Category: fake news

CNN Segment Fantasizes About Trump, Possibility He Has to ‘Pardon Himself’ From a Prison Cell

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

CNN anchor Erin Burnett and a former lawyer for Donald Trump spent time fantasizing about a scenario in which the ex-President is forced to pardon himself from a prison cell.

Ty Cobb, a hilariously-named former member of the Trump Administration legal team, has been very vociferous about his opinion that the Republican candidate is going to jail based on a Justice Department investigation into his possession of classified documents after leaving office.

Burnett pressed him on what the future might hold should that be the case, particularly if Trump wins the election.

“What happens, though, if this trial does not wrap up before the general election, Trump wins?” Burnett asked. “Does he just pardon himself and it all goes away?”

“Well, so those are all oddly–those are possibilities,” Cobb replied. “The sad thing is nobody knows. This is so unprecedented.”

Cobb proceeded to discuss the issue of Trump pardoning himself, something he believes is not permissible but admits there are other legal minds who disagree.

“The timing is, if there’s already been a verdict in the federal case… you would assume that that could be consequential during the election.”

RELATED: Congressman Matt Gaetz: Trump Should Pardon Himself

CNN Discusses Possibility of Trump Pardoning Himself From Prison

Where the conversation veered to next is why it is so difficult to take CNN seriously when they try to portray themselves as less partisan under CEO Chris Licht.

Cobb discussed what might happen if the Trump trial wraps up, he is convicted and sentenced, and this all happens before the election.

“He doesn’t have the power to pardon himself until he’s actually inaugurated,” he said. “So, if there’s a verdict, say, before the election in November, sentencing could easily occur in advance of him taking office.”

At this point in the interview, you can see Burnett get eager about the prospect, mouth hanging slightly open, eyebrows raised, head shaking in disbelief.

“And he would have to report to jail,” Cobb added. “So he would be (pardoning) himself ostensibly under those circumstances from jail.”

Burnett found the scenario “absolutely incredible” but suggested, “It’s a reality we could be looking at.”

RELATED: Hillary Clinton Claims Trump ‘Rigged’ 2020 Election, Predicts ‘End of Democracy’ If He Wins in 2024

Can Trump Pardon Himself?

Congressman Matt Gaetz, following the 2020 presidential election and before the transition to the Biden White House, advised Trump to pardon himself and key members of his administration prior to departing.

In retrospect, he probably should have listened to Gaetz’s advice.

Trump insisted that a pardon would be unnecessary as he has “done nothing wrong.”

Self-pardons have been an issue of much debate in the Trump era.

Law scholar Jonathan Turley has argued that as President, he had the right to do so. Or will have the right should he be re-elected.

“There is no language specifying who may or may not be the subject of a pardon,” he wrote in a USA Today column. “The president is simply given the power to pardon any federal crime.”

“As a textual matter, there is nothing to prevent Trump from adding his own name to the list of pardoned individuals.”

Interestingly, pardons even in such a scenario would only apply to federal law; they do not apply to civil, state, or local offenses.

POLL: If Trump is convicted of a federal crime, should he pardon himself after election?

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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced an indictment of the former President earlier this year.

Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, low-level felonies in New York State but which carry a potential for a 4-year prison sentence each.

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Mayorkas Falsely Claimed Border is ‘Closed’ Ahead of Biden Trip to El Paso

Posted on by The Center Square

By Bethany Blankley (The Center Square)

Ahead of President Biden’s first trip to the southern border on Sunday in El Paso, Texas, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas again said the U.S. southern border is closed.

His comments came despite thousands of illegal border crossers pouring into the city, filling the airport, sidewalks, homeless shelters. Over the past few days, many were bused out of town and otherwise cleared out ahead of the president’s visit.

RELATED: Theater: El Paso Cleared Out Illegal Immigrant Camps Prior to Biden’s Border Visit

On Jan. 5, after the president announced his expanded immigration plan, Mayorkas announced the Department of Homeland Security was preparing for the end of the public health authority Title 42 after its challenges in court end.

Mayorkas said, “Title 42 or not, the border is not open. We will continue to fully enforce our immigration laws in a safe, orderly and humane manner. Individuals without a legal basis to remain in the United States will be subject to expulsion under Title 42 or removal under Title 8.”

