A CNN reporter was no match for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy when asking the GOP leader about former President Donald Trump being indicted for his handling of classified documents.
The California Republican was pushing “the ideal of equal justice” when he asked, “You’re with CNN, right?”
It was at that point that he tried to steer the narrative back to the network for hiring former deputy director of the FBI Andrew McCabe, whom he labeled as someone who “weaponizes government,” and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who signed the infamous intel letter falsely claiming Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation.
McCarthy just LIT UP this CNN reporter about them hiring McCabe and Clapper after they leaked classified information and interfered in 2020 pic.twitter.com/JyZg171M0z
— Jack Poso (@JackPosobiec) June 12, 2023
“This is a different case, this is a different set of circumstances, right? I mean the former president is accused of misleading law enforcement, a conspiracy of obstructing justice, that’s a different set of facts,” the reporter pushed back. “Are you prepared to defend him as the former president, and what other actions will the House take? Like the House Judiciary Committee, in terms of funding.”
Not taking the bait, McCarthy pushed on.
“Are you prepared to defend your network, CNN… You can’t put words in my mouth, even though your network can hire Andrew McCabe, who was fired from the FBI for leaking classified documents,” the speaker said. “Did you remove him from your network? No, you continued to put him on to give judgment against President Trump. You also hired Clapper. Clapper has cone out publicly –”
“What steps is the House going to take?” the reporter interjected. “In terms of, is there any effort to defund the FBI? Any effort to defund the Department of Justice after what you’ve seen over the past few days?”
Not missing a beat, McCarthy pressed on, “So, your network hires Clapper, who literally lied to the American public, one of 51 other individuals who had briefings and used it politically to tell the American public that a laptop was Russia collusion, even though it had all this information about the Biden administration, are you prepared to get rid of those people from your network?”
“My concern as a policymaker is when you weaponize government, and now you’re weaponizing networks, that is wrong,” he preached. “We will take all our power to make sure that the legal system in America gets the blinders back on, and people are treated fairly. I have a real problem that your network actually pays people who give classified information and then lie to the American public to try to influence a presidential election, and then you put them on your network to give an opinion about a president… what your network has done has weaponized the same time.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.