The Daily Beast has drawn criticism after publishing a story alleging Devin Nunes refused to answer questions about working with the White House on a memo, despite a transcript of the exchange proving its claim to be false.
The article, entitled, ‘Devin Nunes Won’t Say If He Worked With White House on Anti-FBI Memo,’ contained the subhead, ‘The House intel committee GOP leader refused to answer behind closed doors if he coordinated with the president’s team on his report blasting Rosenstein, Comey, and McCabe.’
The Daily Beast cited “sources familiar with the exchange,” which told the reporters about Nunes’ alleged dodging of the question posed by Democrat Mike Quigley. The questions surrounded whether he coordinated with the White House on a memo alleging surveillance abuses at the FBI and the Justice Department targeting of the Trump campaign.
Transcript Shows The Daily Beast Peddled Fake News About Devin Nunes Memo https://t.co/CxG43qYmay
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) January 31, 2018
Daily Beast is refusing to retract for the same reason CNN refused to retract when it became apparent its reporting was false: accuracy is apparently secondary to protecting their preferred narrative. https://t.co/c8heIdbBk0
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) January 31, 2018
The article goes on to report Nunes “made a few comments that didn’t answer the question before finally responding, ‘I’m not answering.’”
According to the transcript of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence meeting, however, Nunes never said, “I’m not answering,” but did say, “I would just answer, as far as I know, no.”
Quigley had asked Nunes six questions about the memo at once, including, “Did they have any idea you were doing it? Did they talk to about doing this with you? Did they suggest it? Did you suggest it to them? Did you consult in deciding how to go forward with this before, during and after this point right now?”
Nunes responded saying, “I would just answer, as far as I know, no.”
Typical fake news Daily Beast (owned by Barry Diller; Chelsea Clinton sits on board) falling over shoes for Roger Stone. Censored is that I obtained political asylum, with UN backing, in relation to Clinton's prosecution attempts. Instead libeled as "hiding" for "sex".
— Julian Assange ⌛ (@JulianAssange) January 31, 2018
Once again, “reporters” at Daily Beast got burned by believing anonymous Democrats on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. https://t.co/3C71RJJSfj
— Nick Short