BEFORE ACCUSING TRUMP?
by Sharon Rondeau
(Sep. 17, 2017) — On Sunday, NPR featured an interview with Senior Political Correspondent Mara Liasson in which she answered questions about President Donald Trump’s upcoming address to the United Nations on Tuesday.
In addition to Trump’s UN appearance, Liasson answered questions on a number of topics, including the “Russia” investigation led by former FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III; Trump’s tumultuous relationships with congressional Democrats and Republicans; his responses to the escalating North Korean aggression; and a tweet he issued on Friday after a “bucket bomb” partially detonated at the Parsons Station of the London “Underground,” injuring 30 people during the morning commute.
In his tweet, Trump wrote, “Another attack in London by a loser terrorist. These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!” (pictured above)
Trump later tweeted, “We have made more progress in the last nine months against ISIS than the Obama Administration has made in eight years. Must be proactive & nasty!”
The barbaric terrorist group ISIS claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack. According to an Australian news outlet, the bomb was placed in a “Lidl supermarket bag” and the suspect seen on security-camera footage during the act.
Later in the 4:39 radio segment, Liasson described major social media companies including Facebook, Twitter and Google as “increasingly in the crosshairs of Congress because they’re looking at these giant publishers, and they’re starting to look a lot more like giant, unregulated utilities.” The comment stemmed from Liasson’s repeating of the claim that Russia perpetrated “anti-Hillary Clinton propaganda” during the 2016 presidential campaign through social media.
She said that Mueller has subpoenaed posts purportedly planted by the Russian government and reminded the audience that evidence of any “collusion” with the Trump campaign is being sought, if it exists.
Trump has denied any connections to Russia and called the investigation a “witch hunt.”
At the 3:55 mark, referencing Friday’s bucket bomb attack and Trump’s tweeted response, Liasson said, “Once again, the president seemed to disclose classified information from another country; this time, after the latest terrorist attack in London, he said that Scotland Yard had the terrorists in their sights before the bombing. It’s not clear whether he heard that on ‘Fox & Friends’ or from a classified briefing, but that earned him a stern rebuke from the British government, and it might come up again when he goes to the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week.”
“Fox & Friends” is a daily morning show which airs on the Fox News Channel from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. on weekdays and 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. on weekends. Trump has praised the program for being “fair” to him.
Liasson is a Fox News contributor who is often a panelist on Bret Baier’s “Special Report” at 6:00 p.m. EDT.
According to Wikipedia, Liasson is “an American journalist and political pundit.” While journalists are not expected to make their opinions known during the course of reporting the news of the day, a “pundit” is a commentator who presents a particular point of view.
On Sunday, the UK Daily Mail reported that in an interview with ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos, British Prime Minister Theresa May commented, in response to Trump’s tweet, “‘Well, I don’t think it’s helpful for anyone to speculate what is an ongoing investigation.”
The outlet described May’s response as having “wagged a finger” at Trump as a result of his tweets. May will reportedly be attending the meeting of the UN on Tuesday.
However, in an article in the same publication on Saturday, it was reported that neighbors of the 18-year-old man arrested for placing the “bucket bomb” at the Parsons Green station knew that he was arrested “two weeks ago at the exact same tube station where the device exploded.”
The suspect, who has not been named in news reports, was living with foster parents Penny and Ron Jones, whose house was thoroughly searched by police on Saturday afternoon. Families from surrounding homes were also asked to “evacuate.”
The 18-year-old “refugee boy” was reportedly attempting to leave the country which fostered him when he was arrested on Saturday.
The New York Times reported of Trump’s assertion:
On Saturday, a second arrest of a 21-year-old man was made in relation to the planted bomb, with the suspect identified as “Yahyah Farroukh.”
The Daily Mail also reported:
Police identified the suspected terrorist using CCTV footage but the investigation has been overshadowed by an extraordinary diplomatic row triggered by Donald Trump
The US President tweeted just hours after the rush hour blast that police had the attacker ‘in their sights’ and should have been ‘more proactive’ in catching ‘the loser’.
Scotland Yard hit back and said Mr Trump’s comments were ‘pure speculation’ while senior officers refused to name the suspect.
The President later rowed back on his controversial comments by posting another tweet saying, ‘our hearts and prayers go out to the people of London’.
