NBC News refuses to provide transparency on retracted Paul Pelosi report, Miguel Almaguer’s absence
Almaguer quietly returned after multi-week absence following his report being scrubbed
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}NBC News refuses to provide transparency to the strange situation surrounding correspondent Miguel Almaguer, who returned to the air Monday after a mysterious multi-week absence following the retraction of his explosive Paul Pelosi report.
NBC News has not responded to a series of questions, including why the Pelosi report was retracted — beyond a vague note that it didn't meet network standards — and why Almaguer was sidelined for so long.
Almaguer sent social media into a tizzy on Nov. 4 with a bombshell report that indicated Pelosi might not have been in immediate danger when police arrived the night he was assaulted in the San Francisco home he shares with his wife, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Miguel Almaguer quietly returned to the air on Monday after a mysterious multi-week absence following his explosive Paul Pelosi report being retracted without explanation. (Screenshot/NBC News)
Almaguer went against the mainstream narrative and reported that Paul Pelosi opened the door himself but didn’t attempt to escape or declare an emergency before walking away from cops and back toward his eventual attacker.
David DePape is accused of invading the Pelosi home, demanding to know the House speaker’s whereabouts and threatening to break her kneecaps with a hammer, but he didn’t attack Paul Pelosi until police arrived at the home. Almaguer also put a spotlight on what Pelosi and DePape were doing for roughly 30 minutes before police arrived, which nobody seems to know.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Almaguer's report seemed to coincide with theories that key details were being withheld from the public. The situation continued to raise eyebrows when NBC News retracted the report hours after it aired, scrubbing it from the internet in the process.
Almaguer was then missing from the network for more than five weeks, reportedly suspended pending an internal probe, although NBC News never publicly admitted the longtime correspondent was actually in hot water. A NBC News source previously told Fox News Digital that Almaguer's source was "biased." Another insider said the news division was furious that the story made it to air and that more heads could roll in the future.
To further complicate things, a local NBC affiliate in San Francisco reported essentially the same information as Almaguer but didn’t have it retracted.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I think they had different sources," an NBC Bay Area source told Fox News Digital at the time.
Almaguer did not respond to a request for comment, and his agent has declined to speak "on client matters."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Almaguer returned on Monday, reporting on "coast-to-coast" winter storms across the United States, but NBC News didn’t acknowledge his extended benching. The Los Angeles-based correspondent has also returned to tweeting on Monday after ignoring the platform since the day before his Pelosi report was scrubbed.
NBC insider and media watchdogs alike have called for transparency, with hopes of learning the truth about why the network retracted the report, but the Comcast-owned organization appears to be keeping a lid on the details.
Last week, NBC changed another report that initially went against the established media narrative. NBC News published a report that suggested President Joe Biden could have received Paul Whelan instead of WNBA star Brittney Griner in the White House’s controversial prisoner swap.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}NBC NEWS MUST ANSWER THESE 5 QUESTIONS ON THE RETRACTED PAUL PELOSI ATTACK STORY
Griner was freed from Russian detention on Thursday in a high-profile prisoner exchange with Russia, who got back notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout, known as the "Merchant of Death." When NBC News covered the story, it indicated that Biden had the option to instead bring home Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who has been in Russian custody for nearly four years.
NBC reported that "the Kremlin gave the White House the choice of either Griner or Whelan — or none." Later, the article was edited to read, "The Kremlin ultimately gave the White House the choice of Griner or no one after different options were proposed."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A correction was added, noting that "an earlier version of this article misstated the choice the Biden administration was given over hostages. It was to swap for Griner or no one, not a choice between Griner or Whelan."
Fox News’ David Rutz contributed to this report.