Trump brings media blitz to NBC, ‘steamrolls’ Meredith Vieira on birther issue

[Bluebear]

As reports that Meredith Vieira is planning an exit from NBC's "Today Show" swirl, the anchor has sparked controversy over her failure to question a number of unsubstantiated challenges to the U.S. citizenship of President Barack Obama that Donald Trump floated in an interview with Vieira this morning...

When the issue came up on "Today"--which airs on the same network as Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice"--Vieira didn't exactly hold his feet to the fire.

"His grandmother in Kenya said he was born in Kenya and she was there and witnessed the birth," said Trump, reiterating a claim that has been proven false, as Vieira sat by silently. "Trump simply steamrolled over her challenges, for instance, on Hawaii's policy as to what birth documents it makes available," writes Time's James Poniewozik. "But she also let him make the claim that Obama's grandmother said she saw him born in Kenya--an old, and long-debunked, chestnut of birthers that ranks up there with the fake Mombassa birth certificate--without questioning it. So now millions of Today viewers are invited to take it as fact."

A spokeswoman for the "Today Show" did not respond to a request seeking comment on whether Vieira felt that she had adequately pressed Trump on his claims. But judging by how some of her peers in TV news have handled Trump in the same situation, she appears to have failed.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thecutline/20110407/ts_yblog_thecutline/trump-brings-media-blitz-to-nbc-steamrolls-meredith-vieira-on-birther-issue