NBC Shooting Themselves in the Foot With Their Fanatical Attacks on Tulsi Gabbard

Who Do You Trust More? NBC Journalist’s Stab at RT

Backfires Spectacularly

Eager to defend NBC News’ claim that Democrat Tulsi Gabbard was being promoted by a ‘Russian machine,’ journalist Kasie Hunt asked Twitter if they trusted her network or RT more. The results were not what she'd hoped for.

Fresh from a disastrous interview with Gabbard (D-Hawaii) on Wednesday morning, in which Hunt claimed that US troops were sent to Syria “pushing back against [President Bashar] Assad” rather than to fight Islamic State, Hunt asked her Twitter followers to compare the NBC story that claimed that Russia was “boosting” the congresswoman, to the report from “Russian state media” RT.

Kasie Hunt✔
@kasie
 Here is ⁦@NBCNews⁩’ excellent reporting on the Russian machine that now appears to be boosting Tulsi Gabbard https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna964261 …

Experts who track websites and social media linked to Russia have seen stirrings of a possible campaign of support for Hawaii Democrat Tulsi Gabbard.

nbcnews.com
Kasie Hunt✔
@kasie
Here is the “debunking” of the NBC News report from RT, the Russian state media. You tell me which you think is more credible https://www.rt.com/usa/450613-nbc-gabbard-new-knowledge-smear/ …

NBC’s claim Tulsi Gabbard is supported by a Kremlin propaganda effort is based on data from a cybersecurity firm already exposed for creating fake Russian bot accounts, prompting a sharp rebuke from...

NBC’s “excellent reporting” was based on “experts” from New Knowledge – a shady outfit that was exposed in December for making up fake Russian bot accounts to help Democrats during a 2017 Senate election. It was Glenn Greenwald from The Intercept that pushed back on NBC’s claim first, a fact duly noted in RT’s article – but not in Hunt’s tweets.

Greenwald responded by comparing NBC journalists to being more obsessed with Russia that J. Edgar Hoover, who ran the FBI for almost 50 years.

Glenn Greenwald✔
@ggreenwald
 NBC personalities find more Russian infiltration than J. Edgar Hoover ever did. Also, @Kasie, you "forgot" to mention that the "experts" on which NBC relied for its McCarthyite smearing just got caught fabricating Russia data on behalf of Democrats. https://theintercept.com/2019/02/03/nbc-news-to-claim-russia-supports-tulsi-gabbard-relies-on-firm-just-caught-fabricating-russia-data-for-the-democratic-party/ …

Kasie Hunt✔
@kasie
Here is ⁦@NBCNews⁩’ excellent reporting on the Russian machine that now appears to be boosting Tulsi Gabbard https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna964261 …

There were hundreds of replies to Hunt’s question. While some expressed support for NBC and repeated the claim that Gabbard is a Russian agent somehow, the majority sided with RT and The Intercept.

When the author of the original NBC report, Ben Popken, jumped to Hunt’s defense, The Nation’s Aaron Mate called him out for “sleazy McCarthyite tactics.”

Aaron Maté✔
@aaronjmate
 Correct, and Glenn Greenwald completely discredited your report. (https://theintercept.com/2019/02/03/nbc-news-to-claim-russia-supports-tulsi-gabbard-relies-on-firm-just-caught-fabricating-russia-data-for-the-democratic-party/ …) That’s why you have to resort to repeating your report’s sleazy McCarthyite tactics — “look everyone, a Russian outlet is talking about ____!” — to try to defend it.

Ben Popken✔
@bpopken
Pressed by @kasie on NBC's reporting, Gabbard didn't dispute a single fact and instead said it had been discredited. When asked by whom she wouldn't name them. I'll tell you who: RT, Russia Insider, Sputnik, and Glenn Greenwald.

Lest one think the Intercept is supporting Gabbard’s candidacy, the publication actually ran a fiercely critical piece about her in early January, accusing the congresswoman of being close to Hindu nationalist groups in India.

Of the candidates that have announced their intent to compete for the Democrat presidential nomination in 2020, Gabbard is the only one so far to campaign on opposing foreign wars, including the US intervention in Syria, ostensibly against ISIS, and the ongoing effort to force regime change in Venezuela.

Being an outsider to the war-mongering establishment (read Deep State) in Washington, expect Mainstream Media to keep pounding Tulsi with shoddy, dishonest and fabricated reporting.