Brian Williams needs a co-anchor.
Via The Daily Mail:
Despite saying last June that he would be ‘transparent and fair in our coverage’ when his wife announced she was running as a Democrat for the open seat in Maryland’s 8th District, it seems MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews has gone back on his word.
Guests on his long-running cable-news show – mainly current and former prominent politicians – have contributed at least $79,050 to Kathleen Matthews’s campaign – and her husband hasn’t uttered a word about the money.
As the New York Post reported, he said last year: ‘As a journalist, I also know how important it is to respect certain boundaries on my support for her [Kathleen] both in my public role and here on MSNBC.
‘And while most of you know that our show doesn’t typically cover congressional races, I will continue to fully disclose my relationship with her as part of MSNBC’s commitment to being transparent and fair in our coverage.’
However The Intercept has compiled a list of some heavyweight poiticians making contributions just before or after their appearances on Chris’s show.
This is the latest scandal to hit MSNBC’s parent company NBC, which was hit last year by revelations that news anchor Brian Williams had made up details of stories he covered.
On Friday The Intercept reported that 48 frequent guests of the show, their spouses or their PACs donated a total of $79,050 to Kathleen’s campaign as of December 31, 2015.
Although 11 guests appeared on the show after Kathleen announced her run without any acknowledgement of their donations, they did not violate Federal Communications Commission guidelines.
In a couple of cases, the donations occurred within days of the guests’ Hardball appearances.
New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s PAC contributed $10,000 on June 20, 2015, just two days before the Democrat appeared on the MSNBC show to address sexual assault on college campuses.
A spokesperson for the PAC said Gillibrand had already been asked to appear on the show before the donation was made, the Intercept reported.
The day before California Senator Barbara Boxer was interviewed on Hardball in January, she gave $1,000 to Kathleen’s campaign.