Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 194
What Just Happened?
“NBC has fired its leading morning news anchor Matt Lauer over sexual harassment allegations,” the New York Times reports.
A memo said it was the first complaint lodged against Lauer, but that “we were also presented with reason to believe this my not have been an isolated” incident.
Lauer’s dismissal was seized upon by President Trump, who asked in a tweet when executives at NBC would “be fired for putting out so much fake news.”
New York Times: “Charged with overseeing a live prime-time forum with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton — widely seen as a dry run of sorts for the coming presidential debates — Mr. Lauer found himself besieged on Wednesday evening by critics of all political stripes, who accused the anchor of unfairness, sloppiness and even sexism in his handling of the event.”
“Granted 30 minutes with each candidate, who appeared back-to-back at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in Manhattan, Mr. Lauer devoted about a third of his time with Mrs. Clinton to questions about her use of a private email server, then seemed to rush through subsequent queries about weighty topics like domestic terror attacks.”
Jonathan Chait: “Lauer’s performance was not merely a failure, it was horrifying and shocking.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
More about Taegan Goddard →