Fox News invokes “Hitler's chief propagandist, Goebbels,” to attack Rep. Adam Schiff, who is Jewish

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

Updated

From the May 13, 2020, edition of Fox News’ America’s Newsroom

SANDRA SMITH (CO-ANCHOR): When you go to those at the highest levels of the government, members of Congress -- Adam Schiff and others -- and the certainty with which they stated that there was evidence of collusion with Russia -- this is The Wall Street Journal editorial board this morning. I'll get your reaction with the minute or so that we have left here. “All the Adam Schiff Transcripts," K.T., it reads, “President Trump often spreads falsehoods“ -- and this is a quote -- “and invents facts, but at least he paid a price for it in media criticism and public mistrust. An industry of media fact-checkers is dedicated to parsing his every word. As for Mr. Schiff, no one should ever believe another word he says.” What would you say about that this morning, K.T.?

K.T. MCFARLAND (FORMER DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER): I couldn't agree more. And these are people -- we gave a lot of these people enormous power, especially after September 11, to investigate, to look for terrorists, to protect the American people. But they abused that power. They did -- who knows who they were listening into? In fact, even that phone call that Gen. Flynn had with the Russian ambassador, guess who knows what was in there? I don't know what was in there, I never saw a transcript, I doubt if Gen. Flynn has seen a transcript. Guess who has seen that transcript, or had a transcript read to them? Washington Post reporters.

So, tell me how that -- you know, here's the thing that gets me. Hitler's chief propagandist, Goebbels, said, you know, if you tell a big enough lie and repeat it often enough, people will believe it. I think that's what this is. They were telling lies from the get-go, and from the beginning they knew they were lies, and yet they persisted. My big question is why, and who was in on it, and what did they know, and when did they know it? Whether that's Susan Rice, or FBI Director Comey, or Vice President Biden, or even President Obama. I'm not accusing them, but I think that it's time for the American people to know what was going on, and why it was going on, and how high up it went.

SMITH: K.T. McFarland, great to have you on this morning, thanks so much.

MCFARLAND: Thank you.

Clarification (5/13/20): The original headline of this piece, "Fox News compares Rep. Adam Schiff, who is Jewish, to 'Hitler's chief propagandist, Goebbels,'” has been updated for clarity.