In the vast landscape of the mainstream media, holding every outlet accountable for each instance of intentional and harmful deception would be akin to a never-ending game of whack-a-mole.
However, President Donald Trump has strategically chosen his battles, a move that seems to have made a significant impact.
A recent example of this involves MSNBC's Jen Psaki, host of "The Briefing with Jen Psaki" and former White House press secretary under the Biden administration. In a video clip shared on social media platform X, Psaki made a potentially defamatory statement about Trump, only to hastily correct herself.
During an interview with Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, Psaki said, "You're talking about the other predators out there in addition to Trump." She was referencing associates of the late convicted sex offender and suspected trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, a topic that Democrats showed little interest in during Biden's four-year tenure.
However, since Biden's departure from office, Democrats have resorted to desperate and dishonest tactics in an attempt to associate Epstein with Trump. Yet, no evidence has been presented to suggest that Trump, unlike Epstein, engaged in any immoral or illegal activities.
According to Western Journal, Psaki quickly corrected her statement, perhaps prompted by a producer or her own realization that she had overstepped. "I mean, I'm not saying he is. We don't know all the details about that," she hastily clarified. "I just mean, in addition to what we've learned about Epstein and others, there's other predators out there."
One might expect that seasoned media figures like Psaki would have learned their lesson by now. In December, ABC News agreed to a $16 million settlement with Trump over potentially defamatory comments made on-air by George Stephanopoulos, who falsely claimed that a jury had found Trump liable for the "rape" of journalist and author E. Jean Carroll. The jury had actually found Trump liable for "sexual abuse," not "rape."
In another instance, CBS's parent company Paramount agreed to a $16 million settlement over "60 Minutes'" decision to edit an October 2024 interview with then-Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in a way that made Harris sound coherent.
Furthermore, last week, Trump reportedly "threatened" to sue the British Broadcasting Corporation for $1 billion over the network's selective editing of his speech prior to the Capitol incursion of Jan. 6, 2021, which made it appear that Trump encouraged violence. The BBC has since apologized for its "error of judgment."
In each of these cases, media figures propagated a falsehood. A federal jury found Trump liable not for rape but for sexual abuse in the Carroll case. Harris's speeches are often incoherent, not clear. And Trump encouraged his supporters to protest peacefully on Jan. 6.
The Trump administration could potentially quell the current controversy by releasing all information related to Epstein. However, the administration has largely shown indifference to the Epstein case and a desire to move past it. Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel have particularly discredited themselves on this issue.
In essence, while we can rightly ridicule Democrats for their habitual dishonesty and applaud Trump's legal reprimands of the mainstream media, as Psaki likely recalled before correcting herself, we also have the right to demand the complete truth about Epstein from everyone in the U.S. government.
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