Mayorkas also said the crisis at the southern border was “because our immigration system is broken, outdated, and in desperate need of reform. The laws we enforce have not been updated for decades. It takes four or more years to conclude the average asylum case, immigration judges have a backlog of more than 1.7 million cases, and we have more than 11 undocumented people in our country, many of whom work in the shadows …”

He mentioned that there are 2.5 million Venezuelans living in Columbia and 1.5 million living in Peru. Over 350,000 Haitians are living in Brazil and Chile and the number of Nicaraguans living in Costa Rica has more than doubled over the past year.

He made the remarks as the number of apprehensions of illegal entries by Venezuelans, Nicaraguans and Haitians have surged in the U.S. in the past few months and after more than 5 million foreign nationals were apprehended or evaded capture from law enforcement. This includes over 3.3 million in fiscal 2022, of which nearly 1.8 million occurred in Texas alone.

The El Paso Sector, which includes two west Texas counties and all of New Mexico, has experienced a surge in the last two months, breaking all-time records.

RELATED: Another Record: Nearly 314,000 Apprehensions, Gotaways at Southern Border in December

In December, agents apprehended over 55,700 people and reported nearly 33,000 gotaways, according to preliminary CBP data obtained by The Center Square.

In November, they apprehended more than 53,000 illegal foreign nationals in the sector and reported over 24,000 gotaways.

The number of people crossing the board every month are greater than the individual populations of all but four cities and all but five of counties in New Mexico, according to 2022 Census data analyzed by The Center Square.

The record numbers increased after Mayorkas reversed several policies, including releasing illegal foreign nationals into the U.S. and limiting ICE enforcement of detention and deportation policies. Nineteen attorneys general filed a brief with the Supreme Court over them; Florida heads to trial Monday in another lawsuit in which the plaintiffs argue the administration is continuing to violate federal law.

Multiple members of Congress have called for Mayorkas to be impeached; multiple attorneys general, led by Florida, have called for him to resign.

Last November, U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., now Speaker of the House, said “if Secretary Mayorkas does not resign, House Republicans will investigate every order, every action, and every failure will determine whether we can begin impeachment inquiry.”

On Sunday morning, when asked to respond, Mayorkas told ABC News This Week he was joining the president in El Paso and at the North American Leaders Summit in Mexico City on Monday, where world leaders will discuss “the security of the homeland.” When asked if he planned to resign he said: “I do not. I’ve got a lot of work to do, and we’re going to do it,” according to Fox News.

RELATED: State of Emergency in El Paso as Border Patrol Reports Record Illegal Entries

On Saturday, Mayorkas reiterated his “secure border” language in an interview with CNN anchor Poppy Harlow. She asked him, “Border officials have been consistently telling” a CNN correspondent “they feel abandoned by this administration, by the federal government. So why has it taken two years for President Biden to go to the southern border?”

Mayorkas replied, “We have been dedicating our efforts to the situation at the border since day one. We are incredibly proud of our frontline personnel who are tirelessly and selflessly dedicated to the mission. The president knows the border very well. … He is going to see the border not for the first time in his public service career this Sunday.”

The National Border Patrol Council, the union representing BP agents, has argued the Biden administration, which defunded CBP enforcement mechanisms while sending $45 billion more to Ukraine, said the administration “doesn’t want more money for DHS to enforce laws and deport people. They only want more money to process more people so they can release more people. Don’t be fooled by their propaganda.”

The union also said, “No administration in modern history of this country has done more damage, killed the morale of Border Patrol agents and unleashed death, destruction, rapes, murders and mayhem at our border like the Biden administration.”

In a statement it issued on Saturday, it said, “As Biden and Harris sit around DC patting themselves on the back and lying about the border, things in the real world continue to deteriorate at record-setting levels. Rampant lawlessness, dead bodies piling up and human suffering are not part of the gated fantasyland they live in.”

Syndicated with permission from The Center Square.

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Latest Democrat Scare Tactic: Biden Calls DeSantis ‘Trump Incarnate’ At Florida Rally

Posted on by Becky Noble

With the 2022 midterm election just days away, President Joe Biden made a campaign stop in Florida on Tuesday for gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist. There, he unveiled his latest scare tactic: compare GOP candidates to former President Donald Trump.

Actually it’s more than that – some Republicans are even worse than Trump! Hence Joe Biden calling current Gov. Ron DeSantis “Trump incarnate.”

Biden was stumping for Crist at a Democrat fundraiser in Golden Beach where he said this, “Charlie is running against Donald Trump incarnate. This guy doesn’t fit any of the categories I talked about. The way he deals, the way he denies.”

