NBC officials were skeptical of a flawed update on the assault on Paul Pelosi just after it aired on the Today show and launched a conservative uproar, sources told TheWashington Post. The network retracted a report by reporter Miguel Almaguer that suggested Pelosi was not in immediate danger when police arrived at his San Francisco home, saying it “did not meet NBC News reporting standards.” Almaguer’s reporting was based on a source who “was unreliable regarding the circumstances that the police encountered when they arrived at the house,” a person familiar told the Post. Network brass was particularly skeptical of the claim that Pelosi walked back toward his alleged assailant David DePape when officers got to him, which led to Almaguer questioning whether Pelosi was still in danger. The retraction did nothing to quell the fury of conservative media, which seized on the report to fuel conspiracy-minded segments about the attack.
