NBC really ought to explain why they suspended longtime correspondent Miguel Almaguer.
On Friday, police bodycam footage showing the violent assault of Paul Pelosi was released to the public. The events shown in the video comport with previous reporting by NBC’s Miguel Almaguer, who cited sources at the San Francisco Police Department in his description of the event.
But the day after Almaguer’s report aired on the November 4, 2022 edition of Today, the network abruptly deleted their video tweet of the segment, scrubbed the story from their website, and suspended Almaguer. The justification given was that his report “did not meet NBC News reporting standards.”
Now that the bodycam video is out though, it appears clear that all of the details Almaguer gave in his report were factually accurate. Here’s the segment:
We will not embed the bodycam video here, as it depicts a violent assault, but those who wish to view it can do so using this link. Home surveillance video was also released Friday of the suspect breaking into the Pelosi residence as well as Paul Pelosi’s 911 call.
Almaguer had reported that according to San Francisco police, Pelosi “did not immediately declare an emergency or try to leave his home, but instead began walking several feet back into the foyer towards the assailant,” at which point “a struggle ensued” and the assailant, who was holding a hammer, struck Pelosi with it.
The bodycam footage shows that this was an accurate description of events. The only salient detail missing was that, in the video, Pelosi also appeared to be firmly grasping the head of the hammer — likely to prevent the man from striking him with it.
So the question remains: Why did NBC yank the story and suspend their reporter?