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What happens when a law enforcement press conference becomes part of the crisis?
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There are press conferences that inform the public, and then there are press conferences that accidentally reveal far more than they intend to.
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It's not about the case, but about the chaos.
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Welcome back to the PR Breakdown.
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I'm your host, Molly McPherson.
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You may have seen last week the sheriff from Pima County and the FBI hold a news conference regarding the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of today's anchor Savannah Guthrie.
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The authorities were asking the public for help.
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They don't have much to go on.
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But what unfolded at that bank of microphones last week wasn't an update.
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It was more of a case study on what happens when messaging starts to wobble in public.
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In a moment like this, particularly for Savannah Guthrie and her family, and a news story that is taking over the news cycle.
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People aren't only listening for facts.
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They're watching for whether the person in charge sounds like they know where this is headed or whether they're trying to catch up in real time.
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I brought someone on who knows exactly what that room feels like.
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Clayton Sandel is an Emmy Award-winning former network news correspondent and producer with more than 25 years of experience covering major breaking news for ABC and scripts.
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And now he trains leaders and organizations on how to handle moments just like the one we watched last week.
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And disclaimer, this is not a true crime episode.
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It's a crisis communication episode, but we did talk about elements of the case.
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But we also talked about what went wrong at the microphone and what should have happened instead, and why press conferences can be a secondary crisis all on their own.
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All right, let's get into it.
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Overall, it was it was rough.
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It was uh, I think you called it a train wreck.
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I would, I would agree with that.
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I think that um, you know, first of all, this is a really tough I I you know I have some empathy for the sheriff.
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This is a really tough position to be in.
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This is a high-profile case.
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It's being covered internationally.
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You know, I saw stories this morning from the Daily Mail, the BBC, you know, from those guys all the way to entertainment tonight.
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I mean, they're they're all sort of there in the room, and it is tough to do your job in a at a time like that.
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But that being said, there were a lot of, I think, unforced errors in in this press conference where I do think ultimately they don't they don't really know what's happening in this case and and they're flailing a little bit.
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Um, but and you saw some of that, and you saw some mixed messaging and and um uh some sort of backtracking, and like you said, they were back on their heels in quite a bit.
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I think they could have come out and and been much, much shorter.
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It was interesting as as you you and I were watching it yesterday.
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I agreed with you that you know, you kept saying there's no news here, there's nothing new, and and you were right in that moment.
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But when you go back and look at that press conference, there actually was a lot of news that came out of it, but it was so damn disorganized.
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That's exactly it.
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Came out in drips and drabs and piecemeal.
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You know, we learned about the blood on the porch, the timeline, the reward, the arrest of an impostor, the fact that there was no surveillance video, the deadlines, all of that stuff came out.
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And when you when you combine that, there was, you know, there was it was newsworthy.
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Well, let me ask you this question first off the back.
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Absolutely the Pima County Sheriff Presser yesterday, the feed went live, I believe, right at the top of the hour.
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They weren't quite ready yet, but the the PIO, the public information officer, was in the background.
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You could hear just the pitch and tone, there was stress there.
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You know this going into a town that a lot of these law enforcement offices aren't necessarily set up to handle national and international press.
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Right.
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But yesterday, when they were getting the room uh all situated, it reminded me, and I had said this in the live, of the press conferences around the flooding in Texas over July 4th.
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Oh, and in the Hill Country when at the Mystic Camp, all those hill, it had the same mood in the room where it was frenetic, the press was there.
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Right.
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And right off the bat, I noticed right in the beginning, the sheriff comes out and lectures the press, like contentionally.
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Tell me your thoughts on that.
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Yeah, I I think that's a I think I think that's a sign that you are they are they are defensive about um about the progress of the case, I think is the the heart of that, is is they realize that there hasn't been much new information.
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They haven't found Nancy.
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They um they don't have a lot to go on at this point, and so taking shots at the process, I think is um is probably uh is kind of kind of a desperate move.
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And I think I think the sheriff, you know, is probably used to dealing with local reporters, and they all kind of have a familiarity and opinions maybe in terms of their worms.
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And now he's got you know people, uh national reporters parachuting in that are that are have no relationship to him, have no good point allegiance or anything.
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And so they're gonna be, I think, much, much tougher and and harder.
