Cross posted to the MRC's NewsBusters blog
On Wednesday, Fox News Channel again demonstrated that it's the place to become well-informed about important issues while other networks were the place to omit key information that would undermine the preferred liberal narrative.
While the more liberal media have been portraying police shooting victim Daunte Wright of Minnesota as having only a minor criminal record that did not justify attempting to arrest him in the first place, several Fox shows picked up on charges that he used a gun in 2019 to try to rob a woman of more than $800, leading to his legal problems that ultimately got him killed after he resisted arrest.
Ironically, just 10 minutes after Fox host Brian Kilmeade gave a commentary on the subject, MSNBC contributor Claire McCaskill, apparently unaware of the charges, claimed that Wright had not been accused of serious crimes like "armed robbery" that justified trying to take him into custody.
On MSNBC's Morning Joe at 6:17 a.m. Eastern, McCaskill -- a former Democratic Senator from Missouri -- went into a rant in defense of Wright: "I do think the shooting of the young man a few miles away a few days ago is really a gut check moment for police departments. Here's what's really sickening about this, Mika. You know why he had a warrant? He had a warrant because he didn't get a notice for a hearing."
As she continued, it was also ironic that McCaskill finally found a gun law that she opposes because of early reports that enforcing the state's permit requirement to possess a firearm contributed to Wright's death:
And you know what he was charged with? Carrying a gun without a permit in America. Are you kidding me? In most states, you don't even have to have a permit to carry a gun. So there's this thing that goes on where there are people in our communities that are being targeted by police officers and drug [sic] through a system that they never escape from. And it contributes to a cascading set of circumstances that hold them back in terms of their lives' opportunities.
But McCaskill has a history of pushing other gun control, and going on rants against Republicans for blocking Democrats on the issue. McCaskill then understated Wright's criminal record as she concluded:
And this is a good example of that in this instance. This young man paid the ultimate price for that. And that is his death. And I do think that everybody in America is going, "Wait a minute, this wasn't an armed robber -- this wasn't a rapist -- this wasn't a murderer -- this was a young man who wouldn't show up at court on a charge that, in most states, wouldn't even be against the law."
But anyone watching Fox News 10 minutes earlier would have been better informed on the subject. Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade recalled:
Daunte Wright -- everybody knows this is a tragedy. Nobody thinks he should have been shot. He got pulled over for something motor vehicle-related, but there was a warrant out for his arrest for attempted aggravated robbery after choking and holding a woman at gunpoint for $820 a year ago.
So if you pull somebody over -- if you want to debate whether somebody should be pulled over for an expired license or license plates, okay, have that debate -- but if you're the police officer, you run that background, and you find out it's an open warrant for something as serious as this, how do you not make an arrest?
The Daily Mail and New York Post have also covered this part of the story.
A couple of hours later on CBS This Morning, during an interview with liberal civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, CBS host Gayle King went along with his incorrect claims that the warrant was just over a misdemeanor charge, omitting the felony attempted robbery charge. King asserted: "And in the Daunte Wright case, it started with an expired tag -- they found out he had a misdemeanor, and it escalated into that. I think it's very important to remind people that these were such minor things that turn deadly so quickly."
And, on the same day's CBS Evening News, reporter Omar Villafranca was still referring to the warrant as being an "outstanding misdemeanor warrant," with no mention of the attempted robbery.
The news coverage by Fox News that was accurate and informed viewers was sponsored in part by Behr. Let them know you appreciate them supporting such important programming.
MSNBC's propaganda supporting the left was sponsored in part by Noom. Let them know how you feel about them funding such misinformation.
Transcripts follow:
Fox & Friends
April 14, 2021
6:07 a.m. Eastern
BRIAN KILMEADE: Daunte Wright -- everybody knows this is a tragedy. Nobody thinks he should have been shot. He got pulled over for something motor vehicle-related, but there was a warrant out for his arrest for attempted aggravated robbery after choking and holding a woman at gunpoint for $820 a year ago.
So if you pull somebody over -- if you want to debate whether somebody should be pulled over for an expired license or license plates, okay, have that debate -- but if you're the police officer, you run that background, and you find out it's an open warrant for something as serious as this, how do you not make an arrest?
And then he decides to run for it, which is a huge mistake, and then the 26-year veteran makes a huge mistake by using a gun instead of a taser, but it's a series of things. But if you look at the police officer, what does President Obama want him or her to do if you run someone's background, and there's a warrant out for an arrest for something called "aggravated robbery"?
(...)
MSNBC
Morning Joe
April 14, 2021
6:17 a.m.
CLAIRE MCCASKILL, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: I do think the shooting of the young man a few miles away a few days ago is really a gut check moment for police departments. Here's what's really sickening about this, Mika. You know why he had a warrant? He had a warrant because he didn't get a notice for a hearing.
And you know what he was charged with? Carrying a gun without a permit in America. Are you kidding me? In most states, you don't even have to have a permit to carry a gun. So there's this thing that goes on where there are people in our communities that are being targeted by police officers and drug [sic] through a system that they never escape from. And it contributes to a cascading set of circumstances that hold them back in terms of their lives' opportunities.
And this is a good example of that in this instance. This young man paid the ultimate price for that. And that is his death. And I do think that everybody in America is going, "Wait a minute, this wasn't an armed robber -- this wasn't a rapist -- this wasn't a murderer -- this was a young man who wouldn't show up at court on a charge that, in most states, wouldn't even be against the law."
(...)
CBS This Morning
April 14, 2021
8:07 a.m.
BENJAMIN CRUMP, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: And I'm sorry, she did not have to even need to tase this young man. It was a misdemeanor warrant. They always seem to do the most -- engage in the most excessive use of force when it's a marginalized minority. And George Floyd -- they could have given him a ticket for this allegation of a $20 fraudulent bill. They could have given him a ticket. They did not have to arrest him. But when it's black people, they seem to engage in the most excessive force just like the lieutenant in Virginia.
GAYLE KING: And I think it's so important to keep reminding people that the George Floyd case started with a counterfeit bill. We don't even know if he knew it was counterfeit. And in the Daunte Wright case, it started with an expired tag -- they found out he had a misdemeanor, and it escalated into that. I think it's very important to remind people that these were such minor things that turn deadly so quickly.