As part of the Media Research Center’s attacks on a certain witness before the House committee examining the Capitol riot, Christian Toto huffed in his Aug. 10 Media Research Center column:
Colbert and co. couldn’t help themselves.
They heard former Trump White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson describe a surreal scene tied to Jan. 6, 2021 and they couldn’t wait to spread it on their respective platforms.
Did it matter that it appeared fictitious from the jump? Not to these brave, “speaking truth to power” satirists. Then again, this same troupe promoted the Russian collusion hoax for years without offering up a single mea culpa.
In their defense, the media similarly refused to apologize to President Donald Trump or the American public.
The Fake News in question? that President Trump violently attempted to grab the wheel from a Secret Service agent to steer the car to the U.S. Capitol that day.
Toto hyped a report from the biased right-wing PJ Media claiming that “A new Inspector’s General report on Jan. 6 confirmed that the driving attack never happened,” focusing on the testimony of then-Secret Service agent Tony Ornato, who told Hutchinson that was what happened. But Toto is ignoring Ornato’s history. We’ve noted that after Hutchinson’s 2022 testimony, Ornato and other Secret Service agents declared he would testify and dispute Hutchinson’s claim, then suddenly went silent and lawyered up. Ornato abruptly retired two days before he was to testify to the House’s committee, forcing a rescheduling of the testimony; when he finally did testify a few months later, pleaded ignorance and “did not recall” the incident in question or saying anything about it to Hutchinson — which would seem to run counter to PJ Media’s insistende that Ornato “says he never witnessed the event, much less told her.” Further, the committee “found multiple parts of Ornato’s testimony questionable,” which both Totoand PJ Media are silent about.
But that sort of thing runs counter to Toto’s narrative, so he labored to stay on message:
Why would they apologize to Orange Man Bad … or us? They like late-night lies that denigrate their political foes. It’s clown nose on … and off.
“Don’t blame me! I’m just a comedian … wacka-wacka-wacka!”
What makes the steering wheel story even worse in light of recent events? Secret Service agents appear less than enthralled with Trump.
Don’t expect to hear any references to Hutchinson’s testimony tonight or later this week on any late-night show.
Late-night propagandists work hand-in-hand with our corrupt media. Journalists spin half-truths or outright Fake News stories – Breitbart News’ John Nolte has an ever-expanding list of the biggest lies – and these comedians share them with unsuspecting viewers.
Sans consequences. Always.
Meanwhile, we’ve caught Toto — a right-wing propagandist — peddling bogus right-wing narratives, and he has yet to apologize for doing so, let alone feel the consequences.