Tipsheet

Get Wrecked: The Top 10 Rake-Stepping Fake News Stories The Liberal Media Trafficked In 2018

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  December 28, 2018 7:05 AM

The liberal media was almost as bad as last year. Maybe marginally better, but I use that phrase VERY loosely. They were still total garbage in covering this White House. They still suck. They’re still sour that Hillary Clinton lost, and as they’re consumed with rage, they make mistakes, a great many mistakes.  From sitting on information that undercut a serious sexual misconduct allegation against a federal judge to peddling old fake news about AR-15s to push gun control, 2018 was another banner year for the Democrat-media complex. We only have ten. We know there were a lot more. Tweet @Townhallcom to send us some we might have missed. There were so many it was bound to happen. 

The Daily Caller's Amber Athey also compiled an even longer list of fake news screw-ups from the media. Enjoy going down memory lane.

***

1. CNN Peddled An Embarrassing AR-15 Story…Which Wasn’t Even New.

The liberal media still can’t get it right when it comes to reporting on firearms. After the tragic Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting in February, CNN’s Cuomo peddled an old story about some kid who claimed to have bought an AR-15in Virginia in five minutes. The problem: he didn’t buy the rifle. He just took a photo with one. That’s not the same thing. 

Recommended

FEMA Director Denies, Denies, Denies Mia Cathell
Matt Gaetz Withdraws From Attorney General Nomination Matt Vespa

2. ‘The Awful Melania Trump Is Chained To A Radiator In Basement Because We Haven’t Seen Her And Trump Is Evil’ Conspiracy Theory

It’s a fact that many people undergo surgery for a multitude of reasons. For major surgery, say, like a procedure on your kidneys, it requires a prolonged resting phase. First Lady Melania Trump underwent kidney surgery in June and was absent for a lengthy period of time. The media took that as she went “missing.” This is a prime example, and there are many more, of why the media is so hated.  Katie had the story.

3. CNN’s Cohen-Russia-Trump Tower Meeting Story Blows Up In Their Faces

Again, there is nothing as entertaining than watching CNN fail miserably to peddle its Russian collusion nonsense on a 24/7 basis. We love it when they fail. They suck. They’re anti-Trump, anti-GOP, and deserve all the blood the pours from their face when they step on a rake like this. In July of 2017, sources alleged that ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen claimed then-candidate Donald Trump knew about the 2016 meeting that occurred in Trump Tower between his son and some Russians, which turned out to be nothing related to Hillary Clinton, the election, or collusion. It was a colossal waste of time. It’s not even a news story. But leave it to CNN to try and resurrect it, as it was some big bombshell and have it collapse in epic fashion. From the get-go there was zero evidence to corroborate Cohen’s account. There’s your first red flag. The second was the sourcing. It turned out to be Cohen’s attorney Lanny Davis, who pretty much took back everything he disclosed. 

“I made a mistake,” said Davis.

The best is that CNN stood by its trash reporting. 

4. The Russian Spy That Was In The Oval Office, Except That She Wasn’t

Emily Singer of the now defunct-Mic got the Russia collusion hopefuls frothing at the mouth when she alleged that Maria Butina was photographed inside the Oval Office. Butina, a Russian, was recently arrested and charged with espionage. The problem: it wasn’t her. It was some NSC staffer. 

5. NPR Is Taken To The Woodshed Over Fake Story About Donald Trump Jr. 

So, CNN can’t read the dateson emails properly, and it looks like National Public Radio has an issue with reading public transcripts. The story is hinged on Michael Cohen supposedly contradicting what Donald Trump Jr. said about a Trump Tower Moscow deal ending in 2014. 

“Donald Trump Jr. testified to Congress that the Trump organization’s negotiations’ to develop Trump Tower Moscow ended at the end of 2014, but that conflicts with Michael Cohen, who said in a guilty plea the negotiations continued well into 2016,” in a now-deleted NPR tweet.

“This NPR story appears to be wrong. It notes that Trump Jr. told a Senate committee that a deal in Moscow died of "deal fatigue" by 2014. 

But that was a deal with the Agalarovs. He was also asked if a deal was in the works in 2015/2016 and said yes,” tweeted Philip Bump of The Washington Post. In fact, a more than a few writers from left-leaning publications noted that this story was not accurate. 

6. The Julia Swetnick SNAFU

We all knew the overreach was coming. There were two stories of alleged sexual misconduct against Brett Kavanaugh, both without corroborating evidence. There were not witnesses either. The one that was the strongest against the now-siting Supreme Court justice was Christine Blasey Ford, who couldn’t remember anything about her alleged encounter with a teenaged Kavanaugh, except that he supposedly attempted to sexually assault her. She doesn’t know how she got to this party, how she got there, who planned it, or how she got home, but she knows for sure that Kavanaugh was her alleged attacker. Yeah, not buying it. I still don’t. It was a classic politically orchestrated hit by the Democrat-Media Complex, and Julie Swetnick confirmed that. Her story was straight trash. She was a college-aged woman who hung out with…high school kids, saw some debauchery, alleged that Kavanaugh was part of some gang rape ring, though she never saw him attack anyone, but it obviously wasn’t so bad (or that it never happened) because she went to several more of these parties. Oh, and she pretty admitted she doesn’t know what Kavanaugh allegedly did, nor does she have evidence. Yeah, she was nuts. A gang rape ring? Give me a break. There was also another woman who admitted to making up sexual assault allegation to get attention. Both Swetnick and her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, have been referred for criminal prosecution for making false claimsto the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

7. Wait–NBC News Knew Swetnick’s Story Was Garbage…And Sat On It. 

Yeah, I’ll just let them explain:

In the NBC News interview that aired on Oct. 1, Swetnick back-tracked on or contradicted parts of her sworn statement where she alleged she witnessed then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh "cause girls to become inebriated and disoriented so they could then be 'gang raped' in a side room or bedroom by a 'train' of boys."