Biden continued, saying, “The rest of the world is looking at us, Charlie. They’re looking at us. It is really important that a state the size of Florida … comes down on the right side of history.”

RELATED: Nearly Two Open Jobs For Every Unemployed Worker, Data Shows

Republicans Are Nazis… Until They’re Not

In Democrats’ never ending case of self unawareness, Joe Biden also warned the crowd that if elected, Republicans would increase the everyday cost of living for Americans. But if anyone in the crowd has been to the grocery store, they might have figured out that the 40-year high inflation is already happening.

But Joe Biden comparing Ron DeSantis, or any Republican, unfavorably to Trump might be a new and improved version of Democrats comparing Republicans to Hitler and Nazis, until they say something that might be seen as coming around to the Democrats side.

For those who have an attention span longer than five minutes, you may recall George W. Bush was compared to Adolf Hitler on an almost daily basis throughout his presidency. But somehow, that all miraculously evaporated in March of 2017. During an interview with then-“Today” show Matt Lauer, the two were speaking about possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Bush stated:

“I consider the media to be indispensable to democracy. We need the media to hold people like me to account. Power can be very addictive and it can be corrosive, and it’s important for the media to call to account people who abuse their power. We need all the answers.”

The turnaround was so fast, leftists heads seemed to be on a swivel.

Gavin Newsom declared, “I am typing these words: President George W. Bush is right. Freedom of the press is ‘indispensable to democracy.’” The editor of “ThinkProgress” Jedd Legum said, ”When did George W. Bush become a voice of reason?”

When liberals thought there was an outside chance he might make Donald Trump look bad. That’s when the former “Hitler” became a good guy, compared to “New Hitler” Donald Trump.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney was vilified for his role with Bush in the Iraq war.

But when he cut a campaign ad for daughter Liz’s congressional campaign, where he called Donald Trump a “coward,” he was welcomed on the House floor at an event where Democrats marked the anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi glowingly stated, “We were very honored by his being here.”

RELATED: ‘Trick On Taxpayers’ Outlines Questionable Projects Funded By COVID-19 Relief

Bonus Points If A Republican Hates Trump

Like Dick Cheney, for whom all that needed to be done was to voice contempt for Donald Trump, Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, when he was GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, had implications of racism made against him for simply running against Barack Obama.

But upon his entry into the Senate and almost immediate criticism of Trump, NBC bemoaned the fact that, at the time, Romney was an island unto himself.

The implication is clear – whoever the current top Republican is, that person is the “New Hitler.” 

Then, when the next guy comes along, they become the “New Hitler,” and the old “New Hitler” becomes, actually, just a swell guy and an example of a “good Republican.” 

That’s what Joe Biden is signaling with this “Trump incarnate” jab at Ron DeSantis. 

Sometime in the near future, we could very well see the left and media compare Donald Trump favorably to the latest villain, Ron DeSantis.

Joe Biden was recently in Florida to look at damage left by Hurricane Ian, and praised DeSantis for relief efforts. DeSantis is comfortably leading Crist by 12.3 points and is expected to win reelection.

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MSNBC’s Joy Reid Compares Floridians Evacuating Hurricane Ian to Illegal Immigrants: ‘Ironic That They Have to Pour Over the Borders and Go North’

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

MSNBC host Joy Reid belittled Floridians trying to escape Hurricane Ian, comparing them to illegal immigrants and suggesting it’s “ironic” they have to “pour over the borders” to get out of the state.

Reid made the comments on her show Tuesday, as Ian was strengthening into what is likely to be a catastrophic storm once it hits the Sunshine state.

Reid would have done well to test her messaging out by saying it in a mirror where she surely would have picked up on the fact that her claim is plain dumb.

But she didn’t. Instead, viewers were treated to this deep thought.

“It’s a bit ironic now that you might have Floridians having to pour over the borders and go north and get out of the state of Florida in the exact same crisis we have been talking about on a trolling level in that state for a long time,” she said.

RELATED: Top Dem Nadler Knew Trump Impeachment Process Was ‘Unconstitutional’ But Schiff and Pelosi Dismissed Him

Joy Reid Compares Florida Residents Fleeing Hurricane Ian to Illegal Immigration

The idea that people temporarily leaving their homes ahead of Hurricane Ian by evacuating to another part of the state or a neighboring state within their own country is akin to illegally entering another country altogether is as stupid as it sounds.

Which is exactly the kind of programming you’d expect from MSNBC.

And Reid doubled down.

