Earlier this week, the FBI announced a massive gambling sting that allegedly involved several Mafia families as well as at least one NBA player and coach.
ESPN host Stephen A. Smith somehow blamed Donald Trump for all this, warning that the president was coming for anyone and everyone who dared to go up against him.
Had Smith checked his facts, he would have realized that this sting operation was actually initiated during the Biden administration, and FBI Director Kash Patel had no problem calling him out for his error.
The sting operation has been years in the making, with more than two dozen people having been arrested so far.
One of them was Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Chauncey Billups, who is currently the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers.
The scandal involved fixing NBA bets as well as rigged poker games, but Billups says he is innocent.
His attorney stated, "Anyone who knows Chauncey Billups knows he is a man of integrity; men of integrity do not cheat and defraud others. To believe that Chauncey Billups did what the federal government is accusing him of is to believe that he would risk his Hall of Fame legacy, his reputation, and his freedom. He would not jeopardize those things for anything, let alone a card game."
Former NBA star Charles Barkley, now a commentator, was livid over these stars shaming the game.
Barkley, who admittedly loves to gamble, went at it with co-host Kenny Smith, who tried to write off the scandal as the consequences of gambling addiction. Barkley vehemently disagreed.
Smith stated, “We have to realize gambling is an addiction. The addiction of it is what makes you make illogical decisions … gambling is an addiction which can make you make illogical decisions regardless of your ethnic background, regardless of your physical background, and regardless of your financial status. So, let’s understand that.” Barkley then responded, “The reason I’m mad at Kenny is this ain’t got nothing to do with damn gambling addiction, this ain’t got nothing to do with addiction. These dudes are stupid.”
Barkley continued, “Under no circumstances can you fix basketball games. Under no circumstances. I love to gamble, the notion, Rozier makes $26 million. Him betting, giving people information or taking yourself out of games, how much is he going to benefit taking himself out of the game to get Unders? He’s making $26 million.”
Smith is usually pretty sharp and has all his facts lined up, but that was not the case here. Clearly, this was an investigation that was years in the making, as was confirmed by Patel, but Smith decided to make this about Trump, stating, "… when you've got all of these protesters that have been going out there and people who have been protesting against him and what have you, this man is coming. He’s coming, and I’ve been saying it for a long time. To me, this is the latest nugget of evidence that we’re talking about right here. That's not to question the legitimacy of the case.”
Patel responded that Smith's comments might be "the single dumbest thing I've ever heard out of anyone in modern history."
He then explained, "These individuals got in bed with La Cosa Nostra and four of the five major crime families in New York City to create gambling empires, to rob people of their money, to extort people, to commit acts of wire fraud, to rig games and poker games and basketball games, just so they can make a few extra bucks. They had the protection of the mafia in New York, around this country, so that they could continue this scheme to fleece innocent victims of tens of millions of dollars."
This had nothing to do with Trump, as the investigation originated under the Biden administration when then-FBI Director Christopher Wray was running the show. My guess is that someone who got hustled tipped off the feds, and they ran with it from that point, but that is pure speculation on my part. Regardless, this was not a revenge arrest as Smith claimed. This was about people breaking the law, period.
