Posted on 03/28/2016 4:11:45 PM PDT by conservativejoy
NBC anchor Chuck Todd isn’t buying the National Enquirer hit piece on Ted Cruz. On the March 27 edition of Meet the Press, Todd commented that “there’s more evidence that ties Trump to planting the story, than there is to the story itself tying anything to Cruz.”
Todd also accused Trump of taking a page out of the “LBJ playbook.” Discussing the story with NBC chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell, Todd retorted that “Trump is almost trying to borrow a page from the LBJ playbook, when he put out a statement on the National Enquirer – let me put it up here. He basically said, ‘I hope that story's not true,’ but also trying to fan the flames. Hey, look, the National Enquirer got it right on Edwards, got it right on O.J. Simpson, I hope they’re wrong about – and then he throws in ‘lyin’ Ted Cruz’. This is – this is a sort of ‘make him deny it’ type of LBJ thing.”
NBC has consistently done a superior job of pointing out the many reasons to doubt the Enquirer story. In her reporting on Friday's NBC Nightly News and Saturday's Today show, NBC correspondent Hallie Jackson went further than her ABC and CBS colleagues in alerting viewers to the tabloid’s utter lack of evidence, its past boosting of Trump, and the categorical denials of two of the women linked to Cruz in the story.
On ABC's This Week, fill-in moderator Jonathan Karl did not match Todd's explicit skepticism of the Enquirer piece, but twice pressed Trump himself on the story:
JONATHAN KARL: Do you categorically guarantee that nobody on your campaign, nobody tied to your campaign, had anything to do with this National Enquirer story?
TRUMP: Totally. I had nothing to do with it....
KARL: But let me ask you, this story, this that we see in the National Enquirer, this kind of rumor mongering, should this kind of thing just be off limits? Do you condemn this story?
TRUMP: I don't care. I mean really I don't care. The National Enquirer did a story. It was their story. It wasn't my story. It was about Ted Cruz. I have no idea whether it was right or not.
Overall, ABC's This Week gave the sleazy tabloid story 2 minutes, 47 seconds of airtime, compared with 1 minute, 36 seconds on Meet the Press.
CBS’s Face the Nation didn’t touch on the controversy at all, which is consistent with CBS News’s recent history of giving much less air time (2 minutes) to this story on the morning and evening new shows over the weekend than either ABC or NBC did (7 and 6 minutes, respectively).
Transcript from Meet the Press on March 27:
CHUCK TODD: Hallie, this all came in Cruz world a little bit – you know – my this escalated quickly.
HALLIE JACKSON: Yeah.
TODD: But I guess, sort of, what happened here? And how did this go from this, I guess, a Super PAC's digital ad get turned into what it got turned into.
JACKSON: Right. And to look at the progression, as you noted, of what we've seen this week, Tuesday we're talking about this terror attack and candidates' responses to it, Saturday we're talking about the National Enquirer and the tabloid cover story that's out there. I think that this shows Donald Trump is able to shift the conversation with a single tweet. And the tweet that came out retweeting this image of Heidi Cruz next to Melania trump was stunning to, I think, the Cruz campaign. I think Ted Cruz was stunned and very emotional about this even before you started talking about the Enquirer story. And, I think that one of the things that Ted Cruz has been hit on he seems a little bit rehearsed, sometimes, a little bit inauthentic, that's a knock against him. Right now, he is emotional, he’s mad, and he’s showing it.
...
TODD: But it is, and Andrea, final thing, what was amazing, Trump is almost trying to borrow a page from the LBJ playbook, when he put out a statement on the National Enquirer – let me put it up here. He basically said, I hope that story's not true, but also trying to fan the flames. Hey, look, the National Enquirer got it right on Edwards, got it right on OJ Simpson, I hope they’re wrong about – and then he throws in ‘lyin’ Ted Cruz’. This is – this is a sort of ‘make him deny it’ type of LBJ thing.
ANDREA MITCHELL: Exactly. And, of course, as Hallie’s been reporting, and as Katy's been reporting he’s got a very close relationship with the people of National Enquirer. They are really – and they’ve endorsed him, so –
TODD: There's more evidence that ties Trump to planting the story than there is to the story itself tying anything to Cruz.
MITCHELL: Like, I hope this is not true, and then tell me everything about it. It has been a remarkable, extraordinary period and, as I say, at a time when he should be vulnerable on foreign policy.
Hey, it was ok to use Chuck when he was making pro-Trump comments. Happened right here on FR more than once and his comments were promoted and bumped to high Heaven. Now, he’s back to being a no good so and so. Therein the essence of Donald Trump.
Almost all the polls show the exact opposite.
I don’t put credence in Chuck Todd either way.
Yep, and just what is the PROOF of evidence of Cruz' scandal? (And please don't cite more salacious tabloid tweets)
LOL Not even an NBC employee believes it now-
If you think the Press would help Cruz if they thought he had any chance to win against Hillary, than you are Bats*** crazy.
The media are getting their “cage match” as Cruz put it one time.
You must realize that it wouldn’t matter to most tRump supporters if there was tape of the Donald admitting to making the story up with his good friend, the Pecker. They would just say that Sen. Cruz deserved it because he was just a terrible person and the Donald is just so fantastic and everybody has just been so mean to him.
If English is your first language, saying that the stories are false IS A DENIAL!
From deflection to delusion
NBC is just upset that their reporting is even more inaccurate than the National Enquirer’s. NE at least broke the John Edwards story, what has NBC ever done other than peddle Leftist propaganda?
When are some of you going to realize, the enemedia is going to put out what they want you to believe.
That is why they are called the enemedia, you simply just cannot trust them for anything. When are people going to get that?
CGato
Nice deflection, there, catfish.
The topic was Todd saying there was more evidence tying Trump to the NE article on Cruz than for Cruz’s alleged infidelities.
It is not my job to provide any proof of what Cruz did.
I am asking where Todd’s so-called evidence is for his statement.
LOL! That about sums it up!
Just saying.
“Almost all the polls show the exact opposite”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN1IXDrXgV0 Teddy shaking hands with a friend of his, a lunatic religious nut, that calls for the Murder of Gays.
The general public sees this and teddy is finished.
Maybe I am looking for something more direct.
Like “I never had sex, with any woman other than my wife”.
Something clear and unmistakable. I have not heard that yet. At all.
He did that to try to make it look legit. I think it is funny that this is back firing on Trump big time!
NBC’s Todd doesn’t want trump tp be nominee.
I’m shocked!
Today, on Jeff Kuehner’s program, he stated GOP-e’s Rick Wilson is at the core of who began leaking this story followed by Rubio’s campaign with a late assist by Cruz’s campaign.
Lyin’ GOP-e!!!
Lyin’ Ted!!!
“If I were Trump and wanted to inoculate myself against future charges of adultery by my opponents, I would plant false stories about my opponents to muddy up the waters.
Just saying.”
And include your spokeswomen as one of the women.. RETARDED.
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