Judge Napolitano was simply wrong (please stop repeating his red herring)

by Scott Creighton

(I am breaking an article I wrote yesterday into two (to? tu? ptu? too?) parts in the interest of clarity. I brought up two issues in the one piece and I think they both import points of interest that need to stand alone in order for them to receive maximum consideration. Sorry for the repeat guys)

UPDATE at end of article

First of all, please stop reporting about Judge Napolitano saying “the FBI report says no one died during the Pulse nightclub shooting until the tactical team entered the building at around 5:15am” in the morning. Napalitano was simply wrong.

He made that comment on the same day the Feds released the transcript of the 9/11 call and the summary of the negotiation between authorities and a person who claimed to be “the shooter”. That was June 20th, the same day I covered the story.

Fact is, the Feds report that gunfire broke out from inside the club at around 2:05am and from there an assailant came out of the front of the club, engaged in gunfire with authorities outside, then retreated back into the club where officers followed and continued the gunfight with assailant until said assailant retreated further into the bathroom at 2:15am or so and the 3 hour hostage standoff began.

How accurate that description of the event is, is anyone’s guess… but the fact is, the report from the FBI released that day does not say if anyone died or did not die during that initial shooting spree inside the club before they went outside nor does it say if anyone died or did not die during the gunfight that occurred which drove the assailant into the bathroom.

What it says is, and where Judge gets it wrong is… the report says shots were not fired DURING THE THREE HOUR STANDOFF. And that is true. The report does say that.

People shot by assailant, first responders or the tactical team that made entry at the end of the standoff is a question for forensics. Time of death of victims is a question for responding medical personnel on the scene. There were no reports from either in that first FBI release dated June 20th.

He simply got it wrong and tons of well meaning individuals out there are parroting his statement as if it were gospel fact. All you have to do is read the little three page report yourself, the same one he read, and you will see the mistake he made. Please do that and stop amplifying his error.

At the end of this article are the three pages of the press release the Feds put out on July 20th, 2016… just as I and Judge Napolitano reported on them that day. Read them yourselves, please, and you will see, NOWHERE does it say “no one died” until 5:15am. There was a shooting inside, there was a subsequent gunfight that also took place inside. Shooting and gunfights in crowed bars can often result in deaths. Whether or not they did that night is open for debate. But the FBI report does NOT say “no one died” during them. And that is a fact.

UPDATE: A reader pointed out to me that Judge Napolitano was actually a seated judge in Jersey. He’s always looked and sounded more like a mob lawyer to (tu? 2? too? ptu?) me. That fact is critical in that he knows better. He’s not like some alternative journalist out there or some Fox News idiot who simply can’t understand the document that he read. Also, I can’t get behind the idea that I originally had which was he had been given a briefing by some scrub assistant producer on the fly who got it wrong and he didn’t check his facts. Judges don’t do that. Ever. It’s conditioning. So I have to reluctantly conclude, given this new insight about his previous profession, that Judge N. deliberately injected some disinfo into the mix for alternative websites to pick up on. He served us up a red herring. Let’s stop serving it to our friends, shall we?

Source: https://willyloman.wordpress.com/2016/07/02/judge-napolitano-was-simply-wrong-please-stop-repeating-his-red-herring/