MSNBC host Joy Reid accused of lying about Bush era-Guantanamo officials starving detainees

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MSNBC host Joy Reid accused of lying about Bush era-Guantanamo officials starving detainees

Guantanamo Bay has never been without its haters, but now MSNBC host Joy Reid is being accused of slandering former President George W. Bush for saying he starved Guantanamo Bay detainees during his administration. During a panel discussion on her show, Reid declared that, 'During the Bush era, we were torturing people... starving people in Guantanamo.' Critics are calling Reid's words, 'not just a lie - a scurrilous slander.'

MSNBC host Joy Reid has been accused of slandering President George W. Bush for declaring that Guantanamo Bay detainees were starved during his administration.

“During the Bush era, we were torturing people in our custody in Iraq, etc. You know, starving people in Guantanamo,” Reid said during Saturday’s episode of “AM Joy” during a panel discussion about whether or not leaders should fear future prosecution for actions that occur during foreign intervention.

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Media Research Center contributing editor Mark Finkelstein didn’t appreciate the comment, which he called “not just a lie—a scurrilous slander.”

“The truth is precisely the opposite. During the Bush era, Guantanamo officials took forceful measures to prevent people from starving,” Finkelstein wrote. “A number of prisoners had gone on hunger strikes to protest prison conditions… rather than let the prisoners starve themselves to death, the prison officials force-fed them.”

Finkelstein added that there has actually been “criticism of the force-feeding practice,” adding “be that as it may, it is the precise obverse of starving the prisoners.”

MSNBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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This is not the first time that Reid has been accused of lying. Last year, Reid famously claimed homophobic and other hateful posts on her pre-fame blog were somehow planted by  hackers – for which she reportedly alerted the FBI about the “crime.” MSNBC even circulated a much-panned statement from a computer hacking “expert” which sought to make that case.

The MSNBC host eventually got emotional on the air when her hacking claim fell apart and admitted it seemed unlikely it had happened, and then claimed that she didn’t recall making the offensive remarks, for which she apologized anyway.

“I genuinely do not believe I wrote those hateful things,” Reid told her viewers, adding, "The person I am now is not the person I was then."