During NBC’s Wednesday special coverage of President Trump’s White House address, anchor Lester Holt also covered breaking news about a growing list of Democrats calling on Minnesota Senator Al Franken to resign amid sexual harassment allegations. Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd hoped the move would help the Democrats regain the “high ground” on the issue.
He proclaimed that the calls for Franken’s resignation were really “a response to what happened earlier in the Roy Moore Alabama Senate race when President Trump officially endorsed, the Republican Party, the RNC officially back in” despite the serious harassment accusations against Moore. Todd touted how the liberal lawmakers were “creating a huge contrast” with the GOP.
The Sunday show host then asserted:
So they’re cleaning house while the Republican Party looks like they’re doubling down. And I think that’s the contrast. You know, the Democrats are looking to get their higher ground back on this issue, calling and having it being led by the women of the U.S. Senate allows them, I think, to build their high ground again after sort of, frankly, fumbling the Conyers and Franken issues for the last two weeks.
At no point did Todd explain why he mistakenly thought the party of Bill Clinton ever had any high ground to begin with on the issue of sexual harassment.
Prior to Todd’s slanted analysis, Capitol Hill correspondent Kasie Hunt described how “at least 15 Democratic senators” were “calling on Al Franken to resign,” with New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand “taking the lead” and demanding that “Democrats need to have a zero-tolerance policy.”
Gillibrand recently told The New York Times that Clinton should have resigned over the Monica Lewinsky scandal – conveniently two decades after the fact.
Here is a transcript of the December 6 exchange:
1:25 PM ET
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LESTER HOLT: We’re also following another big story in Washington, it’s the growing number of senators now calling for Minnesota Democrat Al Franken to resign from the Senate following mounting allegations of sexual harassment. Kasie Hunt is on Capitol Hill with the latest on that. Kasie, what seems to be turning the tide here?
KASIE HUNT: Lester, at this hour, at least 15 Democratic senators, at least ten of them women, calling on Al Franken to resign. There was another woman who came forward this morning, saying that he touched her inappropriately, or tried to, and this seems to have contributed to what was, I am told, a rising tide, privately. Especially among Democratic women here in the Senate, they were incredibly frustrated that they were being asked to make a distinction between what Franken has done and some of the other allegations that other public figures have had made against them.
Senator Kirsten Gilibrand sort of taking the lead on this, this morning. And she was very frustrated when she spoke about it. She talks about trying to explain to her two sons what is the difference between inappropriate groping and all of these other allegations. And she said at this point Democrats need to have a zero-tolerance policy.
So, Senator Franken has tried to stay in the Senate, but he’s going to make an announcement tomorrow, we’re told, about his future. Lester?
HOLT: Alright, Kasie, thanks. Let me bring back Chuck Todd on that. Chuck, Democrats a little slow now to gain this momentum. What’s going on?
CHUCK TODD: This is actually, I think, a response to what happened earlier in the Roy Moore Alabama Senate race, when President Trump officially endorsed, the Republican Party, the RNC officially back in. This is about creating a huge contrast so Democrats in the Senate – it almost feels orchestrated, the way it’s come out here, we’ll see what Franken does tomorrow, but it looks like resignation is there.
So they’re cleaning house while the Republican Party looks like they’re doubling down. And I think that’s the contrast. You know, the Democrats are looking to get their higher ground back on this issue, calling and having it being led by the women of the U.S. Senate allows them, I think, to build their high ground again after sort of, frankly, fumbling the Conyers and Franken issues for the last two weeks.
(...)
