Though Cory Booker has a long history of distortions and making things up, two of the three networks on Friday avoided this inconvenient fact while hyping the Democrat’s just announced presidential bid. Only ABC’s Good Morning America mentioned Booker’s tendency towards “embellishing” the truth.

GMA reporter Tom Llamas highlighted Booker’s resume and background as a Rhodes scholar. But he also reminded of Booker: “Critics say he, at times, has embellished the truth to gain favor, including earlier in his political career when he referenced a person he called an alleged drug dealer.”

Llamas added, “He called this person T-Bone but several reports say T-Bone wasn't an actual person but a composite of people Booker had met.” In 2013, National Review was less polite with its headline: “Cory Booker’s Imaginary Friend.” Writer Eliana Johnson explained:

But sources tell National Review Online that the central character in one of Booker’s oft-repeated stories — T-Bone, the drug pusher who the mayor has said threatened his life at one turn and sobbed on his shoulder the next — is a figment of his imagination, even though Booker has talked about him in highly emotional terms and in great detail.

Over on CBS This Morning, reporter Ed O’Keefe skipped any mention of “T-Bone.” He instead parroted talking points from the senator: “Booker’s campaign is expected to focus on addressing wealth inequality, and especially on the idea of restoring a sense of unity in the country.”

In the midst of complimenting Booker, O’Keefe inserted some fairness by calling the Democrat “strongly partisan.”

Booker has at times tried unifying the place by working with Republicans like Rand Paul on criminal justice reform, but he's also been a strongly partisan Democrat, notably during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Speaking of Kavanaugh, that’s another example of Booker’s problem with the truth. In 2018, he made a dramatic show of “breaking the rules” and releasing documents on the Supreme Court nominee... documents that were already cleared for public release.

NBC’s Today allowed just 33 seconds to Booker’s announcement. Peter Alexander simply noted that Booker “joins a diverse and growing list of Democrats looking to unseat President Trump in 2020.”

Transcripts of all three reports are below. Click “expand” to read more: