CBS' Norah O'Donnell sets off uproar with tweet about FBI not having Trump passports | Fox News
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
CBS News anchor Norah O'Donnell took heat for a tweet that stated the FBI did not have former President Trump's passports, with critics blasting her for leaving up a tweet after it was seemingly debunked.
Trump alleged the FBI "stole" three of his passports on Monday, calling it an "assault on a political opponent at a level never seen before in our country."
The "CBS Evening News" anchor reported the Department of Justice did not have Trump's passports, tweeting, "According to a DOJ official, the FBI is NOT in possession of former President Trump's passports," later adding, "if any items not contained in the warrant were retrieved during the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago, they will be returned."
O'Donnell's language was technically correct at the time she wrote it, as by then the passports had reportedly been returned to Trump's possession, but it remains unclear if O'Donnell meant the FBI was not in possession of the passports at the time of her tweet, or if she was suggesting the FBI hadn't taken them in the first place. Either way, she faced criticism for the message.
CBS News anchor Norah O'Donnell suggested the Department of Justice did not have Trump's passports, tweeting, "According to a DOJ official, the FBI is NOT in possession of former President Trump's passports."
Among those who shared O'Donnell's framing was Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., the Jan. 6 Committee member who wrote, "Lies lies lies and more lies." Former FBI agent Peter Strzok tweeted, "And unsurprisingly, Trump's statement turns out not to be true." He later deleted it.
Taylor Budowich, director of communications for the Save America PAC, shared a screenshot of an email sent earlier in the day by Jay Bratt, an official in the National Security Division of the DOJ, confirming the passports had been seized in the raid. He then scolded O'Donnell in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"This is a perfect example of how the vital institutions of media and justice are being destroyed from within by the lazy, the corrupt, and the ill intent. Sadly, it's not going to be fixed from the outside. It's up to the remaining good people within these institutions to expose these bad actors and hold them accountable, or else be complicit in their destruction," Budowich said.
O'Donnell took criticism from a variety of media and political watchdogs, as her initial tweet appeared to be in rebuttal of Trump's TruthSocial claim.
"When you get this burned by an anonymous source, I just don't understand why you continue to protect them. They don't look bad, you do," Fourth Watch editor Steve Krakauer wrote.
GOP communications guru Chris Barron tweeted, "Why is this tweet still up? Why don't news outlets require reporters to delete posts once it's clearly they are absolutely wrong?"
Fox News Digital reached out to CBS News for clarification on what O'Donnell was trying to convey with her initial tweet.
Many others took to Twitter to criticize O'Donnell:
O'Donnell also shared an FBI statement on Twitter : "In executing search warrants, the FBI follows search and seizure procedures ordered by courts, then returns items that do not need to be retained for law enforcement purposes."
There has been a political firestorm ever since the FBI raid last week at Mar-a-Lago, where it seized documents allegedly containing classified and top secret information. It remains unclear whether the information in the collected documents had been declassified by Trump before he left office last year.
Former President Trump alleged the FBI "stole" three of his passports on Monday, calling it an "assault on a political opponent at a level never seen before in our country." (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Attorney General Merrick Garland offered a brief statement Thursday acknowledging he authorized the raid on Trump's Florida home but refrained from giving any more details about the ongoing investigation.
The warrant obtained by Fox News showed the search was in response to potential violation of federal laws: 18 USC 793 — Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information; 18 USC 2071 — Concealment, removal or mutilation; and 18 USC 1519 — Destruction, alteration or falsification of records in Federal investigations.
The allegation of "gathering, transmitting or losing defense information" falls under the Espionage Act.
However, the DOJ filed a motion opposing the release of the affidavit that was used to justify the raid, arguing it could "compromise" its investigation and its release can cause harm "if information is disclosed to the public prematurely or improperly."
Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
Brian Flood is a media reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to brian.flood@fox.com and on Twitter: @briansflood.
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Perhaps CBS should revamp its logo to this:
Another fine example of the 'unbiased' media playing favorites.
When some yahoo talks about the 'fairness' of the media, perhaps they should be reminded of this latest example of what they REALLY are doing.
Oh dear was Norah being just a human? Anywho, nice to see FOX have an excuse to flay someone other than Steve Doocy.
Was she? Or just being a trollish idiot?
“Or just being a trollish idiot?”
Or just feeling compelled to respond as a sheepish idiot? Please go on and prove the point, just outside of waco.
Uh, NO, she wasn't being a sheepish idiot.
I will grant you she was acting as an idiot.
WTF???????????
No...it would appear she is intentionally lying
Give us all a break Greg, if you were a well known anchor on any network other than Fox
why would you lie and risk your multimillion dollar salary?
At best they jumped the shark, her editor should be flogged for not knowing the FBI was already
in the process of returning the three passports.
Another waste of time by the reactionaries.
Another biased media personality exposing their true selves.
The only reactionary was HER, being a dumbass.
Just how many passports does one person need?
One or two of them were expired.
One was expired,
Typically, frequent government flyers and diplomats are issued a second passport for government travel
only and the person can still retain their original personal passport.
That is why there were three.
My Govt Passport has a rusty red color while my personnel one is blue.
It must have something to do with the bad lighting at the Post Office./s
Technically yours is probably considered to be "brown" (Official travel)
Although in the house mine looks black, in the sun it is definitely "navy".
Only Diplomatic Corps get black passports.
Bill Clinton is color blind, let's blame him, lol.
One for your name and one for each alias?
I don’t understand the problem. She cited a source (albeit an anonymous one - what else is new?). It’s not as if she made the claim based on her own personal knowledge.
OK, so her source was wrong, and the FBI did have the passports. That makes Nora O’Donnell a bad person? How? And then the second part -
was actually true.
How is this a story? Did she really get the large scale of criticism claimed in this story, or was it like 2 or 3 people on Twitter?
It really isn't.
Twitter seems to be a large part of our troubles.
Agreed. Speeding down the road with no one driving the bus. And sadly, the passengers enjoying the ride and commentating accordingly.
Sounds more like they're riders on an endless rollercoaster screaming over every little turn and twist, nausea inducing lows and stretched smile faced highs. They could get off the ride anytime they want by tossing their smart phone in the nearest dumpster, but none of them are brave enough since that would be like a heroin addict flushing their entire stash down the toilet. 90 seconds later they're trying to shoot up toilet water...