In a glaring display of dishonesty, NBC aired a report on Republican women running for office without ever mentioning they were recruited by Hillary Clinton supporters.

White House correspondent Kristen Welker spoke to the women portrayed as GOP candidates on NBC’s “Today” show on Monday, but failed to address their back stories, which included that the grassroots group backing them was founded by women who campaigned for Clinton in 2016.

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(Video: YouTube/Today)

“Now to a group that’s working to change the face of Washington and the Republican Party,” co-host Craig Melvin kicked off the segment.

“There are more than five times as many Democratic women as Republican women, but with the 2020 race heating up, a new group of candidates are preparing to tackle that challenge head-on,” Melvin, who was filling in for “Today”  co-host Savannah Guthrie, said.

Welker did not disclose any of the Democratic background information as she spoke to the women, asking Patti Russo from Yale University’s Women’s Campaign School if she was “expecting to see a wave of female Republican candidates in 2020.”

“We’re already seeing it. We’re seeing a lot of energy on the Republican side, like never before, Russo responded.

“Demand is so great that recently the Women’s Campaign School held its first-ever training specifically for Republican women, covering the basics of running for elective office, from fundraising to messaging,” Welker informed viewers in the video segment.

But what the reporter left out was that the training session was organized by Republican Women for Progress, which touts itself as “a grassroots policy organization created to: ensure the full spectrum of Republican women’s voices are represented in the media, develop and support the pipeline of Republican women who want to lead and run for office, and refocus the GOP on proper governance and policy,” according to their website.

In the video footage, the founders of the group, Jennifer Pierotti Lim and Meghan Milloy, were seen speaking to seminar attendees. But no mention was made in Welker’s NBC’s report that the women also founded Republican Women for Hillary during the 2016 election campaign.

“The women told us they were motivated by everything from the Kavanaugh hearings to the need for new policies on health care and immigration. And many worried the GOP was failing to appeal to critical female voters,” Welker reported on the event.

A congressional candidate from Illinois was part of Welker’s panel of so-called GOP women.

“So many of us are Republicans in hiding,” Valerie Mukherjee said.

“That’s a bold statement, you say Republican women have been in hiding. Why?” Welker asked.

“It’s kind of hard to get behind sometimes with some of the stuff that’s happening,” Pittsburgh town council candidate, Angela Woods, added.

“And I have found I often have to say I’m socially moderate, fiscally conservative Republican,” Anne Smith, a Virginia General Assembly contender, chimed in.

Welker finally noted that the panel, with the exception of one woman, considered themselves “socially moderate” or liberal. Laura Ramirez, a candidate for Fairfax County School Board in Northern Virginia, was the lone panelist who described herself as “really pro-life,” and a “fiscal conservative.”

“How will you answer questions about how President Trump has at times spoken about women?” Welker questioned the panel.

“He has said some dumb things, and I’ll say it just like that. If my five-year-old and my nine-year-old can’t be listening to the news because of comments that are being made, that should be an issue,” Emily Pelphrey replied.

Interestingly, Welker did not disclose information about Pelphrey that was published in the NBC News write-up on the report.

According to NBC News:

Emily Pelphrey ran for county prosecutor in her Columbus suburb, but did not secure her party’s nomination earlier this year. She said she was surprised by the lack of support from the county Republican party during the campaign. But in the months since, she told NBC News, the president’s statements on race have made it impossible for her to support the Republican party. In July, she reached out to volunteer for the Biden campaign.

“The GOP lost one more person,” Pelphrey told NBC News. “It really is the party of Trump now. And that’s not a party I want to be associated with.”

Welker made no mention of Pelphrey’s remarks or her past, just as she did not refer to the Republican Women for Progress group which the NBC News article said “is now working with roughly 50 women across the country who are pursuing elected positions at all levels of government — local, state and national.”

“Without a doubt, it’s definitely more Republican women than I’ve ever seen be interested in running. They feel like this is the time to step up…Women are reaching out to us who feel displaced from the current party,” Lim told NBC News.

The group touted its history on its website for all to see, except Welker, who dishonestly left out the pertinent information.

“From a shared vision, and a few glasses of wine, Republican Women for Hillary was born,” the site stated. “Between addressing the Democratic National Convention to having fun with mean tweets on Samantha Bee, working in battleground states and hosting networking events, we fought hard until November when America finally made its decision.”

“Ultimately, things didn’t turn out as we had hoped,” it continued, announcing the creation – or just the renaming of the group: “Enter Republican Women for Progress.”

In the panel discussion, Smith said she found it “disconcerting” that the Republican Party “sees women as an identity and not as just equals within the party that can run neck to neck.”

“I think there’s a void and we’re to help fill it. But I do hope that I can one day look down and see the Republican Party as diverse as the Democratic Party and still stand for the core Republican values,” she said.

Welker wrapped up her report telling the “Today” co-hosts that two of the women lost their Republican primaries since the interview was conducted.

“And guys, what struck me, this was a diverse group of women who had different reasons for wanting to get into the game of politics, but they knew very little about it,” she said, still never addressing the fact that the so-called  “Republican” candidates were recruited and backed by Clinton supporters.

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Frieda Powers

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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.

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