Report the news fairly… that is all we are asking.
When it comes to our politicians, all we want for them is to be truthful, something they are apparently incapable of doing, even when the presidency and the integrity of its office are on the line.
Cherry Picking Quotes
As part of the impeachment report done by the House Intelligence Committee, the claim was made that Trump was citing Article II, stating “where I have the right to do whatever I want.”
That quote was used by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) in his report.
It was used again by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) when she summarized the report and announced she would be asking the House Judiciary to draw up the articles of impeachment.
Video of that quote was used by both CNN and MSNBC during their broadcasts.
Elie Honig (CNN), Joe Scarborough (MSNBC), and Chris Matthews (MSNBC) also used the edited clip when discussing the story.
Yes, Trump did say that… but the video was edited to ONLY feature that quote, the same way both Pelosi and Schiff cherry-picked the quote.
You can make anything sound horrific when you take it out of context.
In this case, it was made to make Trump sound like he was ruling a kingdom rather than the President of the United States.
What Trump Really Said
In order to fully understand how harmless this quote was, you need to see the full statement by Trump that day.
Trump was discussing Robert Mueller and why he did not fire him during the Russian collusion investigation.
Trump stated:
Look, Article II, I would be allowed to fire Robert Mueller. Assuming I did all of the things, I said I want to fire him. Number one, I didn’t. He wasn’t fired. Number one, very importantly but more importantly, Article II allows me to do whatever I want. Article II would allow me to fire him. I wasn’t going to fire him. You know why — because I watched Richard Nixon firing everybody and that didn’t work out too well.
When you read the quote in its context, it is clear Trump was NOT speaking about doing anything he wanted, anytime he wanted.
What he was talking about was that he has the right to fire a special counsel or any reason if he so desires.
He goes on to say that he did not do that because of what happened when Richard Nixon was in office.
It is bad enough the media is deceiving people, but the fact that politicians are engaging in this practice should be criminal.