There’s no question there are a lot of reporters, especially those in and around the Beltway, who are experiencing heartbreak tonight after the Inspector General report released earlier today vindicated former President Trump and Attorney General Bill Barr of media-driven allegations they had Lafayette Park protesters forcibly cleared and “tear-gassed” on June 1, 2020 so Trump could partake in a “photo op” by walking from the White House to the historic St. John’s Church the night after Antifa/BLM-led rioters set fire to it.

To quickly recap, per the report, “the evidence we reviewed showed that the USPP cleared the park to allow the contractor to safely install the antiscale fencing in response to destruction of property and injury to officers occurring on May 30 and 31. Further, the evidence showed that the USPP did not know about the President’s potential movement until mid- to late afternoon on June 1—hours after it had begun developing its operational plan and the fencing contractor had arrived in the park.”

Among the reporters most heartbroken by the news were NBC News’ anchor Chuck Todd and network correspondent Ken Dilanian (known in some circles as “Fusion Ken” for reasons explained here), both of who appeared to be shell-shocked at the news and at times confused by the findings.

The first clip below is mainly a flabbergasted Dilanian explaining to what you’ll soon hear and see was an agitated Todd that it was a “really surprising finding from the Inspector General of the Interior Department” and later admitting that “the narrative we thought we knew is not the reality.” Watch:

WATCH the pure pain and disappoint as NBC's Ken Dilanian has to admit that the decision by Park Police to clear LaFayette Square of BLM protesters on June 1, 2020 was *NOT* so Trump could go to St. John's: "A narrative we thought we knew is not the reality." (1/) pic.twitter.com/KWtp4O5Aet

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 9, 2021

In the second clip, we get more from Todd, where you’ll notice he still refers to Trump’s actions as a “photo op” (as does the chyron). At the end, he appears visibly frustrated though he tries to rein it in while, desperate for a nugget of hope, suggesting Barr still might have had a hand in “accelerating” the clearing that was already in progress. Watch:

It got worse for CIA Ken as he has to relay the Interior Department IG report's findings that the BLM mob was violent: "There was some violence on the part of protesters in the days leading up to this. There was property destruction. 49 Park Police officers were injured." (2/2) pic.twitter.com/55AQpN0OtV

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 9, 2021

The below clip includes Todd’s brief commentary right before he introduces Dilanian. Here, he repeatedly refers to Trump’s actions that day as a “photo op” and makes comparisons between it and the Capitol riots which was rather odd considering how I thought we weren’t supposed to compare the Capitol rioters to the “peaceful” BLM protesters and stuff:

Beyond their obvious disappointment, Todd continually referring to Trump’s actions as a “photo op” was especially telling. There’s no way in hell he would have described it that way if it had been President Obama making a show of strength that day by walking to St. John’s after the church was set on fire and after a night of particularly violent protests around the city. But because it’s Trump, we get the Orange Man Bad media reporting strategy cranked up, and it was all downhill from there.

These people are nothing if not painfully obvious in their machinations. Still, it’s amusing to see the sad reactions from some of the journalists who amplified the lies the most about the Lafayette Park clearing. Bless their hearts.

You almost feel sorry for them. Almost.

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