NBC News says its top lawyer never threatened Ronan Farrow, calls accusation a "malicious distortion"

Deadline

The Daily Beast reported Thursday night that, "according to multiple sources familiar with the matter, NBC News General Counsel Susan Weiner made a series of phone calls to Farrow, threatening to smear him if he continued to report on Weinstein." The Daily Beast also quoted an unnamed NBC spokesperson who called those allegations "absolutely false. There’s no truth to that all." This morning, NBC News released a lengthier statement saying, "Susan Weiner has been a champion of journalists and defender of the First Amendment in newsrooms for over thirty years...Weiner reminded Farrow that as he continued his reporting on behalf of a separate news organization he should no longer represent himself as working on behalf of NBC News. She made no threats and the characterization of that conversation in The Daily Beast is a malicious distortion."