For most of the week, Fox News has been in a full-blown lather on the topic of how Hillary Clinton “spied” on Donald Trump, even after he was president.
For example, there’s this bit of verbal dreck that came from Fox host Jesse Watters, who wouldn’t know a fact if it walked up and kicked him in the shin while wearing hobnail boots:
“Durham’s documents show that Hillary Clinton hired people who hacked into Trump’s home and office computers before and during his presidency, and planted evidence that he colluded with Russia.
“Yeah. You heard that right. Hillary broke into a presidential candidate’s computer server and a sitting president’s computer server, spying on them. There, her hackers planted evidence, fabricated evidence connecting Trump to Russia, then fed that doctored material to the feds and the media.”
Yeah. Only problem is, as Mediaite notes, it’s about as factual as what they try to sell you down at the local Scientology center:
(Special Counsel John) Durham’s filing did not show this – at all. What’s more, as New York Times reporter Charlie Savage pointed out, the right-wing media narrative surrounding the filing was “mostly wrong or old news.” Indeed, the Times had reported on it last year.
On Thursday, Clinton even mentioned the entire hullabaloo in a speech she gave to the New York State Democratic Convention:
“Fox leads the charge with accusations against me, counting on their audience to fall for it again. And as an aside, they’re getting awfully close to actual malice in their attacks. But as I said, don’t get distracted.”
Clinton’s use of the words “actual malice” is a clear hint from the former secretary of state that she just might file a defamation lawsuit against Fox, which is already reeling from a massive $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit filed against the network by Dominion Voting Systems. Dominion has accused Fox of lying about its voting machines.
Trying to play tough guy (which he never has been or ever will be), Wimp Supreme Sean Hannity chided Clinton on his show Thursday evening:
“Malice? Really? It’s called news. Hillary, we invite you to bring it on. It’s from a legal filing. We quoted exactly from the filing that was put in federal court.”
And then something odd happened: Fox went completely silent on the entire Clinton spying conspiracy theory. It was almost like the matter had been wiped from their memories:
In the past six days, John Durham was mentioned 219 times on Fox News, according to TVEyes. But as of 11 a.m. today. his name was mentioned only once by Steve Doocy on Fox & Friends, and it was in the context of Hillary Clinton being asked a question by a reporter.
Hillary threatens a lawsuit and suddenly Fox drops the story like a nuclear potato. Coincidence? Hardly. The network is already facing extinction as a result of the Dominion lawsuit. The very last thing they need is another legal action against them.
Well done, Mrs. Clinton. Thank you for putting a bully in its place.