“And be careful about attacking people who have to move to save their own lives and safety, because you never know who, it’s your people that have to move, when it’s your people who have to migrate, when it’s your people who have to get on that road,” she continued.

“So just a thought.”

But there isn’t a ‘thought’ to be found anywhere in that statement. They aren’t evacuating to another country. And in a short period, everybody will be moving back to their home.

RELATED: Matt Gaetz Warns There Are Republican Squishes Already Trying to Shut Down Biden Impeachment

Accuses DeSantis of Owning the Libs

Rest assured, liberals in the media are hoping Hurricane Ian results in a catastrophic disaster. They can’t wait for any crisis that can be used to ‘own’ Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

They’ve put on their dancing shoes.

Ironically, Reid suggested the hurricane will test DeSantis in a way he hasn’t been tested because he doesn’t work and spends most of his time allegedly on Fox News.

“Florida prepares for a monster storm, with landfall expected tomorrow,” she said during the broadcast. “Governor Ron DeSantis is going to be put to the test, forced to actually do his job. When he’s used to spending most of his time hanging out on Fox News and owning the libs.”

All while trying – and failing – to own DeSantis.

While it is true that he absolutely owns the libs, it’s usually a side benefit of doing his job. Left-wing hacks that infest the American media don’t like politicians that actually do what is good for their state or what is good for the country. That’s why he is so reviled by people like Joy Reid.

Bottom feeders like this will always have jobs on mainstream outlets as long as Republicans are successful at putting America first. Consider her continued presence to be a good sign.

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Journalists On Left-Wing Networks Say ‘Fairness Is Overrated’

Posted on by Becky Noble

Most Americans who were alive remember where they were when President John F. Kennedy was shot. Even if you were very young, you remember watching a visibly shaken and emotional Walter Cronkite struggle to hold back tears as he remained the professional that he was, and delivered the devastating news of Kennedy’s death.

Have we ever wondered aloud, how the events of that tragic day would play out in today’s media landscape with today’s “journalists?” It’s a pretty sure bet the coverage would be wildly different.

RELATED: AOC Wants ‘Consequences’ For Supreme Court Justices, Impeachment For Clarence Thomas

No More Hiding

In Walter Cronkite’s day, you practiced the “5 W’s of journalism.” A reporter’s job was to report the who, what, where, when, why, and perhaps a how of the story. They did not offer up and unwanted opinion for viewers, and more importantly, you didn’t know Walter Cronkite was a liberal until long after he retired, happily ensconced on his boat.

Those days are definitely over. It is not clear what exactly the impetus was, the election of Donald Trump, the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, or something else entirely, but those who call themselves journalists on networks like CNN, MSNBC, and NBC have decided all bets are off, and have declared that well, Republicans and conservatives just don’t merit equal and fair coverage with their Democrat counterparts.

As Fox details, MSNBC Host Joy Reid discussed the coverage of Republicans with her guest, fellow lefty traveller Matthew Dowd. The two came to the conclusion that their job was warn that Republicans are a “threat to freedom.” (Since when do leftists care about freedom, anyway?)

But CNN’s Don Lemon beat Joy to the punch. The week before, he promptly dismissed the idea of objectivity, ironically arguing that the media no longer operate in a “Walter Cronkite society.” 

In March, NBC’s Lester Holt said this about “truth”:

Geez Lester, wouldn’t be easier to just volunteer to organize the next book burning?

RELATED: Bitter Hillary Clinton Blasts Justice Clarence Thomas As ‘Angry’ Person ‘Of Grievance’ 

Justifiable Homicide Of Journalism

In August of 2016, New York Times media columnist Jim Rutenberg gave his fellow journalists license to break any journalistic rule they pleased. Perhaps Rutenberg was prophetic, and saw what could happen in just three short months, even when no one else did?

Did he see that it just might be possible for Donald Trump to be elected president over their precious Hillary, and therefore, the rules had to change? In his column, he implored his fellow writers to “to throw out the textbook of American journalism,” for a more “oppositional” approach when covering then-candidate Trump.

So Republicans and conservatives, we were duly warned what was coming our way. Oh sure, it didn’t just start with Jim Rutenberg and the rest of his friends at the New York Times. We have seen this coming down the pike. Donald Trump just gave them license to do it.

And rest assured, it will not get any better. The midterm election and 2024 are not looking good for them. But keep it up. Keep calling them on it. They are scared. 

Imagine, being scared of a different point of view. 

