Fox host Lisa “Kennedy” Montgomery suggested that Bill and Hillary Clinton were to blame for the “persistently illegal conduct” at the Donald J. Trump Foundation by Trump and his three eldest children, revealed in stunning detail today in a lawsuit by New York’s attorney general.
Before getting to the New York lawsuit, Fox spent more than six minutes pre-spinning an IG report to discredit James Comey and undermine the Russia investigation
Outnumbered aired before today's release of the inspector general’s report on the FBI’s handling of Hillary Clinton’s emails. But that didn’t stop the liberal-free panel, plus Trumper guest Matt Schlapp, from using it to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
Kennedy opened the show with an announcement that Bloomberg has reported that then-FBI Director James Comey “broke from procedure” in handling the email probe. She failed to note that Bloomberg also reported that the IG “did not find that these decisions were the result of political bias on Comey’s part.”
The five Trump lickspittles focused on attacking (i.e. discrediting) Comey who, as cohost Elizabeth MacDonald pointed out, happens to be a witness in the Mueller investigation.
“The whole James Comey thing is a joke,” Julie Banderas, a supposedly objective correspondent moonlighting here as an opinion host, chimed in. “The job of the FBI is not to lie, for starters, but James Comey screwed that up.”
For extra Trump-sycophant points, Banderas gave the Fan in Chief a birthday shout out. “I know the president, on his birthday, is very excited for this early … birthday gift that he’s now receiving.” There was appreciative giggling off camera. “This will justify” Comey’s firing, she said supportively.
Fox host Kennedy deliberately made the Trump corruption about Clinton
Nearly seven minutes into the segment, Kennedy brought up the New York attorney general lawsuit. Instead of reviewing the substance of the case, Kennedy steered the focus to Clinton. “The Clintons had a brilliant money-laundering scheme,” she dubiously said. “And it’s no surprise that any other politician would want to do the exact same thing.”
“So, because no misdoing was really pinned to the Clinton Foundation, formally, are they now going to go after the Trump Foundation?” Kennedy continued.
Cohost Elizabeth MacDonald seemed to play it straight when she said, “These are really serious charges. You’re not supposed to use a foundation for your own personal debts. … This is a scathing rebuke of a sitting president and his foundation. I’m curious why the president is continuing to fight it. … The evidence that is mounting about this, I’m not sure it would be wise to continue to fight it.”
However, she went on to tell Kennedy, “Your points are well taken about the Clinton Foundation.
Banderas promised, “We’ll forget about this story, I think, in about a day” because the news cycle “moves so quickly.”
Schlapp added his Clinton whataboutism: “Who’s investigating them and all their wrongdoing? All of this is political in the end.”
The Trump family corruption revealed in the NY AG complaint is so staggering, it’s not a surprise Fox didn’t want to discuss it
Even just a few paragraphs of The Washington Post report on the lawsuit are jaw dropping, especially for a supposedly business-savvy family that is draining the swamp:
[Attorney General Barbara] Underwood said that oversight of spending at Trump’s foundation was so loose that its board of directors hadn’t met in 19 years, and its official treasurer wasn’t even aware that he was on the board.
Instead, she said, the foundation came to serve the spending needs of Trump — and then, in 2016, the needs of his presidential campaign. She cited emails from Trump campaign staff members, directing which charities should receive gifts from the Trump Foundation, and in what amounts.
[…]
With no outside oversight of Trump’s use of foundation money, Underwood said, the future president had repeatedly used his charity’s money to help his businesses, and himself.
Twice, for instance, Trump used the charity’s money to settle legal disputes that involved his for-profit businesses.
You can read the full lawsuit here.
Meanwhile, watch Fox News try to blame the Clintons for the Trump family corruption above, from the June 14, 2018 Outnumbered.
Crossposted at News Hounds.
We watch Fox so you don't have to!
