Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center went into a defensive panic when it was revealed that former Trump national security adviser John Bolton's proposed memoir revealed what he knew about President Trump's attempt to coerce Ukraine into giving him dirt on Joe Biden, with much of the rancor centered on how all of this was in a book Bolton wanted to sell.
- Kyle Drennen huffed, "In an effort to aid Democrats in prolonging the Senate impeachment trial, on Monday, all three networks seized on a supposed “bombshell” – though unverified – claim in former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s upcoming memoir. All the sensational coverage clearly designed to turn up the pressure on Republican senators to call witnesses."
- Gabriel Hays grumbled under the shouted headline "SO STUPID" about the "unverified, hearsay New York Times anecdote taken from an excerpt of John Bolton’s unpublished book," calling it "the least serious thing Bolton has ever said (if he said it)."
- Nicholas Fondacaro fawned over the "fact-based arguments for acquittal" coming from Trump's lawyers and complained that some media outlets "chose to disregard the defense in favor of pouncing on reported allegations made in the conveniently timed leak of former national security advisor, John Bolton’s yet to be released book." Fondacaro also baselessly called Bolton's book "dubious."
- Clay Waters complained of the Bolton book excerpt: "Wow, the timing of this leak is at a terrible time....just as it was engineered by the Times and their leaking pals."Kathleen Krumhansl dismissed the Bolton book as nothing but "today's talking points."
- Drennen returned to approvingly highlight one commentator "criticizing Bolton’s motivation for not sharing his account of what happened with Ukraine earlier in order to sell a book."
- Curtis Houck groused about "the latest (and clearly coordinated) leak by The New York Timesof details in John Bolton’s book" and that one TV host said "Bolton was like Tom Cruise in The Firm."
By contrast, when a conservative (well, one that hadn't crossed the Trump-MRC machine, anyway) has a book to sell with some juicy dirt in it, the MRC will happily join the sales team.
It served up a raft of posts touting allegations in right-wing author Peter Schweizer's anti-Clinton book "Clinton Cash" -- which got traction through, yes, an article in the New York Times, the outlet the MRC is currently bashing for reporting on the Bolton book excerpts -- and defending its quthor. Houck, for instance, gushed that the "bombshell" book was "damning" and complained that Schweizer was accurately identified as a conservative. The MRC even attacked ABC's George Stephanopoulos for committing the offense of asking tough questions of Schweizer duyring a TV interview (while praising Fox News' Chris Wallace for serving as a Schweizer surrogate) and pretended to be aghast that Stephanopoulos -- accurately, one might add -- "suggested Schweizer was merely writing this book to help Republicans go after Hillary for political reasons." The MRC then attacked Stephanopoulos for having donated to the Clinton Foundation.
Schweizer's reporting was wobbly, however, but that didn't matter to the Clinton-deranged MRC. Fondacaro even made excuses for it in a 2016 post: "Although author Peter Schweizer did admit that he didn’t have the hard evidence that he would like, he has stated that a goal of his book was to get officials involved since that have the legal authority to investigate farther than he can.