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CNN National Security Analyst Calls For End Of Immigration Enforcement In Response To Texas School Shooting

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

CNN national security analyst and former member of Barack Obama’s Homeland Security Advisory Council, Juliette Kayyem, called for a halt to immigration enforcement in the area of Uvalde, Texas in response to the tragic school shooting.

Uvalde High School student Salvador Ramos is accused of murdering 22 people yesterday, including 19 children and 3 adults.

Kayyem, commenting on the “political issues in Texas” in an appearance on Jake Tapper’s “The Lead,” suggested the critical thing for everyone in the area right now is to have sanctuary.

“The most important thing for the federal government to do right now is to say there will be no immigration enforcement during this period in that area,” she claimed.

Kayyem noted that the demographics of the school district are overwhelmingly Hispanic.

“It has a large immigration population,” she continued. “You want parents with their kids; you don’t want people hiding right now, and we need to make that clear ASAP because of the political issues in Texas.”

RELATED: CNN Analyst And Former Obama DHS Official Demands Police Slash Tires, Arrest Canadian Truckers

CNN’s Response to School Shooting – Stop Enforcing Immigration Laws

CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem was so determined to make the point that suspension of immigration laws is the most important thing following the horrific shooting that she reiterated it moments later.

“We need the federal government to say right now, everyone is essentially safe harbor right now in terms of immigration status,” she declared, noting most illegal immigrants will avoid interaction with a heavy police presence in the area.

“We want to make sure that they know, despite all the politics going on in Texas right now, it’s the federal government that’s in charge of immigration enforcement,” she said.

“And people are safe. Get your kids, get your families together. Do not hide. The White House just needs to say that right now.”

RELATED: Kamala Harris, America’s Greatest Orator, Blesses Crowd With Latest Incomprehensible Gibberish

She Wanted Truckers Arrested

Kayyem sounded very different when talking about Canadian truckers earlier this year who were peacefully protesting against COVID mandates.

In fact, she wanted law enforcement to take drastic action.

“Slash the tires, empty gas tanks, arrest the drivers, and move the trucks,” Kayyem said.

Days after the Capitol riot, Kayyem referred to then-President Trump as the “leader of a terrorist organization.”

This is CNN.

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Report: Cuomo Being Investigated For Retaliating Against Sexual Harassment Accusers

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

State investigators are reportedly looking into whether Governor Andrew Cuomo and his aides committed a crime by retaliating against his sexual harassment accusers.

New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) is conducting a wide-ranging probe of Cuomo and his inner circle and their actions following the initial allegation.

“Several witnesses said state investigators were particularly focused on the question of retaliation and whether the governor or any of the aides around him broke any laws or state rules in response to women coming forward,” according to the Washington Post.

Of interest is whether or not Cuomo or his aides illegally released a personnel file of Lindsey Boylan, a former aide who was the first to accuse the Democrat governor of sexual misconduct.

Boylan has claimed that Cuomo forcibly kissed her on the lips and suggested “let’s play strip poker.”

A total of 10 women have accused Cuomo of some form of sexual misconduct, the most serious of which involved an unnamed female aide who said the governor groped her at the Executive Mansion in November.

RELATED: Every Court Of Appeals Judge Who Would Vote In Cuomo Impeachment Trial Was Appointed By Him

Did Cuomo Commit A Crime By Retaliating Against Accuser?

Following Boylan’s bombshell accusations which kicked off several other reports, Cuomo’s office released some of her personnel files to the media.

The Washington Post reports:

After Lindsey Boylan, a former state employee, first alleged harassment by the governor on Twitter late last year, he talked with advisers about how to handle the allegations, which he has denied, according to people familiar with the conversations. The governor’s office ultimately released to reporters some of Boylan’s personnel records, which showed complaints against her as a state employee, according to people familiar with the decision.

The newspaper cites sources familiar with the line of questioning by investigators as saying they are probing “planned or actual retaliation against other women who came forward or were considering coming forward.”

The file was released following a meeting with advisers – a meeting that Cuomo denies having – on how to handle the allegations leveled against him.

It shows Boylan being labeled a bully and accusing her of speaking to co-workers as if they were children.

Boylan claims the release was part of a smear campaign to discredit her claims.

RELATED: Fox News Janice Dean Slams ‘Despicable’ Cuomo Over $10,000 Per Ticket Fundraiser This Month

Cuomo Denies Committing A Crime

In a statement to the Washington Post, Governor Cuomo’s acting counsel denies that releasing the personnel file of his accuser amounted to a crime.

