In a panel this morning, MSNBC got the facts of Hillary Clinton's rape case completely wrong, forcing host Joe Scarborough to issue a correction in a later segment.
In the first segment, Ezra Klein said that the rape victim was 15. The victim was actually 12.
He and other contributors also failed to note that Clinton's recent statements on the case contradict her comments in the 1980s.
In an interview Saturday, Clinton claimed she was "appointed" to the case. "And once I was appointed I fulfilled that obligation," she said.
This directly contradicts Clinton's remarks in the 1980s, uncovered by the Washington Free Beacon, where she said she voluntarily took the case as a favor for a friend. "The prosecutor called me a few years ago, he said he had a guy who had been accused of rape, and the guy wanted a woman lawyer," Clinton said at the time. "Would I do it as a favor for him?"
At first, MSNBC ignored this evidence, discussing her case as if she had no other choice but to defend the rapist.
In the second segment, Scarborough corrected this error, saying, "Hillary Clinton chose to do this. This completely changes the conversation. In that position, you and I both know there are a lot of female lawyers that would say no, I won't take that case."
He also pointed out the discrepancies in her comments: "We have tape of her last week saying something that does not appear to be truthful, when you compare her words of last week to what she said at the time."
"Not every lawyer has to take every case that a friend asks them to take as a favor," Mark Halperin agreed.