MSNBC contributor’s false claim about Fox News morphs into conspiracy theory
MSNBC contributor releases fake news giving life to new a conspiracy theory
MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace made a correction on her show Tuesday after a guest on Monday's show falsely claimed that Fox News was not covering the Capitol Hill testimony of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
During a panel discussion on "Deadline: White House," Republican strategist Rick Wilson echoed the falsehood that originated from MSNBC contributor Joyce Vance, who tweeted over the weekend that “Fox isn’t showing Mueller’s testimony Wednesday."
“Now Fox isn’t covering the hearings,” Wilson said during a discussion about the upcoming Mueller testimony. “They’re apparently not going to take them live. Everybody else is taking them live.”
"Really?" Wallace replied.
While Wilson followed his MSNBC appearance with a tweet correcting himself Monday evening, Wallace closed her show the next day with a correction of her own.
"Yesterday, during our hour, one of our favorite guests said Fox News Channel would not be carrying tomorrow's Mueller hearings," Wallace said. "He's a dear friend and a good person. He corrected that misstatement immediately on Twitter, but we want to make sure that all of our viewers know that he corrected that statement."
She later made a joke at the expense of President Trump, exclaiming, “I think that maybe that means the president will see it!”
Wilson wasn't the only guest on MSNBC who made that claim on-air. Ex-Democratic Congresswoman Donna Edwards also repeated that misinformation on Tuesday morning but was met with immediate pushback from anchor Stephanie Ruhle.
MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR'S FALSE CLAIM ABOUT FOX NEWS MORPHS INTO CONSPIRACY THEORY
“I don’t believe that’s true, I think they are going to air it,” Ruhle said.
Vance, an Obama-appointed U.S. attorney-turned-MSNBC legal commentator, first made the claim on Sunday and her tweet went viral. After facing criticism, she initially blamed her "goofy sense of humor" that "doesn't always translate on Twitter" and eventually deleted the tweet and apologized to anyone she "confused."
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Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum will be leading the coverage of the Mueller hearings on Wednesday beginning at 8am ET.
Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this report.
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