“With certain limited exceptions … it is within a government entity’s discretion to share redacted employment records, including in instances when members of the media ask for such public information and when it is for the purpose of correcting inaccurate or misleading statements,” the attorney said.

CNN anchor Chris Cuomo has also been embroiled in controversy for having advised his brother on how to deal with the sexual harassment allegations, an egregious breach of journalistic standards even for that network.

Cuomo, as per multiple sources for the Post, “joined a series of conference calls that included the Democratic governor, his top aide, his communications team, lawyers and a number of outside advisers” on “how to respond to sexual harassment allegations.”

The Washington Post report links to a separate article regarding Chris Cuomo’s involvement in strategy calls but does not specifically reference him as part of the effort to release Boylan’s personnel file.

Governor Cuomo has thus far survived the many investigations and impeachment inquiries he is currently facing, though his political future remains in question.

The scandals embroiling him are wide-ranging and numerous, including:

  • Forcing nursing homes to take on COVID-positive patients.
  • Hiding the data on those deaths and stripping numbers from DOH reports.
  • Numerous sexual misconduct allegations including a police report involving forcibly groping an aide.
  • Bullying and threatening fellow lawmakers and members of the media.
  • Under investigation for a $5.1 million book deal profiting off the pandemic by having aides write and edit portions using state resources.
  • Provided priority COVID-19 testing for his family and associates, also allegedly using state resources.

Still, the Washington Post report states that some in his inner circle believe “the attorney general’s office will release a report that does not include criminal charges” with respect to the sexual harassment scandal.

They do, however, fear being portrayed as “an unprofessional office where women were judged on their looks and subordinates were subjected to demeaning comments.”

James has interviewed at least a dozen current and former staff members as part of the sexual harassment probe.

 

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Liz Cheney Auditions For Her Next Gig

Posted on by Christopher Barron

Many in the mainstream media believe that Rep. Liz Cheney’s problems began when she joined Democrats in voting to impeach President Donald J. Trump after January 6.

They paint Cheney as the victim, bravely speaking out about “the big lie” and say she is being targeted solely because of her opposition to Trump after January 6. This is, of course, a lie.

Back in July of last year, long before the election or the events of January 6, conservatives – myself included – were urging that Cheney be removed from House GOP leadership.

RELATED: Cheney Says She Will Keep Being Outspoken Against ‘Dangerous’ Trump ‘Cult Of Personality’

After Cheney backed a challenger to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), pushed a now debunked hoax about Trump having knowledge of Russian bounties being paid to the Taliban for killing Americans, and after Cheney joined with Democrats to attempt to stop President Trump from brining troops home from Afghanistan, I wrote:

Liz Cheney is not just another House member, however, she chose to run for leadership and currently serves as Conference Chair – the third-ranking Republican in House leadership. If she wants to serve in leadership, she has a responsibility to work on behalf of the majority of the Republican caucus.

That is a responsibility she has completed abdicated.

Cheney has never apologized for pushing the Russia bounties hoax nor has she ever apologized for supporting the challenger to Rep. Massie (though she did request he return her donation after it turned out he was a white supremacist!).

Cheney’s problems long pre-date January 6, and despite the unhappiness among the America First movement for Cheney’s role in leadership, she could have remained in leadership – if she had really wanted to.

RELATED: Trump And GOP Leadership Endorse Replacement For Liz Cheney

Alas, for the last few months Cheney has been focused on her next gig at the expense of her role as Conference Chair and Representative of the State of Wyoming.

Cheney initially survived a secret ballot vote over her role in House Republican leadership back in early February.

Despite the fact that she was one of only 10 House Republicans to join with Democrats in impeaching President Trump, her colleagues appeared willing to give her a pass and move on.

Cheney was having none of it. Because none of this has actually been about Cheney fighting for her leadership position. As Mollie Hemingway pointed out:

That anyone is talking about Cheney is proof of her failure. Her job is to raise $$ (she doesn’t), stay on message (HA!), and not undermine caucus (it’s all she does). If you’re pretending this is only about joining with media/Pelosi for impeachment, you’re not serious.

Cheney has continued to embarrass her colleagues and publicly divide the caucus – despite the fact that her job in leadership is literally to do the opposite – because the last few months have been a Cheney audition for her next gig (which has nothing to do with representing the people of Wyoming).

Taking a page from the Jeff Flake playbook, the last few months have been Cheney’s audition for a gig on CNN or MSNBC or one of the networks.

