MSNBC anchor Chuck Todd acknowledged Wednesday that the numerous errors uncovered by Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz of the highly controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) application process were “alarming,” but claimed President Trump and his were using those findings to push “conspiracy theories.”
Todd pointed to what he described as “one of the president’s impeachment counter-narratives,” stressing that Horowitz’s testimony weakened Trump’s claims of an “attempted coup” when the watchdog repeatedly told Congress he did not find evidence that the launch of the Russia probe had a political bias.
“Let’s be crystal clear here… The IG did find some alarming instances of FBI misconduct related to its applications to secretly monitor Carter Page,” Todd said, referring to the former Trump campaign adviser. “He could not say whether political bias did or did not influence some of those specific decisions down the road. And, by the way, it’s not only political bias that could have influenced. It’s possible confirmation bias, prosecutorial bias, not all bias is red and blue in America.”
Todd continued, “The facts in this report are important, but once again, are being distorted more by spin, and in some cases, conspiracy theories.”
MSNBC’S ANDREA MITCHELL: FBI’S FISA APPLICATION ERRORS ‘PRETTY EGREGIOUS’
The “Meet The Press Daily” host then played clips including Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., predicting that a “massive criminal conspiracy” would unravel, Trump calling the controversy an “attempted overthrow,” and Attorney General William Barr asking, “What was the agenda after the election that kept them pressing ahead after their case collapsed?”
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“Now the facts have been warped to defend the president here. Counter-narratives have been pushed and presidential conspiracy theories have taken hold as part of this broader information war,” Todd told his viewers. “And, frankly, that’s helped the president in his fight against the facts of this impeachment investigation.”
