Topic: CNSNews.com
The testimony of FBI agent Peter Strzok was never going to get fair treatment from the pro-Trump stenographers at CNSNews.com. But what started out as a relatively straightforward accounting oi his House committee testimony ended obsessing about his sex life.
CNS' coverage began with an article by Susan Jones that, shockingly, uncritically presented Strzok's defense of his professional actions regardinghis work in the Robert Mueller special counsel investigation of Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election.This was followed by Melanie Arter taking the lazy way out and simply copying-and-pasting an exchange between Strzok and Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy.
Then it was time for CNS to denigrate Strzok by portraying him as defensive and a weasel about facts.Jones complained in one article that Strzok faced "friendly questioning from a fellow anti-Trumper" under the headline "Strzok: 'I've Done Nothing Wrong. Uh, Let Me Rephrase That'." Another Jones article featured questioning from a committee Republican, but she did not identify him as a "pro-Trumper" offering "hostile questioning" (y'know, just to be fair and balanced). By contrast, Jones cherry-picked a Democratic committee member in order to write dismissively about her statement that Republicans should thank Strzok for not speaking out about pro-Trump Russian influence in the campaign (since FBI agents are not allow to speak publicly about ongoing investigations) because that silence helped Trump get elected.
From there, it was a quick move to the sex obsession. One article carried the headline "Strzok Says FBI Agents Are Permitted to Engage in Some Adulteries" -- pointing out and the other screams "Adulterer Strzok Swears Under Oath He Oversaw ‘Every Espionage Case in the FBI’" -- both of which stated that Strzok "engaged in an adulterous affair with FBI lawyer Lisa Page"; the latter also references "this adulterous inside-the-FBI couple."
Tellingly, both of these articles are credited only to "CNSNews.com staff" -- which tells us that no CNS employee wanted their name to be put on its boss' obsession with Strzok's sex life.
Funny, we don't recall CNS ever referring to thrice-married adulterer Donald Trump as such in the headline of any article.
UPDATE: This isn't the first time CNS has fixated on Strzok's love life. A June 28 article -- also by "CNSNews.com Staff" -- highlighted FBI director Christopher Wray being asked whether "engaging in adultery was a “significant vulnerability” for an FBI counterintelligence agent, making sure to note that Strzok was having an "extramarital affair" with Page.
