When word broke Wednesday evening that Hollywood actor Jussie Smollett had been charged with perpetrating a hate crime hoax, MSNBC’s left-wing hosts reportedly ignored the story, choosing instead to keep their attention firmly affixed to the thus-far-unfruitful Russian collusion investigation.
“A review of MSNBC’s on-air coverage … turned up nothing on Smollett between any of their nightly shows. Instead, each of them spent time discussing a new report that the special counsel’s investigation could wrap up as soon as next week,” The Daily Caller reported.
Others noticed the same thing:
MSNBC also did not report on it last night during their primetime lineup. https://t.co/DpCSD1QUGz
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) February 21, 2019
For the 8pm, 9pm, and 10pm EST news hours, the following cable news hosts did *not* cover the Jussie Smollett felony charge
-MSNBC’s Chris Hayes
-MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow
-MSNBC’s Lawrence O’DonnellAll FNC and CNN cable news hosts covered the story during all of those time slots
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) February 21, 2019
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow was the only cable news host that did not cover the felony charge against Jussie Smollett during the 9pm EST hour
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) February 21, 2019
MSNBC reportedly remained “radio silent” about the charges until around roughly 5:10 am Thursday morning on “Morning Joe First Look,” or about nine hours since the story broke.
Flashing back to Wednesday evening, it was at 7:53 pm EST that Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi announced the felony criminal charges against Smollett:
Felony criminal charges have been approved by @CookCountySAO against Jussie Smollett for Disorderly Conduct / Filing a False Police Report. Detectives will make contact with his legal team to negotiate a reasonable surrender for his arrest. pic.twitter.com/LvBSYE2kVj
— Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) February 21, 2019
The actor was arrested the following morning.
As reported previously, Smollett claimed in late January that two white Trump supporters had assaulted him, poured bleach on him and placed a noose around his neck, all while allegedly yelling racial and homophobic slurs and shouting, “This is MAGA country!”
An investigation by Chicago authorities found that the attack was a hoax.
“First, Smollett attempted to gain attention by sending a false letter that relied on racial, homophobic and political language,” Chicago Police Department Superintendent Eddie Johnson announced during a presser Thursday afternoon. “When that didn’t work, Smollett paid $3,500 to stage this attack and drag Chicago’s reputation through the mud in the process.”
While it’s unclear why MSNBC’s hosts ignored the breaking news Wednesday evening about Smollett, what’s known is that they have a certain obsession with the Russian collusion investigation.
Hosts like Rachel Maddow in particular are dead set in their belief that President Donald Trump colluded with Russian operatives to affect the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.
Maddow has fallen so deep into the rabbit hole of unproven Russian collusion she sees a “Russia connection” lurking in everything, including the president’s 2018 North Korea summit:
So after dramatically revealing to her audience that North Korea has a border with Russia — gasp — Maddow tonight went on an extended dot-connecting monologue where she darkly intimates that maybe somehow the real beneficiary of the Trump/Kim summit was… PUTIN. Beyond parody pic.twitter.com/a9bEwWn6l1
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) June 13, 2018
Including the president’s hiring and firing of Rex Tillerson:
.@maddow has pushed the conspiracy theory that Russia got Tillerson hired (pics 1, 2, 3, see also https://t.co/wbvvYjuV0e). Is now pushing the conspiracy theory that Russia got Tillerson fired (pic 4). pic.twitter.com/oih2YKnmKp
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) March 17, 2018
And including the president’s own alleged conspiracy theories:
Wonder where Trump gets his conspiracy theories ?
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow’s deep dive gives the answer
Turns out many of his foreign policy talking points directly parrot propaganda and fake news originally put forward by Russian governmenthttps://t.co/0R3DpR3InH
— ??Ellie?? (@ellievan65) January 4, 2019
Russia, Russia, Russia. It always boils down to Russia. In fact, Maddow continued blabbering about Russia even Thursday evening, hours after Smollett’s arrest. She also ran multiple reports pondering the president’s potential (and extraordinarily unlikely) indictment:
Many suspect that Maddow is in store for great disappointment regarding Mueller’s investigation. The irony, social media users noted, is that this disappointment will likely be no different than the disappointment experienced by those who’d hoped and prayed that Smollett’s attack wasn’t a hoax.
Look:
If you think MSNBC is disappointed the Jussie Smollett incident was a hoax, just wait until Robert Mueller ends with absolutely, positively NOTHING related to President Trump and Russia. The biggest nothing-burger in human history is coming…
Rachel Maddow may need counseling.
— thebradfordfile™ (@thebradfordfile) February 19, 2019
Rachel Maddow is hilarious to watch. How often she blinks is directly related to how upset she is.. Hmm, Special Report huh? And your journalistic credibility? None. Not even reporting on #JussieSmollettHoax. Russia will be like Smollett, Phillips & Ford, just watch. #Hoax #MAGA
— Emily Anderson (@emilyandersonHQ) February 22, 2019
What Smollett allegedly has done is no different than what CNN, MSNBC, Louis Farrakhan, Al Sharpton, Adam Schiff, Rachel Maddow and many other organizations and public figures do on a regular basis which divides our nation with made up bullshit.
— CarrollRaybin (@CarrollRaybin) February 17, 2019
Chicago Police has more evidence on Jussie Smollett in 2 WEEKS than Mueller has on Trump in 2 years.
— Kambree Kawahine Koa (@KamVTV) February 22, 2019
So @JussieSmollett is in jail now, charged with being a liar and a fraud and fabricating crimes in a desperate effort to damage/take down President @realDonaldTrump.
Pretty much exactly what Bob Mueller has been doing for the last 2 years.
Why isn’t Mueller in jail yet? pic.twitter.com/yCVxzS9GCK
— David Wohl (@DavidWohl) February 21, 2019
Funny how it takes the left so long to learn what we know from start. We knew hands up don’t shoot was a lie, Covington was a lie, Jussie Smollett was lying, knew Russia story was a hoax. Now the left is warning that Mueller has nothing. Schiff calling investigation “inadequate”
— Stonewall Jackson (@1776Stonewall) February 17, 2019
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