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Um but um right off the bat, he comes up to the bank of mics, and he says, I'd ask, so I'd ask that you just kind of be patient with me, pay attention to the questions asked, because sometimes you guys want to ask the same question twice, and you'll get the same answer.
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So you have to help yourself get what you can get out of this.
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And and then he he diverted into like there was a like a tragedy, like an accident that happened to me.
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Which is awful.
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But Colleen, would you agree with me that it felt right off the bat, if you're in that room and you're a member of the press, how should a spokesperson, not a PIO, but like a head law enforcement, what's the first thing they should say when they come up to the bake of mic?
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What do you want to hear as a reporter or a producer?
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Um, I, you know, usually what they do, I mean, typically what they do is they just come up there and they they uh announce who is going to be there.
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They'll they'll spell the names, you know, they'll do, they'll do the basics because they know that there are people who don't know you know that this the FBI special agent in charge or how to spell the sheriff's name or pronounce it or whatever.
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So I think in the case.
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Yeah, and I, you know, that's that's your basics, but again, they mean that they're probably not used to to dealing with out-of-town press who don't know.
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And so they're probably assuming that that everybody knows who everybody is, maybe.
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Um but that's always you know, that's always helpful to know who is going to be talking, especially if you have three or four officials that that get up there and then you know, kind of lay out what the what the expectations are.
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We're gonna we're gonna we've got some new information we're gonna give you, and we're gonna talk about uh a reward, yeah, give a little preview and then um and and then kind of we're gonna we're gonna ask three or four questions and then that's that's all we have.
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We're gonna move on and get back to work.
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Let's say you're in the room and um Sheriff Nanos Nanos walks up.
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In the first minute when he's talking, do you think he how do you think he's feeling in his head that like is he confident?
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Does he have information?
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Why did he in other words, why did they call that press conference yesterday?
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What was the reason?
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Um, I think probably uh number one, a logistics one.
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I a day or two before he had done uh he had talked about how his entire day was answering press and uh questions from the press.
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He he was doing not only the press conferences, but I noticed he was doing a lot of one-on-one.
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Yeah, I noticed that too.
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Some of the network people.
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And so I think it was partially a way to get everybody in one room for an hour or whatever and and get all the questions addressed uh in one place so he's not spending so much time um doing all of that stuff.
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But no, I don't think he was uh overly, overly confident.
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He seemed to be uh largely focused on process.
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He kept talking about lab results coming back and working with tech companies and all, you know, he kept going into all of these things that they're they're doing and and uh telling people, well, the the results haven't haven't come back yet.
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Yeah, we know you can step on the gas a little bit to get those results in.
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So that's a really good point.
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Yeah, I didn't realize anybody was buying uh a lot of that.
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Um, you know, he did fairly early on say that we have not identified a suspect or a person of interest, and we could talk about at the band field and all that stuff in that first you know, 15 minutes that there was anything um particularly new newsworthy to call it.
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Yeah, I think I think it was yeah, I think it was the first 15 minutes, it seemed disorganized and completely disorganized questioning why are we here.
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When I was first watching within the 15 minutes, I did see him pop up on a number of media interviews one-on-one.
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Well, when you get to that point when also you are the chief law enforcement POC or point of contact for this, and you're doing media interviews, there's an optics issue, particularly with a case where they're going on so little.
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And then the other piece of it is Ashley Banfield.
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So let's talk about just in the moment, first before I get to Nashley Banfield, should they have done that press conference yesterday?
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Was there enough news to warrant a press conference yesterday?
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Yes, I think I think I think uh simply the um the existence of the reward, you know, that is um you know, that's big.
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That's that's a lot of money.
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And uh but tell me about the fifty thousand dollars.
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Does that seem like a it's a good starting point?
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I think you know, uh as as rewards go, I think they can always they can always kind of go up from there.
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Um but I think that really, you know, I actually actually talked to a former FBI, um, he he's retired from the bureau now, but I talked to a former FBI source of mine last night, and then and we were kind of kicking this around.
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And and his his key takeaway was not saying much outside of asking for help is really the best thing that you can do because then you do get this sense that they're sort of flailing around.
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And wait, wait, wait, wait.
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Are you saying your FBI's your your source said that from a from a presser point of view that it was good?
