Bob Woodward called bullsh*t on Bill O'Reilly Wednesday night after the Fox News host tried to smear the Washington Post for being used by the anonymous sources that got General Michael Flynn fired.
O'Reilly opened his show by railing against Wikileaks and their new dump on the CIA.
As the two debated about using anonymous sources, Bill said he wouldn't use them only if he could verify them, intimating that the New York Times and Washington Post get post-its of intelligence briefs from ISIS and use them to hurt Trump.
Bob Woodward angrily responded, “That’s B.S.”
Woodward said it was Trump that fired Flynn and not his newspaper, but Bill wasn't happy.
O'Reilly is really good at subterfuge and the idea that reporters aren't supposed to use anonymous sources is ludicrous and he knows it.
Woodward told Bill that the Washington Post reporting on General Flynn and Jeff Sessions was verified and “presented in a careful way that does not harm national security.”
As the two continued to joust, Woodward told O’Reilly that it wasn’t the paper that fired Flynn, but Trump.
O’Reilly responded by saying that if he doesn’t know who tapped the call, “that opens the possibility that you and your paper were used - by somebody who illegally tapped Flynn.”
Woodward shot back, “This isn’t about being used, it’s about what’s true.”
Woodward then outlined what journalistic standards are: Is this news and can it be verified that doesn't harm national security?
O'Reilly is furious about all the leaking going on in Trump's White House so he's sticking up for his pal by attacking the leakers and the media outlets that rightly are using the information to report on.
"The president's conversations with the Mexican president and the Australian prime minister, okay, are leaked - are leaked!," Bill screeched. "Do you consider that a legitimate form of reportage?"
As Bob was saying 'yes' it's legitimate, Bill ramped up the outrage and repeated, "I ask you a direct question. Those two conversations from a president to two foreign leaders were leaked, all right, by somebody who had access to them. Do you consider that legitimate reportage?"
Woodward simply replied, "It informed people about what happened, those were legitimate stories."
Throughout the entire segment, Woodward once again schooled Bill O'Reilly on what journalism is, why anonymous sources are important and how to use them in good reporting.
Bill O'Reilly played the Trump apologist to the hilt.
Suddenly, he too is now not a fan of anonymous sources and leaks.
Maybe O'Reilly could have scolded his pal Rudy Giuliani from spreading baseless leaks from the FBI and told his audience not to pay attention to anything they hear from Wikileaks concerning the general election.
