Fox Business host Deirdre Bolton teamed up with contributor Rod Wheeler to baselessly blame Black Lives Matter for the mugging of Iraq war veteran Chris Marquez and, while she was at it, Bolton suggested the group is responsible for the shooting of two police officers.

In another example of what passes for “business news” on the Fox Business Network, Bolton began with a news alert about the assault and robbery of Marquez by a group of African Americans who supposedly asked Marquez if black lives matter and when he didn’t respond, got called a racist. Fox News has hyped this story as well.

Bolton gave it a little extra racial zing by adding, “This brutal attack comes just days after police officers were shot in Mississippi and in Maryland.” She provided no evidence to connect the events but was clearly suggesting that Blacks Behaving Badly is now Out Of Control.

To add to the impression, Bolton’s first question to Wheeler, a former DC homicide detective, was, “So, Rod, what is going on in our country?”

Wheeler’s surprising answer was that there’s reason to suspect Marquez’ account.

WHEELER: Let me just first tell you and the viewers that as far as this particular case is concerned with this veteran, I spoke with some investigators from our D.C. robbery squad today, Deirdre, and they have not been able to corroborate this guy’s story.

Yet Bolton did not ask a single question about what facts are now in dispute.

Instead Wheeler went on to further fan hostility against Black Lives Matter, just because it was possible the thugs were possibly inspired by the movement.

WHEELER: However, we do believe in law enforcement that maybe this group of knuckleheads, as what I like to call ‘em, there was a group of juveniles, maybe they were inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, maybe the individuals that shot the two police officers in this area, in Maryland, last week, maybe they were inspired by Black Lives Matter, we don’t know for sure, so I don’t want to automatically put this on Black Lives Matter but I will say this: a lot of the rhetoric, Deirdre, that we hear, coming from members of the Black Lives Matter movement is very violent, very hostile.

As further “evidence,” Wheeler claimed that some members of Black Lives Matter at an anti-Beyoncé demonstration he attended had been “very mean and hostile” to him “and I didn’t say anything to them.”

But if Wheeler was somehow identified or recognized as being part of Fox News, who could blame the group?

Fox Business describes this show by saying, “Deirdre Bolton takes you beyond stocks and bonds into the world of alternative investing. She brings viewers new ways to make money and better ways to keep it.” Once again, I didn't hear a thing on any of those subjects here.

Watch it above, from the February 17 Risk & Reward with Deirdre Bolton show.

Crossposted at News Hounds.
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