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No, no, no, no, that it was not good, that it was not good, that they were sort of word vomiting in that press conference, and what they should have done was talk about the reward, talk about the timeline, talk about the things that they could talk about, and then kind of move on.
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I have to ask, and I know you asked this.
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I mean, of course, what does your source think is going on?
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I know that you guys talked about it.
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I know you did.
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Uh yeah, I mean the the sense of it is um and and and the the FBI guy in the press conference sort of said the same thing that that uh uh one of my one of my sources said, which was you would have expected to hear from someone by now if this was an actual kidnapping.
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Right.
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Um it just you know, these things don't go on this long with without some sort of legitimate contact.
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And I know there's the the hoaxes and the uh the other the other ransom notes that they're investigating.
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Um but uh this is the the sense is from from my friend was that this is not this is not a kidnapping.
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This this is probably probably a random crime.
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Probably random.
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Yeah the thing yo well random, somebody unknown, like not, you know.
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Not in the family, not not in not in the family, um, he didn't think.
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Uh you know, the thing about also the thing about Pima County is that it is it's something like 9,000 square miles, and most of it is very rural space.
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Tucson's really the only uh major, major city in the county.
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Um, and you know, there's a lot of there's a lot of area to search, there's a lot of ground to cover physical ground to cover.
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And um, but yeah, I mean the the sense is that this was not made.
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Clayton, you're do you I mean, this isn't not a crime, true crime chat, but what can you think?
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What do you think?
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Funny, there's so many.
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I'm not an armchair detective, but um yeah, I I I tend to I tend to think the same thing that it's probably um a crime that was, you know, maybe the maybe whoever did it knew of her or or you know uh uh uh the house is you know, it's a nice house, nice neighborhood.
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Could have been some sort of financial thing.
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But I also think that think that you know, if you're kidnapping somebody, um you know, you you don't hurt them, you don't you don't injure them.
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And that's that's uh clearly what happened uh in this case.
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And so I don't know.
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Uh I I hope we can't say I'm not gonna hold you to this at all.
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Well, you know, and that's I but I think it also gets to um one of the reasons why why this case is has garnered so much coverage.
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One thing we could talk about and is, you know, I've heard people say, well, you know, should this be the lead on the on the on the evening news every night?
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And um, yeah, you know, is this just because of celebrity?
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And and you know, I can say the when when I covered missing persons cases, and I covered a lot of them over the years, there were there were constant almost discussions in the newsroom about things like missing white woman syndrome, and you know, why are we covering this case and not talking about uh missing and murdered indigenous women?
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And you know, these these discussions are are happening, and I'm sure they're happening uh now.
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Um and I think it's also complicated by the celebrity because NBC and Savannah Guthrie have, you know, like like any anchor on any morning show, uh they are going to work to build that parasocial relationship.
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They want you to feel like you know you're part of the family.
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Wake up with us and have your coffee and we'll tell you what's going on in the world.
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And so we are invested in in Savannah's life.
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Um, and obviously in it internally, NBC is is um invested in this story.
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And so there's a lot of reasons why I think it's getting so much coverage, even though, yes, there are bigger and more existential threats.
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There are well, definitely other stories, but you want to know what's interesting about it too, and I'm sure you share this, it's that it's involving a news personality, it's involving talent in one network.
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Yes.
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So what complicates it is like so you have other networks covering a network, and you have the network NBC not only juggling and ramping up Olympic coverage where Savannah and Craig Melvin are supposed to be, and how neither are going.
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There's a lot of money on the line there, and there's a lot of background.
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We can't even imagine producers scrambling right now what they're doing, but also a lot of people chirping in about the Epstein files.
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How the administration probably loves this as a head story.
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And in my mind, and I don't know if I said this on the live yesterday or if this is my brain thinking, that out of the administration they have disruptive moments where they flood the zone with whatever they want to as a distraction.
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There's already a built-in distraction, and we're not getting much out of the out of the White House.
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What do you think about that?
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Well, I I actually had this thought yesterday that um, you know, typically the FBI has always been historically very deferential to local authorities.
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Like they'll offer assistance and they've got tons of resources around the country and the world that they can help on a on a case, but they don't generally in the past have not wanted to be seen as taking over an investigation.
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But with this Justice Department, you never know.
