don't matter to NBC Nightly News or to Pete Williams, and that's why we can't expect corporate media to save us.
BONUS: Williams also makes a point to tell us Manafort is "seated in a wheelchair," although Judge Berman Jackson made a point of questioning why he was, and that she hadn't received a letter from any doctor explaining that. Cue the tiny violins.
UPDATE: More mischief, this time from other NBC- affiliated cogs.
