Trump Passport Tweet Turns Into A Mess For CBS Anchor Norah O'Donnell
Monday night, CBS News anchor Norah O'Donnell thought she had an exclusive that was going to nail down President Donald Trump as a liar and score points with her base.
After 2021 when it appeared O'Donnell was headed for the unemployment line as "CBS Evening News" floundered in third place, the veteran news anchor needs a breakthrough look-at-me-moment and it appeared she found one with her Trump passports tweet that quickly spread around blue checkmark nation.
"According to a DOJ official, the FBI is NOT in possession of former President Trump's passports. Trump had accused the FBI of stealing his three passports during the search of his Mar-a-Lago home," O'Donnell wrote.
Hours later, the Justice Department admitted Trump's passports were taken during a raid when the FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago home.
The DOJ's admission was followed by Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich tweeting a screenshot of an email from a Justice Department member who admitted they took Trump's passports.
“We have learned that the filter agents seized three passports belonging to President Trump, two expired and one being his active diplomatic passport,” the email stated while adding that the passports would be available for pickup by 2 p.m. Monday.
The FBI also released a statement acknowledging the passports were taken.
“In executing search warrants, the FBI follows search and seizure procedures ordered by courts, then returns items that do not need to be retained for law enforcement purposes,” the FBI said in the statement.
If you read closely, O'Donnell is clearly indicating that she is of the understanding that the FBI didn't have the passports and never took them.
How do we know? Because the news vet told us at 7:14 p.m. ET when she added the part where the FBI would be returning items not "contained in the warrant."
Norah's first tweet was wrong and she wasn't about to correct the record even after the blue checkmark nation ate it up and went nuts.
It's Tuesday morning and Norah still hasn't corrected the record. Welcome to the news business in 2022.