Big Three Networks skip Donna Brazile bombshell that DNC was rigged for Clinton

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Donna Brazile’s DNC, Clinton bombshell: Reaction roundup

Both Republicans and Democrats are speaking out about Donna Brazile’s allegations about Hillary Clinton. In her new book, the former interim Democratic National Committee chairwoman claims that Clinton’s campaign took control of the organization’s finances and operations resulting in tipping the nomination process in Clinton’s favor over Bernie Sanders.

Disgraced former CNN contributor Donna Brazile made explosive allegations that the Democratic National Committee basically rigged the 2016 primary in Hillary Clinton’s favor, but ABC, NBC and CBS’ evening newscasts failed to cover it.

Brazile admitted that Hillary Clinton's campaign gained significant control over the Democratic National Committee's finances and strategy in exchange for helping the party wipe out 2012 presidential campaign debt. In laymen’s terms, Brazile explains how the party rigged the primary for Clinton to defeat Bernie Sanders through shady financial deals – which would typically be major news.

An excerpt from her new book, “Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House,” was published by Politico at 5 a.m. ET on Thursday morning – over 12 hours before the big three networks air their newscasts.

Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren even appeared on CNN at roughly 4:40 p.m. ET to discuss the scandal but ABC’s “World News Tonight,” CBS’s “Evening News” and “NBC Nightly News” skipped it completely. These programs start at 6:30 p.m. ET.

On Thursday, after CNN and Fox News both covered the Brazile claims, CBS opened with details on the deadly ambush in Niger, while NBC and ABC both opened with the proposed tax cut.

The winner of the 2016 presidential race took notice.

“The Donna Brazile story is astonishing. The media loves to tell stories of Republican discord. Here's the woman who was the interim head of the DNC saying Bernie Sanders got screwed by the party and Team Clinton. No matter how much the media wants to hide that, it's a huge issue and will impact future elections,” Media Research Center Vice President Dan Gainor told Fox News.

Brazile took over as interim party chairperson in July 2016 when the DNC was plagued by email scandals and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla. was ousted on the eve of the party’s 2016 convention. Brazile, who resigned from her role as a CNN contributor after she was accused of leaking questions to Clinton ahead of a CNN Town Hall event, doesn’t exactly have the nicest things to say about her DNC predecessor in the book.

“Debbie was not a good manager. She hadn’t been very interested in controlling the party -- she let Clinton’s headquarters in Brooklyn do as it desired so she didn’t have to inform the party officers how bad the situation was,” Brazile wrote. “Obama left the party $24 million in debt—$15 million in bank debt and more than $8 million owed to vendors after the 2012 campaign—and had been paying that off very slowly.”

Gainor said Brazile’s revelation “might explain why Sanders has been absent during the close Virginia gubernatorial campaign,” but “journalists don't want to tell you that either.”

“NBC Nightly News” didn’t cover the scandal on Thursday, but it was mentioned Friday morning on the “Today” show. A network insider told Fox News that the story is on the rundown for Friday’s edition of “Nightly News.”

“The Mueller investigation is attracting so much attention that other details of the post mortem of Campaign 2016 get squeezed out. Yesterday, for example, Attorney General Jeff Sessions attracted the spotlight, not Donna Brazile: both ABC's Pierre Thomas and NBC's Kristen Welker cited anonymous sources that exonerated the then-senator of any collusion with the Kremlin,” TV news historian Andrew Tyndall told Fox News.

ABC and CBS did not immediately respond to request for comment regarding why they failed to cover the bombshell, but Media Research Center News Analyst Nicholas Fondacaro has a theory.

“They didn’t want to ruin their narrative that Clinton was a pure angel who was a victim of Donald Trump and Russian collusion,” Fondacaro wrote.