ABC News, the same network which falsely linked the Tea Party to a mass killing in Colorado [1], on Wednesday ignored an alleged connection between Occupy Wall Street and a wealthy New York City couple apparently planning a terrorist spree. Instead, a Good Morning America journalist referred to the investigation as a "preppy terror case."
The New York Post on Monday reported that Morgan Gliedman and her boyfriend, Aaron Greene, have been arrested after a vast number of guns, bombs and the "Terrorist Encyclopedia" were found in their home.
According to the Post, the two are "the privileged daughter of a prominent city doctor, and...a Harvard grad and Occupy Wall Street activist." Yet, GMA reporter John Muller simply described, "She is from a prominent family on New York's ritzy upper east side. He is a Harvard graduate."
Later in the segment, Muller insisted, "So far, potential targets or a motive have not been determined. And police say the couple have no known links to any terrorist organizations."
Yet, over on CBS this Morning, reporter Seth Doane actually mentioned the connection: "The New York Post reported Greene was a member of the Occupy Wall Street movement but the group has denied this."
Doane then featured a clip of intelligence expert Michell Silber talking about Occupiers:
MITCHELL SILBER (K2 Intelligence Executive Managing Director): The assumption is that the vast majority of the people there were peaceful protesters but there was a more radical fringe element to the group and there was a concern at some point they might turn to violence if they weren't accomplished their political aims.
The journalists at Good Morning America were not quite so restrained on the morning of July 20, 2012. After a gunman went on a rampage an Aurora, Colorado movie theater, Brian Ross smeared: [1]
BRIAN ROSS: There is a Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado page on the Colorado Tea Party site as well, talking about him joining the Tea Party last year. Now, we don’t know if this is the same Jim Holmes. But it’s Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado.
It was not the same Jim Holmes.
Ross later apologized. Recently, the Media Research Center crowned him the winner of the 2012 Best of Notable Quotables' "Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste" award. [2]
ABC has often been excited about covering for the Occupy crowd. In fact, World News anchor Diane Sawyer in October of 2011 bizarrely insisted that the liberal group's protests have spread to "more than a thousand countries [3]." Of course, there aren't nearly that many countries in the world.
A transcript of the January 2 GMA segment can be found below:
7:15
ELIZABETH VARGAS: Now, we go to the startling arrest of a young Manhattan couple for alleged possession of weapons and explosives popular with terrorists. She was nine months pregnant and gave birth to a baby girl in custody. ABC's John Muller has more on the strange story.
ABC GRAPHIC: Preppy Terror Case: Massive Weapons Cache Discovered: Wealthy NY Couple Under Arrest
JOHN MULLER: She is from a prominent family on New York's ritzy upper east side. He is a Harvard graduate. But this morning, police are investigating why 31-year-old Aaron Greene and his girlfriend, 27-year-old Morgan Gliedman, had an arsenal of weapons capable of massive destruction in their Greenwich village, apartment.
COMMISSIONER RAY KELLY: They had a terrorists encyclopedia. They had improvised and modified firearms, deadly homemade weapons, a do-it-yourself sub machine gun. They had a street sweeper, a home workshop shotgun.
MULLER: Police had been investigating Gliedman for credit card fraud when they received a tip from a couple Gliedman and Greene invited into the apartment. When police went to investigate, a shocking discovery. Seven grams of a chemical called HMTD, a powerful explosive used in bomb making. So unstable and dangerous, the entire building had to be evacuated, Saturday. Police also seized a flare launcher, a sawed-off 12 gauge shotgun with dozens of shells, nine rifle magazines and various how-to manuals on building bombs and booby traps.
BRAD GARRETT (ABC News consultant, former FBI specialist): My best professional guess is that, they are just two very drug-addicted, delusional people that got into this sort of way of thinking of, it's sort of "us against the world."
MULLER: So far, potential targets or a motive have not been determined. And police say the couple have no known links to any terrorist organizations.
MULLER: Now, we spoke to Aaron Greene's lawyer. He has enter a plea of not guilty. Morgan Gliedman has yet to be arraigned because she's in the hospital after having a baby girl while in custody. We have been unable to reach just about anyone for common on this. Police say the couple admits to being heroin users. A lot of questions here.
-- Scott Whitlock is the senior news analyst for the Media Research Center. Click here [4] to follow him on Twitter.