Seemingly desperate to find a new angle to bash President-Elect Donald Trump Tuesday, NBC Nightly News leaped onto accusations by TMZ that the Trump family were selling access. “Tonight the Trump transition team is pushing back after a new controversy involving the president-elect's sons,” hyped Anchor Lester Holt, “After reports surfaced that are raising questions about whether they were planning to swap big money charity donations to gain access to their father.”

“Tonight, pushback on a chance to party with the president-elect, the day after he's inaugurated, at least for donors who give a million dollars to a newly formed charity,” reported NBC’s Hallie Jackson. The charity, called Opening Day, reportedly focuses on conservation. According to Jackson they offered donors hunting and fishing excursions with Eric and Donald Trump Jr., and they were listed as leaders of the organization.

Jackson also noted a similar event involving Trump’s daughter, “Earlier this week, a charity auction to win coffee with Ivanka Trump was apparently canceled.” But she failed to report what organization was claiming the auction, even though a picture of the webpage was shown there was no indication of website it originated from.

“For a charitable event such as this, it just looks like you're selling your largesse, you know, on the auction block,” a former Federal Election Commission lawyer told Jackson in an interview.

The NBC reporter tried to throw the pay-to-play accusations back in Trump’s face, noting his campaign rhetoric, “The perception that charity donors might pay for access to the president-elect is exactly what Trump himself accused Hillary Clinton of during the campaign.”

But Jackson’s attack is highly hypocritical, since NBC could barely be bothered to cover the accusations against Clinton and the Clinton Foundation. Jackson’s colleague Andrea Mitchell, a Clinton super fan, played active defense for her candidate on the issue, writing it off as a simple “headache” for the campaign while parroting their talking points. NBC was the first of the Big Three networks to wave good bye to the controversy.

That, in spite of an Associate Press investigation which showed Secretary Clinton meeting with high roller donors of the foundation.

In addition, NBC also ignored a WikiLeaks e-mail exposing a $12 million donation from the King of Morocco in exchange for a meeting with the former secretary of state. They also didn’t seem too interested in former President Bill Clinton selling his “largesse” for millions of dollars in a scheme dubbed “Bill Clinton Inc.”

It wasn’t until the end of her report that Jackson mentioned that the donation promotion was NOT going to happen. “A new, final, event brochure obtained by NBC News, now shows no photo ops or hunting trips with the Trumps,” she stated. And while Trump’s sons are now listed as managers of the organization, she noted, “A spokesperson for Opening Day tells NBC News neither Donald Trump Jr. nor Eric Trump will be involved in the day-to-day operation of the non-profit.”

Transcript below:

<<< Please support MRC's NewsBusters team with a tax-deductible contribution today. >>>