Journalists are obligated to let Presidential candidates from both sides air their complaints against or support for the Special Counsel’s indictment of Donald Trump. It is how we get to know them.
But since President Biden has ordered silence in his administration to avoid the appearance of a political prosecution — thus allowing Jack Smith to operate on his own as he investigates the long list of misdeeds the former President is accused of committing — it’s the GOP that is filling airwaves with their defense of Donald Trump.
Their talking points lead with “what-aboutism” and false equivalency reporters should be prepared to call out. If not, journalists become microphone stands and not truth seekers.
What I present here is a handy guide to follow before engaging with Republican candidates for President. I will use Mike Pence’s appearance on Meet the Press with Chuck Todd Sunday as an example.
While Pence concedes the charges against Trump are serious , he immediately jumps into “what about the emails” false equivalency.
Answer: Here is the evidence to refute his claim that “Hillary Clinton got a pass”. The State Department after years of investigation released well into the Trump administration found “no evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information”.
The Trump administration, with its own Attorney General Bill Barr, had 4 years to prosecute Mrs. Clinton and did not. And finally, Clinton cooperated with the FBI and turned over her emails. And the FBI concluded she was sloppy by using a private email server, but did not intend to break the law. Trump is accused of obstruction.
Next: Pence and others complain that the Department of Justice is not pursuing President Biden with the same vigor it investigated Donald Trump.
Challenge: A special counsel has been appointed to investigate Biden’s possession of classified documents and again he is fully cooperating with the investigation. No subpoena has been issued because of that cooperation and no FBI search has been required. As Bill Barr has said recently, “President Trump brought this on himself”. If the former President had turned the documents over any time before his indictment, it is highly unlikely he would have been charged at all.
Next: Republicans, including in Pence’s interview, claim Hunter Biden has not been vigorously investigated.
Challenge: The Republican-appointed U.S. Attorney in Delaware David Weiss has been probing the Biden son’s taxes and business troubles since 2018 under Donald Trump. Attorney General Merrick Garland has allowed the Trump administration holdover complete autonomy in the probe. And reports are Hunter is close to being charged. However, no link to President Biden has been alleged by the government.
And after a 4-month investigation, House Republicans were forced to concede they found no evidence of a specific connection to the President in Hunter’s business deals.
Next: Another frequent claim by Republicans is that the DOJ has treated BLM protestors differently than Jan. 6 insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol.
Challenge: More than 300 protestors were arrested and charged with federal crimes during the summer of George Floyd demonstrations. And dozens have been convicted.
Next: Republicans routinely blame Joe Biden for increasing the national debt and putting country in crisis.
Challenge: The last 5 Presidents and their deficit contributions according to the Treasury Department
Joe Biden 6.3%
Donald Trump 40.43%
Barack Obama 69.98%
George W. Bush 105%
Bill Clinton 31.64%
So far, Biden has added nearly 2 trillion to deficit in 2 years. Donald Trump in 4 years added more than 8 trillion. Both Presidents had Covid on their watch and passed expensive, but generally successful assistance packages.
Next: Finally, in repeated campaign statements and in his interview with Chuck Todd, former Vice President Pence claims he is proud of all the achievements made during the Trump administration. Todd let that one go by unchallenged.
Challenge: Are you proud of the Covid delayed response health experts say caused 100,000 unnecessary deaths? 40% of Covid deaths could have been averted if the Trump administration had taken the pandemic seriously. This according to a Harvard study.
For Pence specifically, who was in charge of the Covid response under Trump, this follow-up: Why did you not publicly refute this President’s assertion that ultraviolet light shined into the body or an injection of bleach should be considered a Covid treatment?
Are you also proud of child separation policy, otherwise known as kids in cages policy that separated parents at the border and led to 1000 kids still missing somewhere in the United States?
The research for those challenges took less than 2 hours at the computer.
The amount of disinformation that politicians can pack in one interview is mind-boggling and a very real challenge for reporters. And today’s environment where interviewees come to the microphone with a list of talking points and attempt to filibuster their way through the Q-and-A without really answering a question makes it a struggle.
The best way to combat this is to think ahead about your questions and which talking points you expect to hear. And come armed with not just a microphone to hold, but a fact sheet up your sleeve.
Jim Avila previously served as a weekly columnist for Barrett News Media. An Award-winning journalist with four decades of reporting and anchoring experience, Jim worked as Senior National Correspondent, 20/20 Correspondent, and White House Correspondent for ABC News. Prior to his time with ABC, he spent a decade with NBC News, and worked locally in Los Angeles and Chicago for KNBC, and WBBM. He can be found on Twitter @JimAvilaABC.
