Skip to main content

Shep Smith fact-checks Fox News on Clinton, Uranium One deal

By

Shep Smith fact-checks Fox News on Clinton, Uranium One deal

Fox News anchor Shepard Smith has earned a reputation over the years for ideological apostasy, providing a sharp mid-afternoon break from the conservative perspective that dominates the rest of the network's programming.

But on Tuesday, he may have outdone himself. Over the course of six minutes, Smith provided a thorough fact-check of the latest Clinton-related conspiracy theory to capture the attention of Republican lawmakers, and his colleagues at Fox News.
Smith, the chief news anchor at Fox, spelled out the specific allegation surrounding the sale of a Canadian company called Uranium One: "Nine people involved in the deal made donations to the Clinton Foundation totaling more than $140 million, In exchange, Secretary of State Clinton approved the sale to the Russians, a quid pro quo."
Smith traced the origins of the claim, which has recently been in heavy circulation on Fox, but was first made in the 2015 book "Clinton Cash," written by Breitbart editor-at-large Peter Schweizer.
From there, it became a talking point on the campaign trail for President Trump, who asserted in June 2016 that "Hillary Clinton's State Department approved the transfer of 20% of America's uranium holdings to Russia, while nine investors in the deal funneled $145 million to the Clinton Foundation."
"That statement," Smith said, "is inaccurate in a number of ways."
It may have been jarring to hear for the most loyal Fox News viewers, who for weeks have heard the network's anchors and commentators breathlessly hype the uranium deal as a scandal of Watergate proportions -- and a story that the liberal mainstream media refused to touch.
Tucker Carlson has taken to calling it "the real Russia scandal." On Tuesday night, hours after Smith's debunking, Sean Hannity stood in front of an elaborate chart on the screen as he promised to "untangle the giant web of Clinton scandals and corruption."
"We know laws were broken. We know crimes were committed," Hannity said. "The evidence is overwhelming. It's incontrovertible."
Without naming his colleagues on the opinion side of the network, Smith delivered a powerful rebuttal to those claims on Tuesday. He explained that the deal required approval from an inter-agency committee known as "CFIUS," made up of the heads of the nine cabinet-level departments.
"The nine department heads all approved the sale of Uranium One," Smith said. "It was unanimous, not a Hillary Clinton approval."
"We don't know definitively whether Secretary Clinton participated at all directly," he added.
Clips of Smith's takedown went viral on Tuesday. Matt Gertz, a senior fellow at the anti-Fox watchdog Media Matters, called it a "methodical annihilation of his own network's coverage of the story."
It was the latest instance of Smith endearing himself to Fox critics -- and alienating the network's most diehard viewers.
In July, Hannity even called out Smith for his pointed critique of the current administration.

"I like Shep," Hannity said on his radio show. "But he's so anti-Trump."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sarah Sanders' absolutely unreal explanation of Trump's anti-Muslim video tweets

By
Sarah Sanders' absolutely unreal explanation of Trump's anti-Muslim video tweets Washington (CNN) On Wednesday morning,  President Donald Trump retweeted three videos purportedly showing Muslims committing acts of violence against Christians . He did so despite the fact that the videos came from a far-right, anti-Muslim group in Britain and remain unverified. Which is all beside the point, according to White House press secretary Sarah Sanders. "Whether it is a real video, the threat is real,"  Sanders told reporters Wednesday morning . "That is what the President is talking about, that is what the President is focused on is dealing with those real threats, and those are real no matter how you look at it." When pressed on the difference between the videos being real or fake, Sanders replied, "I'm not talking about the nature of the video. I think you're focusing on the wrong thing. The threat is real, and that's what the Preside...
Post a Comment
Read more

State Dept. warned White House about possible increased threats after anti-Muslim tweets

By
State Dept. warned White House about possible increased threats after anti-Muslim tweets STORY HIGHLIGHTS The tweets appeared to depict Muslims engaged in different acts of violence "It didn't manifest in anything actionable, but it was a big concern," one State Department official said Washington (CNN) After President  Donald Trump retweeted anti-Muslims videos on Wednesday , multiple State Department officials said the department communicated to the White House that there was concern that protests could happen at US embassies. Officials feared that the tweets, which appeared to depict Muslims engaged in different acts of violence, would spark a reprise of the violent protests at US embassies in the Middle East which are already on high security alert. Protests erupted in September 2012 following the publication of an anti-Muslim video on the internet. Embassies were on alert throughout the day, although no incidents have been reported thus far...
Post a Comment
Read more

Russia investigation zeroes in on Trump inner circle

By
Russia investigation zeroes in on Trump inner circle STORY HIGHLIGHTS Mueller charged Flynn with one count of lying to the FBI It raises questions about how high up Mueller's investigation will reach Washington (CNN) Michael Flynn's downfall  Friday exacerbated grave legal and political risks that represent the most serious threat to any administration for at least 40 years, and could eventually imperil the Trump presidency itself. The plea deal cut by the fired national security adviser with Special Counsel Robert Mueller undermines much of what the White House has said about the Russia controversy engulfing the presidency. It means there is now no credible way for  President Donald Trump  to claim the Russia investigation is a hoax, made up, fake news or a witch hunt. It raises questions about who higher up the chain of command in Trump's orbit -- possibly even including the President himself -- is in Mueller's sights after he agreed to...
Post a Comment
Read more