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And obviously the the dynamic is has shifted and and uh been tested a little bit in in Minneapolis when it comes to federal authorities and and local cops.
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And I just I and we know the president loves celebrity, right?
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So I actually had the thought yesterday that I could see I could see a scenario in which the president orders the Justice Department to take over this case as a way to make news about it and and maybe maybe distract from some total guess, complete hypothetical, but um but you know in this in this day and age, like happening.
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I think because this story it has has bled to so many different areas, the White House is doesn't need to do that yet, and they're probably enjoying it.
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And also the the FBI, cash would tell, not to bring in like Charlie Kirk when they were railed on the work there, because things are getting done, and the local the local special agent in charge who's doing with the FBI is there, it seems like the the White House needs to wants to be standoff on this one, just let it ride because it is picking up a lot of uh it is picking up a lot of eyeballs, I think.
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People watching it, but also which is interesting to me, Gen Z.
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I like I I would add like I have Gen Z people, like my kids' friends, like reaching out, like, what do you think?
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What do you think?
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And I even ask them, do you know who Savannah Guthrie is?
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And network news to them, but they're invested.
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Gen Z is invested.
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Yeah, yeah, you're right.
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And it's it's um, you know, it involves uh, as you said, a well-known uh TV personality in some regard, but also uh, you know, it's it's a mystery and there's there's some gruesome details, we don't know what happens.
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Um and you know, I'm not a psychologist, but the reason I think we we gravitate towards these stories is and always have an interest in these stories is you you know, we think, could this happen to us?
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We wonder who is capable of doing something like this.
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Right.
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There's there's mystery, there's danger to it, but the danger is is distant and not not not a threat to us uh right away.
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And so there's sort of a natural, morbid curiosity about it.
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There is still a glimmer of hope.
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And I think that's what you know also people seize onto, and and one of the reasons why it continues to be like maybe when I was watching and I saw the guy come out, hold up the paper, the white balance, it's throwback.
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You don't see a lot of press conferences like this anymore.
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I I've got just to kind of bring it back to that press conference yesterday, I think part of it as well is that Peabt County is probably getting a lot of grief and pressure for answers and to figure this out because it is so unusual.
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Yeah and this is long a long-term type of a case, uh added in the hostage element of it and and she needs medication and and all this other stuff, part of it.
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But I also feel that it was personal that the sheriff, it's getting to him as well, but he showed a lot of information.
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And I think what we really learned is that they don't have anything.
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Like, are are you feeling that?
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I I think that's true, and I think that's why you're seeing um so much focus on on the process again.
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I think where that where you kind of read between the lines a little bit is um, you know, when they're asked about suspects and family, and they don't want to they don't want to bat themselves into a corner and and say anything about that.
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So so everybody's a suspect.
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Right.
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And when everybody's a suspect, that to me tells me that they are they are still trying to find trying trying to find a thread or a lead that they can that they can get their hands on follow, yeah.
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Um you just said it too, and you know this, we all know this, that law enforcement sometimes has information, they don't share information, but they'll do a press conference asking for information, even though they know a narrative.
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But from this press conference and your sources and you just watching it, you really get the feeling that they are scrambling, that they really don't have much to go on.
00:21:29.759 --> 00:21:32.559
Yeah, because there is there is not a lot of information.
00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:36.799
Um, you know, you know, and and that's that's one thing my my former FBI guy said yesterday.
00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:41.440
It's like there should always be things that uh only the cops and the bad guys know, right?
00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:42.319
Right.
00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:51.599
But you know, what we do know is is a lot of just little things that are are you know don't don't seem to add up to much.
00:21:51.839 --> 00:22:05.920
And you know, the more that the longer this press conference went on yesterday, and the more reporters were asking questions like there was there was the the one that That to me, where somebody asked about have you checked the pharmacies to see if yeah things have been filled?
00:22:06.079 --> 00:22:10.480
And and he goes, uh, well, we we did, but maybe we need to go back and do that again.
00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:13.920
Oh my gosh, that was one of his low points.
00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:15.519
That was one of his low points.
00:22:15.599 --> 00:22:23.039
Um, and and I and I just thought that does not uh instill a lot of confidence in in what's going on.
00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:25.680
And then he he did this one at least twice.
