It's all kicking off again. Not long after the BBC posted its Echoes of Watergate resurface as Trump-Russia links probe piece (not that there's a connection!), President Trump sent out four tweets claiming that President Obama has engaged in Watergate-style activities:
- Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!
- Is it legal for a sitting President to be "wire tapping" a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!
- I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!
- How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!
The BBC obviously doesn't buy it. The BBC News website's report states that Trump "gave no details to back the claim" and features a sarcastic analysis from Anthony Zurcher, who says "There is scant evidence supporting these allegations" and suggests it "could mark the beginning of a massive water-muddying effort" - something he also suggests, minus the caveats, in a tweet:
Jon Sopel, meanwhile, is being sarky about Trump's spelling and blaming it on Breitbart:
And Katty Kay - who links to a source debunking Trump's claim, saying that he was wire-tapped by the FBI and that (a) it's old news, (b) not illegal and (c) suggests the courts much have felt there were grounds to authorise it - is tweeting:
Laura Bicker on BBC One's early evening news bulletin described Trump's tweets as a "tirade" and said he'd "trashed" the tradition that their should be "a peaceful handover of power", and the bulletin said that he'd "offered no evidence that it had taken place".
No-one at the BBC (as far as I can see) has quite got round to calling this 'fake news' yet. They clearly think it is though.
No-one at the BBC (as far as I can see) has quite got round to calling this 'fake news' yet. They clearly think it is though.
Laura Bicker was on the R4 10 pm news. Her item opened with on Trumps Twitter comments but quickly moved to reprise the allegations against Flynn and Sessions before Bicker suggested that the Trump's Tweets were an attempt to distract from these. She also suggested that Trump had got his ideas from reading Breitbart.
ReplyDeleteSo, yes, definitely portraying the Tweets as fake news. And smearing Breitbart too.
But no evidence or sources. It came across as purely Bicker's (BBC's) own speculations. I too could speculate on what's going on. Actually in the pub with my mates I do. But that's it. I'm not paid by the public to fly around the world and have my speculations broadcast to the nation.