MSNOW's various staffers and talking heads are probably still wringing their hands and wondering why they were banned from the White House. The former MSNBC is one of the most reliably left-wing media outlets in the United States today, and they make no bones about it; that's fine; they have every right to cater to all six of their viewers. But that doesn't mean that any administration has to let them in the White House; their First Amendment freedoms don't extend to that.
Now, here's a great example as to why MSNOW was given the old heave-ho. Carol Leonnig, an MSNOW "reporter," took to her X account on Friday to post this horse squeeze.
🚨EXCLUSIVE @MSNOWNews >>> Top @TheJusticeDept leader warned prosecutors would be fired to refusing to pursue election fraud cases. It has folks fearing WH will push bogus election cases to cast doubt on midterms w @KDilanianMSNOW https://t.co/yTmJ3PPrxW
— Carol Leonnig (@CarolLeonnig) September 18, 2026
There's just one problem: Her source, not the election cases, was bogus. First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli was on the call, and the described exchange never happened.
I was on this call. This was never said. Another bogus “anonymous source” report. https://t.co/sSDyf7bAWV
— F.A. United States Attorney Bill Essayli (@USAttyEssayli) September 18, 2026
This is why MSNOW can't have nice things, like White House press passes.
Look, none of us are perfect. Anyone who has been in this business has been tripped up once or twice. But for the luvva Pete, this was an amateurish mistake, very likely driven by a Trump Derangement-fueled desire to lay some kind of "gotcha" on the administration. That's MSNOW's modus operandi, after all. But honestly, would it have hurt to have delayed that story an hour or two to try to confirm this "anonymous" source? Then Carol Leonnig wouldn't be, today, in the embarrassing position of having her anonymous source shredded by a non-anonymous source, who happens to be an Assistant U.S. Attorney with a pretty solid reputation.
Here's the thing: This isn't the first time this network has been tripped up. They were banned from the 2021 trial of Kyle Rittenhouse when a network producer was stopped for following the jury bus. Their online and cable "talent" is known for being catastrophically unprofessional, from Alec Baldwin's outbursts in 2013 that resulted in his dismissal from the network to Joe Scarborough's spittle-flecked demands that President Trump, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump Jr. be arrested for insurrection in January of 2021. Simply put, these aren't people that should be taken seriously, and now Carol Leonnig has given us another reason to pretty much dismiss anything from MSNOW out of hand.
This is why these outlets are labeled fake news. These aren't the acts of professional journalists or professional commentators, for that matter. This is why MSNOW has the reputation it does. This is why they are no longer allowed in the White House. And now, on Saturday, MSNOW's staff and management are probably still having weep-ins to complain about how unfair all this is. Well, they should take a good, hard look at their journalistic standards, or lack thereof.
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