People Are Furious That Matt Lauer Let Donald Trump Lie About Iraq War

Despite there being plenty of evidence to the contrary, Donald Trump loves to say that he was opposed to the 2003 Iraq War.

The Republican presidential nominee has been allowed to spin a tale, one in which he was against the war, even before the invasion. So far, reporters have let him get away with this.

Disappointingly, this continued on Wednesday night during NBC's Commander in Chief forum.

It was the first event with both presidential candidates. In the back-to-back question and answer, Matt Lauer was seen as being particularly hard on Hillary Clinton.

Some believe he was even grilling her about her email controversy. However, many agreed Clinton rose to the occasion and shined in the town hall.

Meanwhile, Lauer is facing a bit of backlash for allowing Trump to continue his lies about the Iraq War.

Trump said,

Well, I think the main thing is, I have great judgment. I have good judgment. I know what's going on. I've called so many of the shots. And I happened to hear Hillary Clinton say that I was not against the war in Iraq. I was totally against the war in Iraq ― from ― you can look at Esquire magazine from '04, you can look at before that. I was against the war in Iraq because I said it would totally destabilize the Middle East, which it has. It has absolutely been a disastrous war.

However, 2004 was after the invasion. Lauer surely knew this, and he surely could have brought up interviews where Trump said he supported the war. He ultimately moved on to another question, with no follow up.

In 2000, Trump wanted a "principled and tough" policy toward what he referred to as "outlaw" states like Iraq. In 2002, Howard Stern asked him if the United States should invade Iraq, to which he responded,

Yeah, I guess so. I wish the first time it was done correctly.

In the Esquire interview Trump refers to, which, to reiterate, took place after the invasion, he said,

Look at the war in Iraq and the mess that we're in. I would never have handled it that way.

While Trump lies about his stance on the war, Hillary Clinton admits her mistake she made while voting for the invasion. She said,

I have taken responsibility for my decision. He refuses to take responsibility for his support ― that is a judgment issue.

A number of people are currently speaking about Lauer's performance on Twitter.

Citations: Matt Lauer Lets Donald Trump Get Away With Iraq War Lie (Huffington Post)