Trump dropped the hammer on CNN and hapless boss Jeff Zucker after leaked audiotapes surfaced showing bias at the network.
Project Veritas James O’Keefe made the tapes and they are bad. Zucker can be heard saying:
“Frankly, if we’ve made any mistake, it’s been that our banners have been too polite, and we need to go well after Lindsey Graham.”
“You know, this is what we’ve come to expect for the last three and a half years, four years, but it clearly is exacerbated by the time that we’re in and the issues that he’s [Trump] dealing with. I think that we cannot just let it be normalized. He is all over the place and acting erratically, and I think we need to lean into that.”
Trump accused CNN of engaging in, “Suppression Media.”
From The Daily Mail:
O’Keefe, 36, on Tuesday announced he was releasing audio recordings of several network meetings which he claims will ‘expose’ Zucker and other CNN executives expressing their ‘political biases’.
The calls O’Keefe had been listening to over two months are the network’s daily 9am editorial meeting with senior staff from CNN’s main bureaus, which is run by Zucker…
…O’Keefe teased the exposé on Twitter by sharing a livestreamed video of the moment he ambushed Zucker during a phone call telling him he was planning to make the footage of his rundowns public.
‘Mr Zucker, are you there? Hey, this is James O’Keefe. We’ve been listening to your CNN calls for basically two months, and recording everything. I just wanted to ask you some questions if you have a minute,’ he began.
‘Do you still feel you’re the most trusted name in news, because I have to say from what I’ve been hearing on these phone calls, I don’t know about that; we have a lot of recordings that indicate you’re not really that independent as a journalist.’
After a few seconds of silence, Zucker replies: ‘Uh..thank you for your comments’, before quickly scrambling to cut the discussion short.
‘So everybody, I think in light of that we’ll set up a new system and we’ll be back with you. We’ll do the rest of the call later,’ he said.
The video quickly drew thousands of responses including one from CNN’s Communication division which accused O’Keefe of breaking the law.
‘Legal experts say this may be a felony. We’ve referred it to law enforcement,’ the network said.
O’Keefe however shrugged off the threat in a tweet mocking the network saying: ‘Our legal experts say Jeff Zucker is just mad and embarrassed. Stay tuned!’
Suppression Media! https://t.co/zYlVKeb7oK
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 2, 2020
