THE DAILY NEWSLETTER – FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, 2021

MEDIA WINNER: Lester Holt

For more than seven months, the identity of the Capitol Police officer who shot Ashli Babbitt during the January 6 storming of the Capitol remained undisclosed to the public. On Thursday, that officer revealed himself in an interview with NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt.

Along with his fellow officers, Lieutenant Michael Byrd was protecting 60 to 80 House members hunkered down nearby when he fired a single fatal shot that hit Babbitt as she tried to force her way through a barricaded door inside the Capitol.

Several investigations have cleared Byrd of any wrongdoing, but former President Donald Trump and some of his supporters have attempted to paint Babbitt as a martyr criticizing Byrd for taking that shot.

NBC’s exclusive interview with Byrd was a feather in the network’s cap, to be sure, but the balance and thoughtfulness Holt brought to the interview deserves special mention. He asked difficult questions in order to tell a more complete story of what happened that day.

MEDIA LOSER: Malcolm Nance

Pro Tip: In the aftermath of a terrorist attack that has claimed lives, “#DealWithIt” is not a good hashtag to tweet. This is a lesson that MSNBC’s Malcolm Nance should have learned before Thursday, but he didn’t.

“20 YEARS- FYI there have been terrorist suicide bombers killing civilians nearly DAILY in Afghanistan. This ain’t new. It’s why we are leaving. #DealWithIt,” he tweeted in response to the explosions outside the Kabul airport, later revealed to be caused by two suicide bombers.

Thirteen U.S. service members and nearly 100 Afghan civilians were killed, along with many more who were injured. It was the deadliest attack against the U.S. military in Afghanistan since Aug. 6, 2011 and our first casualties there since Feb. 8, 2020. ISIS-K, the Islamic State branch in South and Central Asia, has claimed credit for the attack.

Nance later deleted the tweet and apologized, but not until several hours had passed — and many people had expressed their outrage in response.

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