NBC News also found other apparent inconsistencies in a second sworn statement from another woman whose statement Avenatti provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee in a bid to bolster Swetnick's claims.

In the second statement, the unidentified woman said she witnessed Kavanaugh "spike" the punch at high school parties in order to sexually take advantage of girls. But less than 48 hours before Avenatti released her sworn statement on Twitter, the same woman told NBC News a different story.

Referring to Kavanaugh spiking the punch, "I didn't ever think it was Brett," the woman said to reporters in a phone interview arranged by Avenatti on Sept. 30after repeated requests to speak with other witnesses who might corroborate Swetnick's claims. As soon as the call began, the woman said she never met Swetnick in high school and never saw her at parties and had only become friends with her when they were both in their 30s.

When asked in the phone interview if she ever witnessed Kavanaugh act inappropriately towards girls, the woman replied, "no." She did describe a culture of heavy drinking in high school that she took part in, and said Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge were part of that group.

[…]

According to the second woman's declaration that Avenatti provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee, she said: "During the years 1981-82, I witnessed firsthand Brett Kavanaugh, together with others, 'spike' the 'punch' at house parties I attended with Quaaludes and/or grain alcohol. I understood this was being done for the purpose of making girls more likely to engage in sexual acts and less likely to say 'No.'"

The statement also said that Kavanaugh was "overly aggressive and verbally abusive to girls. This conduct included inappropriate physical contact with girls of a sexual nature."

But reached by phone independently from Avenatti on Oct. 3, the woman said she only "skimmed" the declaration. After reviewing the statement, she wrote in a text on Oct. 4 to NBC News: "It is incorrect that I saw Brett spike the punch. I didn't see anyone spike the punch...I was very clear with Michael Avenatti from day one."

When pressed about abusive behavior towards girls, she wrote in a text: "I would not ever allow anyone to be abusive in my presence. Male or female."

8. The Border Patrol Murdered A Migrant

Prior to the Christmas holiday, it was reported that and seven-year-old migrant girl had died in Border Patrol custody. Of course, the Trump administration, Republicans, and federal immigration authorities were to blame, except that they weren’t. Guy had the story:

…Politicians and members of the media expressed outrage over the tragic death of a seven-year-old girl who died shortly after illegally crossing the US border with her father.  The details of her passing are heart-wrenching.  Border hawks blamed her parent for putting her life at risk by bringing her on the dangerous journey, while critics of the president's approach to immigration policy held up the incident as an example of the administration's inhumanity and callousness.

[…]

Twitter's 'AG Conservative' (who is worth a follow) noted that in story after story, headline after headline, wrongdoing by US officials was at least implied.  In truth, the young girl had been severely deprived of sustenance for days prior to being taken into custody in a remote area, at which point American border patrol officers and support staff attempted to save her life.  After being manually revived twice, she was transported by air to a hospital, where she died.

9. Nikki Haley’s Curtain Call

The New York Times tried to slit the throat of then-U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley for a $53,000 curtain expenditure at the official residence. It came at a time when the State Department was undergoing some belt-tightening. Well, it wasn’t her fault. The Obama administration approved the purchases. Leah covered it for us:

Nikki Haley, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, has come under fire over expensive curtains that were installed in her official residence given the State Department’s deep budget cuts and hiring freeze. There’s just one problem—the nearly $53,000 furnishing was approved under the Obama administration in 2016.

Here’s the correction:

An earlier version of this article and headline created an unfair impression about who was responsible for the purchase in question. While Nikki R. Haley is the current ambassador to the United Nations, the decision on leasing the ambassador’s residence and purchasing the curtains was made during the Obama administration, according to current and former officials. The article should not have focused on Ms. Haley, nor should a picture of her have been used. The article and headline have now been edited to reflect those concerns, and the picture has been removed.

10. Brenda Snipes Is A Closet Republican

The 2018 Florida elections were another nightmare. Yes, Gov. Rick Scott booted incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, and GOP Rep. Ron DeSantis won the gubernatorial race, but the vote tallying in Broward and Palm Beach Counties, both Democratic bastions, were a disaster. They weren’t keeping regular updates on the outstanding ballot total as required by law. Elections supervisor Brenda Snipeswas once again at the center on the controversy.  Lawsuits were filed, with a judge ruling that the vote counting operation was in violation of public records laws. Allegations of election stealing flew like crazy, and MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell had this bombshell: Snipes is a…Republican? No, she’s not, but it was yet another fake news moment for the media for 2018: