Fox News Channel anchor Shepard Smith crossed the line from straight news reporting to opinion activism during Tuesday afternoon’s broadcast of Shepard Smith Reporting by urging “every American” to read the Mueller report and stating it includes ten instances of alleged criminal obstruction of justice by President Trump. Smith also repeated the Mueller line that the report does not “exonerate” Trump.

Attorney General William Barr and now-former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein concluded, based on the Mueller report, that Trump did not obstruct justice. That has not been accepted by Trump-haters, apparently including Smith.

Smith was celebrated online, trending and being given a Twitter Moment.

Fox News anchor Shep Smith encouraged his viewers to read the Mueller report. https://t.co/tnSftwMoyy — Twitter Moments (@TwitterMoments) June 12, 2019

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Smith got a cheering write-up by Vanity Fair:

Viewers tuning into Fox News Tuesday expecting the network’s more typical pro-Trump reporting may have been surprised to hear a different kind of message. Anchor Shepard Smith, one of Fox News’s few hosts who regularly criticizes the president, used news of House Democrats’ latest act against the White House’s stonewalling to urge his viewers to go read the Mueller report already—because it doesn’t exonerate the president as President Donald Trump and his base love to claim. “Everyone in America should read” the 400-plus page report, Smith said. “Everyone.” The Fox anchor’s reminder about the Mueller report’s actual contents came as Smith reported that the House has escalated their fight against the Trump administration, passing a resolution along party lines that makes it easier for lawmakers to sue those who don’t comply with congressional subpoenas. Smith told viewers to “remember” that Mueller’s report “laid out ten instances of apparent obstruction of justice, criminal obstruction of justice, potentially, by President Trump.” “The special counsel did not exonerate the president,” Smith added. ”They said if they could’ve they would’ve but they couldn’t so they didn’t. Mueller explained that if he and his team had confidence that the president did not commit obstruction, they would have said so.” The anchor also explained to his viewers why it was now Congress’s job to act on the Mueller’s report’s contents, saying that Mueller’s report states “that under Justice Department guidelines, charging the president with a crime was never an option to him. He said the Constitution requires another process.” Such a blatant explanation may be necessary for Smith’s viewers, as recent polls have indicated that despite the Mueller report’s findings, Americans still remain divided on whether or not the report cleared Trump of any wrongdoing.

The Huffington Post cheered Smith with this headline, saying he had given viewers a “reality check”:

Shep Smith Urges Fox News Viewers To Read The Mueller Report For Themselves; The Fox News host gives the network’s viewers a reality check with “10 instances of apparent obstruction of justice.”

Shorter video clip:

https://twitter.com/DHStokyo/status/1138876418681581574

Longer video clip:

Smith was praised by former Obama administration official Richard Stengel, among many others including Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA).

“The special counsel did not exonerate the president." Hard to say it more directly than that. https://t.co/PPAbBaDWWH — Richard Stengel (@stengel) June 12, 2019

Shep Smith is right. Everyone should read the Mueller Report. If you don't have time to read the full Report, you can just read the summaries in the Report. And if you don't have time to do that, you can read the tweets of @GOP Rep @justinamash.#WednesdayWisdom https://t.co/4Vl9beNMpr — Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) June 12, 2019

Shep Smith encourages FOX viewers to read the Mueller report, and learns that when they scream "RINO" it also stands for "Reading Is Not Optional." — John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) June 12, 2019

https://twitter.com/Amy_Siskind/status/1138793292458582016

Trump-hating liberals pleading for every American to read the Mueller report reminds one of the Reagan joke about the kid digging through a huge pile of horse manure because “there must be a pony in there somewhere.”