Thus speaks Fox News
Fox News鈥� Jeanine Pirro exaggerates a lot.
That鈥檚 her style.
A couple of weeks ago, she engaged in some hyperbole about the tense situation involving truckers along the U.S.-Canadian border.
President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had discussed the truckers鈥� blockades at key bridges.
That set Pirro off.
As one of the Fox News co-hosts of the show, 鈥淭he Five,鈥� Pirro is tasked with aggressively finding out something wrong 鈥� and that Biden caused it, I suppose.
鈥淏iden, the same guy who in the summer of 2020 decided he would allow people to burn down streets and businesses and create all kinds of problems,鈥� Pirro declared.
Therein lies a problem.
In the summer of 2020, Biden wasn鈥檛 even the president. He held no public office.
Pirro somehow found fault in something Biden hadn鈥檛 done, but she blamed him for it anyway.
Thus speaks Fox News.
Biden is the source of daily ridicule on Fox News.
The only times they lay off Biden is when there鈥檚 a chance they might be able to find some reason to attack Hillary Clinton.
If there鈥檚 even a hint of an infraction that could lead the authorities to 鈥淟OCK HER UP,鈥� well, that鈥檚 a bonus.
All that鈥檚 needed is for Mrs. Clinton to be mentioned for any reason, and Fox News (with an able assist from Donald Trump) fires up their anti-Hillary machine.
That鈥檚 precisely what happened after Feb. 11, when a court filing by Justice Department special counsel 鈥� John Durham 鈥� was released, that had nothing to do with Clinton.
True, Durham is investigating the legal case involving Michael Sussmann, a lawyer for Clinton鈥檚 2016 presidential campaign.
In short, though, the filing contained some legal mumbo-jumbo about a potential conflict of interest between the judge hearing his case and the law firm Sussmann worked for.
But since Sussmann had worked for Clinton, on Fox News, a collective 鈥淏INGO鈥� could be heard throughout Fox News headquarters.
Fox News鈥� Jesse Waters opined that the filing meant, 鈥淒urham鈥檚 documents show that Hillary Clinton hired people who hacked into Trump鈥檚 home and office computers before and during his presidency and planted evidence that he colluded with Russia.鈥�
Yeah. But that鈥檚 not what the filing said.
On Feb. 14, Fox News Business host Maria Bartiromo began reading these words: 鈥淏ack in 2016, Democrat paid operatives illegally hacked political opponents鈥� communications during a presidential campaign. And then did it again to a sitting president.鈥�
Once again, that filing had nothing whatsoever to do with 鈥渋llegal hacking.鈥�
When there鈥檚 any story that supposedly involves Hillary Clinton, Trump is sure to come out of the shadow of which he鈥檚 been lurking 鈥� and attack.
鈥淭his is a scandal far greater in scope and magnitude than Watergate, and those who were involved in and knew about this spying operation should be subject to criminal prosecution,鈥� he said.
That statement was peculiar for two reasons. First, that legal filing didn鈥檛 mention the word 鈥渟pying.鈥� And second, 鈥渕agnitude鈥� is a three-syllable word. I never knew he was capable of using one of those.
But he went even further.
鈥淚n a stronger period of time in our country, this crime would have been punishable by death,鈥� he wrote in a Trump communique.
Meanwhile, Fox News made mention of the supposed 鈥渟pying鈥� by the Clinton campaign 669 times (according to a CNN word count).
The false claims about Clinton鈥檚 attempted 鈥渋nfiltration鈥� of the Trump Empire became so ridiculous that the special counsel himself responded to them.
鈥淚f third parties or members of the media have overstated, understated, or otherwise misinterpreted facts contained in the government鈥檚 motion, that does not in any way undermine the valid reasons for the government鈥檚 inclusion of this information,鈥� John Durham wrote.
That led Clinton, herself, to respond.
鈥淚t鈥檚 funny, the more trouble Trump gets into, the wilder the charges and conspiracy theories about me seem to get,鈥� she said during a speech at the New York State Democratic Convention.
There hasn鈥檛 been a word about Hillary鈥檚 alleged 鈥渋nfiltrations鈥� since.
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 40-year TV news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.