Cheney knows that the party of George W. Bush, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, and Dick Cheney is dead. She knows that she has no future in this party. She knows that at best she will be a marginalized voice in the modern Republican Party.

RELATED: Nancy Pelosi Gives ‘Lynne Cheney’ Praise For ‘Her Courage And Patriotism’

At worst, Cheney is facing a primary defeat at home in Wyoming and public humiliation.

Frankly, Cheney is barely even trying to hide her true motivations here. A conservative fighting for the future of the GOP would be making his or her case on Fox News or NewsMax or in the pages of the Washington Times or the Wall Street Journal.

Instead, Cheney has become a fixture on CNN and wrote her latest melodramatic screed in a place almost no Republican would see it – The Washington Post.

While Cheney talks about “history” and “our children” watching, the truth is that the only folks who are watching that Cheney cares about are executives in the legacy media.

 

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Trump Calls CNN Report About Denied Gaetz Meeting Fake News, Advises Them To Focus On Eric Swalwell

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Donald Trump fired back at CNN over a report claiming Congressman Matt Gaetz asked for and was denied a meeting with the former President as he is currently engrossed in sexual misconduct allegations.

CNN anonymously cited “two people familiar with the matter” in their report indicating “Gaetz tried to schedule a visit with Trump after it was first revealed that he was being investigated.”

Trump fired back, labeling CNN “fake news” while claiming the report was “false.”

“Fake News CNN, relying on all anonymous sources, meaning they probably made the whole thing up, wrote a very dishonest story claiming Congressman Matt Gaetz asked for a meeting with me at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida, and was denied,” he said in a statement.

“This is completely false.”

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Trump Advises CNN To Check Into Swalwell Instead Of Gaetz

The former President went on to suggest that CNN should consider covering the Eric Swalwell scandal involving his reported association with a Chinese spy.

A bombshell Axios report in December indicated that a woman by the name of Christine Fang (aka Fang Fang) “took part in fundraising activity for Rep. Swalwell’s 2014 re-election campaign” and interacted with the Congressman “at multiple events over the course of several years.”

Fang had allegedly served as a Chinese Intelligence operative with China’s Ministry of State Security.

“Why doesn’t CNN investigate and write about lightweight Democrat Congressman Eric Swalwell, who had a torrid and physical relationship with the Chinese spy Fang-Fang, but is somehow on the once-prestigious House Intelligence Committee,” Trump wondered.

Not only was he never asked to step down by his Democrat colleagues, but Swalwell was actually promoted as a House Impeachment Manager during the Senate trial against Trump.

According to Axios, Swalwell was notified by federal investigators about Fang in 2015, and has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

RELATED: Top Congressional Leader Calls For Eric Swalwell’s Removal From Congress After Report Links Him To Chinese Spy

Trump’s Fired Up

Trump couldn’t resist taking a jab at Swalwell by citing his “record-setting 0% in the polls” when he dropped out of the presidential race in 2020.

“[Swalwell] has been compromised and is a national security threat to the United States,” Trump added. “He should be removed from the Committee immediately!”

Gaetz also denied he requested a meeting with Trump.

He called the CNN report “a total lie” and added, “no such meeting was denied nor sought.”

Swalwell in March filed a lawsuit against Trump for his alleged role in the Capitol riot on January 6th.

The post Trump Calls CNN Report About Denied Gaetz Meeting Fake News, Advises Them To Focus On Eric Swalwell appeared first on The Political Insider.

Journalist: Covering Trump Was ‘Our Omaha Beach,’ Compares Experience To D-Day

Posted on by Becky Noble

In a new piece in The Atlantic, author and national correspondent for Yahoo! News Alexander Nazaryan compared the thrill of covering the Trump administration to the thrill “storming Omaha Beach must have been for a 20-year old fresh from the plains of Kansas.” 

In the piece, titled, “I Was an Enemy of the People,” Nazaryan recounts how he misses the action of covering Trump. 

He accuses of Trump Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany of lying “relentlessly for months on end.”

Ominously, he reminds readers that frequently had to figure out whether or not Trump was on the verge of starting a “nuclear war.” 

Overall, the intrepid journalists of America, in their brave coverage of Trump, were “merely going where he led. This was our Omaha Beach.”

The liberal media, in its Trump-era way of portraying itself as the victim, has taken that self-proclaimed victimhood to a new level.

RELATED: ‘Never-Trump’ Republicans Looking To Form Their Own Party

Trump Is History Repeating Itself

So covering Trump was a thrill.

