What in the wide, wide world of sports is going on with the Paul Pelosi story?

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

I know they’re going to try to run out the clock on this so they can pull the “What does it matter?” card when Speaker Nancy Pelosi no longer wields Thor’s hammer, but we’ve had to deal with how many years of this woman’s arrogance and running roughshod over truth, decency, justice, and the American way? Oh, no, no no. Inquiring minds have had it up to HERE and it’s time for public questioning and open discussion, even if we’re short on answers at the end.

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On October 28th, word broke that Paul Pelosi had been violently attacked in their San Francisco home by an intruder, who (as I wrote about here) was immediately spun up to be a right-wing terrorist spurred to action by Republican rhetoric and expressed conservative (read: RACIST/ELECTION DENYING/EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO DEMOCRACY) values. That narrative was quickly blown into smithereens by the well-documented history of suspect David DePape himself, but what was left unclear were pretty pertinent details of the incident itself, from the point where the police arrived.

Initially reported at the police press conference as an “unknown person” opening the door for officers – leading everyone to question “Who’s this 3d person?” – it was later clarified that Paul Pelosi himself opened the door. Who then walked away from officers, back to DePape, his about-to-become assailant.

From that point forward the whole story goes to black A veritable information blockade was thrown up, apparently through the concerted and targeted efforts of the Pelosis, the media machine, command elements of the San Franciso Police Department and Department of Justice, with intense pressure applied to squelch any further discussion outside of the tightly controlled narrative Nancy Pelosi is dribbling to acceptable outlets.

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No doubt encouraged by the close proximity of the elections and their mostly successful efforts at stifling annoying, inquisitive Fox gadfly Jesse Watters (who was that person in the car with Paul when he crashed…), I’m sure there was a fair amount of confidence that they could snuff the life out of this, and, once again, remove Paul Pelosi from the public consciousness.

But then a funny thing happened on the way to ForgotAllAboutThatVille.

Two weeks ago, veteran reporter and Emmy winner Miguel Almaguer did a short update segment on the attack for the Today show. In it, he revealed some new, seemingly impeccably sourced, material.

…The NBC News report attempted to answer lingering questions about the alleged home invasion that left Paul Pelosi with a fractured skull. Almaguer cited sources familiar with the situation who said the police didn’t know they were responding to the Pelosi residence, Pelosi opened the door but didn’t attempt to escape or declare an emergency, and even walked away from law enforcement and toward his eventual attacker.

Almaguer concluded his report by telling “Today” co-host Craig Melvin “we still don’t know exactly what unfolded between Mr. Pelosi and the suspect for the 30 minutes they were alone inside that house before police arrive. Officials who are investigating this matter would not go into further details about these new details.”

Within hours, NBC had deep-sixed all traces of the report, with no explanation for what exactly didn’t “meet…reporting standards.”

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…Later in the day as the segment gained prominence on Twitter, Almaguer’s report was erased from all NBC News platforms. It was deleted from social media, and NBC News issued an editor’s note on its website, reading, “This piece has been removed from publication because it did not meet NBC News reporting standards.”

It is unclear what specifically from Almaguer’s report did not meet the network’s “reporting standards.” NBC refused to elaborate, and its digital platforms said the video “expired.”

Ten days later – amid complete radio silence from Almaguer from the moment of the report’s takedown – The Daily Beast found out what had happened to him…

…and their newsletter tripped up and said why.

His apparently accurate report that – uh ohINFLAMED RIGHT WING CONSPIRACY THEORIES and, coincidentally, contradicted the Department of Justice account. Can’t have the TRUTH if it does all that, can we? So there’s NBC scrambling like mad dogs to pull the whole mess down, hoping it all goes away.

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But, see, it’s not. Unbeknownst to the puppetmasters furiously working strings, the local NBC affiliate IN SF was doing some stellar reporting of their own at the same time, and it is still up. NBC Bay Area reporter Bigad Shaban noticed the discrepancy between the DoJ version of events and the state investigators, and went digging, speaking to someone who had personally viewed the bodycam video of the police on the call.

Shaban learns the video “clearly shows Pelosi’s hand opening the door” and that officers have a conversation with both men before Pelosi returns to DePape. There is also this conversation in the piece:

…Shaban then talks to SF DA Brooke Jenkins about why Pelosi “didn’t run out of the house.” “All we have is what happened. Everybody reacts to situations differently. He will one day need to explain, potentially to a jury, why he did what he did, and what thought process was going on in his mind,” she said.

None of this in any way deviates from Almaguer’s report. When does the guy get his job back and a “Sorry about that”?

…Some NBC insiders believe the report was squashed because it went against the mainstream narrative, while another NBC insider told Fox News Digital that the word inside the company is that a “biased” source was used by Almaguer. Another insider said it was embarrassing for Almaguer’s story to follow a “conspiracy theory.”

The cowards on air at NBC aren’t offering support for their colleague either. Mum’s the word.

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NBC News’ biggest stars, including at “Today,” have remained silent about the ongoing drama surrounding correspondent Miguel Almaguer, whose Nov. 4 report was retracted without explanation after it suggested Paul Pelosi may not have been in immediate danger when police arrived the night he was assaulted.

NBC News political director Chuck Todd, “NBC Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt and “Today” hosts Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb have all refrained from calling on their employer to provide an explanation. They haven’t issued any public shows of support for Almaguer, either.

As my friend Stephen Green said yesterday,

…So why would NBC News scrub an awkward story about the husband of a House Speaker representing an embattled majority in the weeks before a midterm election to determine control of the House?

To ask the question is to answer it.

NBC’s reflexive flinch blew life into the story as if they’d used bellows on a wee pile of embers. WHOOSH! Their ham handed politically motivated CYA lit that sucker off.

Perhaps – if I want to be speculative about it – besides losing Thor’s hammer, this is also why Nancy Pelosi is leaving any position of Dem leadership. Maybe whatever is going on is too hard to keep buried. The Mr. has been in the news in a big way a number of times recently, and, as Watters calls them, the “Pelosi clean-up crew” may have spent most available resources keeping a lid on the pot.

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This is a nice exposé of the media clean-up chicanery for Paul’s car wreck back in June. What the Speaker called “a private matter.” You know, since it was hers.

Don’t think anything is changing, either. The Pelosi clean-up crews are still throwing her weight around. I mean, just yesterday:

Pelosi spox blasted for attacking journalist who correctly reported top Dem would step down from leadership

Maybe Nancy’s just tired of it all, the whole thug life. I get it. I know we are.

But we’re not leaving questions on the table anymore. She got some ‘splainin’ to do.

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