00:22:25.759 --> 00:22:37.759
And I think you noted this one too, but I my jaw dropped open when he said he was asked, I think, about motive and and something else, but he said uh at one point, again, a couple of times, your guess is as good as mine.
00:22:37.839 --> 00:22:39.279
And I went, wait a minute.
00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:43.200
No, you your your guess should be a lot better than mine.
00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:47.200
You're guessed, you're the ones wearing the badge, you're the guy in charge of the detectives.
00:22:47.359 --> 00:22:49.279
Your guess should be a lot better than mine.
00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:55.359
You know, never say that, even if you think that that's the truth.
00:22:55.519 --> 00:22:57.200
At least never, never, never, ever say that.
00:22:57.599 --> 00:23:05.519
And he also said, too, he and he said it a few times, um, almost chastising himself, this self-flagellation at the mic.
00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:11.039
Well, we can Monday morning quarterback, and well, if I'm Monday morning quarterback, I would have done it differently.
00:23:11.119 --> 00:23:16.240
It's like, oh my gosh, you are mid-investigation and you're already admitting to making mistakes.
00:23:16.480 --> 00:23:16.880
Yeah, yeah.
00:23:16.960 --> 00:23:19.119
And he said he said mistakes are going to be made.
00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:26.240
And I just what I thought when I when I heard him say that was, dude, you are gonna be asked that in a deposition.
00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:28.160
You know, you're gonna be asked about that.
00:23:28.240 --> 00:23:29.200
What do you mean, mistake?
00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:31.839
What do you mean you would have done something differently?
00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:39.359
That you know, it was just um at that point, it was just like uh the PIO needed to wrap it up with that.
00:23:39.680 --> 00:23:52.960
We also had, and I did a post about this, we had Ashley Banfield, right, who uh was formerly MSNBC and for within the NBC uh family, and then she moved over to News Nation.
00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:59.279
And I only found out when I was watching her interview that she's a contributor now, she no longer has a show on News Nation.
00:23:59.759 --> 00:24:02.319
She had a law enforcement source.
00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:06.720
Now, you yourself in this chat are talking about having law enforcement sources.
00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:12.400
When she announced that she had this source, that there are two interesting, interesting things about it.
00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:22.400
One is that it didn't get a lot of pickup, but two, I I I agree, I feel that what she's saying is accurate and true.
00:24:22.480 --> 00:24:23.519
It's absolutely believable.
00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:25.279
Why would a reporter not say that?
00:24:25.839 --> 00:24:32.000
Yeah, so I think this gets into uh you know a discussion of sourcing, and I have no idea what her sources are.
00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:35.440
Um, she's certainly an accomplished reporter.
00:24:35.599 --> 00:24:38.240
Um, she uh has been at this a long time.
00:24:38.400 --> 00:24:40.799
I and she you know you meant you mentioned her career.
00:24:40.880 --> 00:24:43.519
She was actually at ABC at the same time I was for a time.
00:24:44.880 --> 00:24:45.920
Only like a year or two maybe.
00:24:46.160 --> 00:24:46.960
Was that improving?
00:24:47.200 --> 00:24:47.680
That was before.
00:24:48.160 --> 00:24:50.960
It was right around 2010, and I'll tell you why I know that.
00:24:51.279 --> 00:25:01.519
Because um she came to ABC, and uh I I at that time was like the junior correspondent.
00:25:01.599 --> 00:25:06.319
I was working on the weekends, and there was a shooting at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:12.880
There was a college professor that killed three people and wounded some others.
00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:21.519
And she uh the female, the professor was a female, which was unusual because most mess shooters are male, and so case got a lot of attention.
00:25:21.599 --> 00:25:25.440
I flew out on like a Saturday or Sunday to cover it for the weekend shows.
00:25:25.759 --> 00:25:36.000
And at the time, like I said, I was the junior guy, so they would send in the the the grown-up correspondent to to Bigfoot Y off a story on on uh for the for the weekday shows.
00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:38.000
And they sent Ashley in.
00:25:38.640 --> 00:26:02.000
And one day, it was a Sunday, I think, and my my producer um Brian and I were walking into the um the campus police station for a meeting with the PIO or one of the investigators, and we were in there for 15, 20 minutes, came out, and we're walking back to our car, which was probably a you know, American-made SUV of some type, probably look like a cop car.