John Harwood IG Gloat Cut Short By Fact Check From CNN’s Jake Tapper And Laura Jarrett

CNBC debate moderator John Harwood asks a question during the 2016 U.S. Republican presidential candidates debate in Boulder, Colorado October 28, 2015. Picture taken October 28, 2015. REUTERS/Rick Wilking - TM3EBAT0WZY01
Virginia Kruta Associate Editor
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CNBC’s Chief Washington correspondent John Harwood attempted to fact-check President Donald Trump over the contents of Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report — and immediately got fact-checked himself by CNN’s Laura Jarrett and Jake Tapper.

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Harwood was responding to President Trump’s tweet attacking Strzok for saying in a text that he would “stop” Trump from becoming president.

But as Jarrett quickly pointed out, despite the report’s overall conclusion that bias did not affect the outcome of investigations, bias was certainly obvious — and there was some question as to whether bias had been a factor in the delays related to obtaining and reviewing the contents of Anthony Weiner’s laptop.

Tapper agreed, saying that the IG report did not necessarily clear the FBI of allowing bias to influence their moves regarding the Weiner laptop.

As MSNBC’s Chris Hayes noted, however, the delays ultimately led to the story breaking at a time when it hurt Clinton — mitigating the effects any bias may have had in the process.