Fake news.
According to the president,
it's even more dangerous than Mexicans.
But usually, when President Trump says fake news,
what he's referring to is real news that he just doesn't like.
You know, like news that his campaign colluded with Russia,
or news that Eric is his son.
But this weekend, there were two stories
that were at least fake-ish,
and the first story broke on Thursday night.
BuzzFeed reported that President Trump directed
his lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to Congress.
And this report was a huge bombshell because lying
to Congress is definitely an impeachable offense.
But just as Democrats were about to impeach the mother--
Robert Mueller stepped in to set the record straight.
Breaking news. A rare and stunning move
from the special counsel tonight.
Robert Mueller's team disputing
an explosive BuzzFeed report alleging
the president told Michael Cohen to lie to Congress.
You have the special counsel, essentially,
for the first time, putting out a public statement.
We almost never hear from Robert Mueller's office.
When you say rare, boy, there has not been a time
when the special counsel has gone out of its way
to publicly challenge a media report.
That's right. Robert Mueller, aka Mr. Witch Hunt himself,
released a statement saying the BuzzFeed story
about Michael Cohen was not accurate.
And this is a huge deal, because you realize
Mueller never comments on anything, and it also means
that Robert Mueller reads BuzzFeed,
which means he takes those quizzes,
which makes me wonder what Hogwarts House he's in.
I mean, it's probably Gryffindor, or--
No. No. Probably Ravenclaw. Yeah.
Imagine if he's in Hufflepuff, that would be so weird.
Sorry. Where was I? Where was I? Anyway, uh,
Special Counsel Robert Mueller, you know,
he just popped out, popped out like God in the Bible,
came out of nowhere, said something cryptic,
and left everyone trying to figure out what it means.
And for Trump, it means that he has a new best friend.
I appreciate the special counsel coming out
with a statement last night.
I think it was very appropriate that they did so.
I very much appreciate that.
Really? Really, Trump?
After two years of slamming Mueller,
one friendly statement from him
and all of a sudden Trump is cool with him?
I think now Mueller knows how to get Trump to testify.
He should be like, "Mr. President,
I need to interview you." And Trump will be like,
(mimics Trump): "No." (normal voice): Be like, "Hey,
have you been working out?" Be like,
(mimics Trump): "Meet me at 3:30 behind the KFC.
I'll tell you everything."
(normal voice): Now, even though Robert Mueller
of House Ravenclaw, disputed the BuzzFeed story,
BuzzFeed and its reporters are not backing down.
TV REPORTER: BuzzFeed reporter, Anthony Cormier,
who contributed to the piece is defending the story
as solid and accurate.
I have further confirmation that this is right.
We're being told to stand our ground.
This is, this is-- Our reporting is going to be borne out
to be accurate and, um, we're 100% behind it.
TV REPORTER: The editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed News
said he's eager to get more details
from the special counsel's office on what portions
of the story it's disputing as inaccurate.
Oh, I see what you're doing, Buzzfeed. This is slick.
You know, but Robert Mueller is not gonna tell you
exactly what you got wrong in your story.
But it's a sneaky way to try and get revealing information.
You know? You just publish whatever you want,
and then you try to get Mueller to correct you.
"Uh, we've heard that Trump paid Putin in Bitcoin
to hack the elections?"
Mueller's like, "It wasn't Bitcoin, it was cash.
"Damn it! Well played, Buzzfeed. You got me."
So, the truth is
we still can't make heads or tails of the story.
Which part is inaccurate-- is it the whole thing?
Is it a sentence? Is it a semicolon?
When do you even use those things?
How do they work? We don't know.
What we do know is the media got something wrong in the story
because Robert Mueller doesn't speak for no reason.
The guy never speaks.
Like, we don't even know what he sounds like.
Do you ever think about that?
Like, he could have a booming voice like God.
Maybe he sounds like Mickey Mouse. We don't know.
Yeah, he could come out with his report and be like...
(high-pitched): "Oh, boy! Obstruction of justice!"
(normal voice): We have no clue.
Wouldn't it be hilarious if we found out
Robert Mueller had a Jamaican accent?
Like, the whole time we didn't know,
and then he just comes out, he's like...
(Jamaican accent): "I now find tons of collusion
"between Trump, Trump and them Russians.
"This concludes the investigation. Blap!
"But you won't do nothing, Congress,
"because them got a Republican Senate,
you bumbaclot. Mueller out!"
(normal voice): That would be amazing.
(cheering and applause)
So, after Buzzfeed sent cable news into a frenzy,
the lesson was don't rush to report stories
you haven't confirmed yourself.
And really, I don't think it's just the news media
that needs to be more skeptical, because there was another story
that went viral online this weekend,
and it turns out we all got this one wrong.
The video is from Friday's
Indigenous Peoples March in Washington.
The students from Covington Catholic High School
can be seen jeering and chanting at a drummer
who is an elder from the Omaha tribe.
The viral video sweeping the Internet
of a mob of MAGA hat-wearing high school students
surrounding a Native American chanting and drumming
in the nation's capital.
It is disturbing.
Students mocking a Native American man.
Some of them harassing and jeering
at a Native American elder.
The situation came to a head when that young man there
wearing a Make America Great Again hat
got right in his face and didn't move.
Now, I'm not gonna lie.
When I saw this story, I was horrified.
I was like, "I can't watch something
"so disrespectful to Native Americans.
I'm just gonna watch the Chiefs game instead."
But this story set cable news and social media alight, right?
A group of MAGA hat-wearing teenagers
surrounded and harassed a Native American elder.
And this story got so big that even the mayor
of the student's hometown denounced them.
And not in, like, a cool Bart Simpson denouncing way.
Like, real denouncing.
And then more video of the incident came out.
New video has emerged giving a different perspective
and a deeper look at a controversial encounter
between a white high school student
and an elderly Native American man.
The different video surfaced Sunday.
It showed what happened before the encounter.
A radical group of protesters called Black Hebrew Israelites
taunted the boys for more than an hour
with racist and homophobic abuse.
And they do. At one point, a student removes his shirt,
and the chants drown everything out.
Two minutes later, you hear a drumbeat.
The kids danced to it. They began chanting along.
(kids chanting)
Phillips, a Vietnam veteran, walks around.
Other students avoid him
until you see him come face-to-face
with a student who has now gone viral.
So, you see, all of a sudden,
with a little more information, the story is not as clear-cut.
It's not a simple story
about one person being a dick to someone.
It's a complex story
about a group of people being dicks to each other.
Because, yes, it is true
that that kid had a smug look on his face
that made you want to take him over the knee
and spank him with his own lacrosse stick.
But it's not true that he and his crew
surrounded the Native American, right?
The Native American got in his face.
And, also, a big part of the story everyone missed initially
was that the kids only started chanting
in response to a weird religious cult
who were also there shouting slurs at them.
So the point is, if people waited for one day
before diving in, they would have realized
that there is more to the story than they initially thought.
And, look, I know it's easy to get caught up in news stories
that hit a nerve, but I think everyone would benefit
if we all just slowed down at times, you know?
You don't always have to be first.
It's more important to be right.
So, news media, just breathe, all right?
People on social media, breathe.
That guy at Fox News in charge
of the Ruth Bader Ginsburg button,
breathe.
And, most importantly, Ruth Bader Ginsburg,
please breathe.