I’d like to take this opportunity to say I TOLD YOU SO!
During a Right to Work rally in Lansing, Michigan last December, Fox News “reporter” Steven Crowder claimed he was attacked and had video to prove it. As I reported then, the video was heavily edited and the guy who “attacked” him was actually acting in self-defense. Here’s what I said at the time:
Selective editing at about 0:39 mark shows what appears to be union guy attacking Crowder for no apparent reason. However, if you look closely, you’ll see that the guy is getting up off the ground — that he was NOT the one that became aggressive first.
It turns out that I was 100% correct. Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III is not filing charges in the incident because Crowder provided him with highly-edited video and the full, unedited version shows that his “attacker” was simply defending himself:
Steven Crowder filed a police report following the Dec. 11 incident at the Capitol, which Michigan State Police had referred to Dunnings’ office for review. {…}Dunnings said today the first video his office reviewed had been edited. After reviewing an unedited clip, he decided to not pursue the case.
“It’s pretty clear the person that they wanted to charge was acting in self-defense,” Dunnings said of the union member who apparently slugged Crowder. {…}
Dunning’s office said the source of this unedited video was a YouTube posting from The Young Turks, an online news commentary show.
The video criticizes Crowder and Fox News for using the edited video to enflame and slant the situation. According to The Young Turks, Fox News aired Crowder’s unedited footage before opting to repeatedly air the edited clip that went viral.
Dunnings questioned why Crowder didn’t initially provide that original footage to Dunnings’ office.
“I’m not holding that against him, but why would they provide the edited video? The longer video clearly shows the guy got pushed down and came up swinging,” Dunnings said.
Nice try Crowder. You’re a fraud and now everybody knows it.
[H/T wavingcrosser]