Take a look at Nazaryan’s full accounting of his feelings on covering Trump:

Covering the administration was thrilling for many journalists, in the way that I imagine storming Omaha Beach must have been for a 20-year-old fresh from the plains of Kansas. He hadn’t signed up for battle, but there he was, liberating France. France, by the way, is where Trump called American soldiers who’d fallen in combat “suckers” and “losers.” When this magazine first reported those comments, Trump’s supporters denounced the Atlantic story as preposterous and offensive, even as outlet after outlet confirmed the reporting. They failed to realize that the preposterous and the offensive were the twin beacons of the Trump presidency.

Who is this story about? Trump, or the media?

I wonder how many Millennial journalists have asked their older colleagues about how “thrilling” it was for them to cover Ronald Reagan. People of an age remember how Reagan was treated by the media. 

The media’s relationship with Republicans is nothing new – and might go as far back as 1968 when a book entitled, “News Twisters” by Edith Ephron, talked about liberal media bias.

The media would have you believe that this Trump-era was all a first for them, and that is why they all have some sort of weird post-Trump PTSD going on.

Oh no, the media has dated outside its group before, there have been other Republican presidents. They were merely the warm-up act for what would be done to Donald Trump.

Every Republican in recent memory, Bush 41, Bush 43, even presidential candidates, John McCain, Mitt Romney, and especially Sarah Palin, all dealt with media bias.

The difference was, the media wasn’t usually playing an active role. Look at some of the commentary from Democrats about these past figures:

In 2012, then Vice-Presidential candidate Joe Biden told a crowd that consisted of a large number of African-Americans that the Republican ticket led by Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney would, “put you all back in chains.” 

In 2008, the late Congressman John Lewis accused Republican presidential candidate John McCain and running mate Sarah Palin of “playing with fire.” He went on to say that,”Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse.”

Billionaire Democrat contributor George Soros said of George W. Bush that, “(he displays the) supremacist ideology of Nazi Germany.”

Actor and Activist Harry Belafonte also called Bush a racist, and NAACP Chairman Julian Bond once said that, “The Republican party would have the American flag and the swastika flying side by side.”

The things that Democrats once said of Republicans, are now things the allegedly objective media now say of Trump.

That is a fundamental difference between how past presidents were covered, and how Trump was covered, in my view.

To even insinuate that covering politics is in any way comparable to storming the beach at Normandy tells you how comfortable the media had become in their role as Trump’s adversary.

Indeed, Nazaryan says, “Without quite meaning to, Trump reminded journalists that their relationship to power should be adversarial.”

They needed to be reminded? After eight years of kid gloves with “no scandals” Obama?

The media set its sights on Donald Trump from the time he hit the escalator in Trump Tower in 2015, and then promptly moved on to those that worked for him, specifically former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany. 

As a Journalism student, this writer is learning all the mechanics like the “inverted pyramid” process, but I am also learning about sources, checking and rechecking those sources, not making up “facts” of the story, or not making oneself the story.

I am learning that truth and integrity still matter. 

The problem is, I’m not seeing that out of those who are already in the profession.

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Everything That Is Wrong With The Media

Message to the media: the problem is, there is simply not enough room here to tell you all the ways your hubris and arrogance is on full display and is doing none of you any favors.

Can we all agree as adults that no one in American history is comparable to the Nazis, for God’s sake?

Can we at least pretend the talking points don’t go out first thing in the morning?

The media says that, “by far the most difficult challenge was reporting that Trump had gotten something right.” Can they point out for us uneducated boobs in flyover country when exactly that was?

How much coverage was given to all the peace deals made in the Middle East? 

Will Biden get any harsh scrutiny? Any scrutiny? Or will the media spend the next four years asking what his favorite flavor of milkshake is?

MSNBC’S Kasie Hunt gushed about how, “I’m just struck by the reality that we’ll now have a president who, as a rule, doesn’t lie, even when it might be easier.”

That kind of gives up the game, doesn’t it?

Alas, Mr. Nazaryan is absolutely right about one thing: journalists’ relationship to power should be adversarial.

But that only goes one way for the media. 

From my perspective, the reason for all this is clear.

Trump finally fought back.

They hate Donald Trump because he exposed the fact that the media lies on a consistent basis, and has decided that they are the arbiters of what the American people can and cannot know. 

Having the audacity to fight back is, in the final analysis, the ultimate crime.

The post Journalist: Covering Trump Was ‘Our Omaha Beach,’ Compares Experience To D-Day appeared first on The Political Insider.