Topic: CNSNews.com
As Donald Trump moved toward arrignment last month, CNSNews.com continued to do what it did when indictment talk started swirling around him: Defend the guy and attack the prosecutor, district attorney Alvin Bragg.
The day before the arraignment, an article by Craig Bannister complained that Bragg "is known for being soft on crime – but, not in the case of a 61 year-old bodega worker who fatally stabbed an attacker last July." He went on to misleadingly claim that "Alvin Bragg’s DA campaign received a $1,000,000 donation from far-left billionaire philanthropist and activist George Soros through a political action committee called 'Color of Change.'" As we've documented, Soros didn't make a direct donation to Bragg -- he donated to Color of Change, which had pledged to support Bragg. An article by Susan Jones complained that a CNN anchor asked a Trump lawyer "the questions that will have some Trump-haters salivating," such as if there would be a "perp walk" for Trump. (Jones is clearly a Trump-lover.)
The morning of the arraignment on April 4, Jones served up some pre-emptive defenses:
- Former Trump Attorney: 'There Are 3 Motions They Should File Immediately After the Arraignment'
- Trump Attorney: Gag Order 'Would Really Set Ablaze the Passions and the Tempers' Already 'Inflamed' (Jones didn't note that most of those tempers were "inflamed" by Trump himself)
Coverage of the arrignment itself was left to Bannister, who chose to give more attention to a separate legal judgment against Stormy Daniels, a hush-money payment to whom is the focus of the criminal charges against Trump:
On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump was arraigned in one court on charges related to payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels – which prompted Daniels to post a vulgar tweet – while another court ordered Daniels to pay Trump more than a hundred thousand dollars.
Trump attorney Harmeet Dhillon tweeted news of the award to Trump, noting it is based on Daniels’ previous “meritless litigation” against Trump:
For her part, the porn actress responded to the news of Trump’s arraignment by posting a vulgar tweet, saying she’d rather have sex than be arrested.
“Stormy Daniels gloats over Trump arraignment with X-rated tweet,” Fox News headlined one article, which notes that Trump pled not guilty to all charges of 34 felony counts stemming from an investigation into alleged hush money payments to former Playboy model Stormy Daniels.
By contrast, Jones devoted an article to Trump's post-indictment whine-fest, complaining that non-right-wing networks didn't air it in its entirety:
Despite presenting herself as a journalist, Jones made no effort to fact-check anything Trump said, preferring to serve as his stenographer instead.Cheers and chants of "USA! USA!" greeted former President Donald Trump as he spoke to friends, family and all Americans who tuned in last night to hear his reaction to a legal case that even his detractors describe as flimsy.
In what was essentially a campaign rally, the declared presidential candidate discussed the many ways Democrats have tried to undermine him with their "fraudulent investigations"; he called out his political enemies by name, including his latest nemesis, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg; he derided other, ongoing investigations into his activities; and he warned that "our country is going to hell" under President Joe Biden.
Notably, CNN cut away from the speech about 23 minutes into it as Trump described "where we are as a nation."
MSNBC refused to air the Trump speech, because, as Rachel Maddow put it, it was "basically a campaign speech in which he is repeating his same lies and allegations against his perceived enemies."
The Trump defenses continued in the following days:
- Levin Calls on GOP DAs, AGs to Treat Tyrannical Dems the Way They Would Any Bully: ‘Serve Them What They Serve You’
- Trump Impeachment Attorney: 'I Cannot Believe That This District Attorney Did This to the Country'
- Mark Levin: 'This is Tyranny'; 'The Democrat Party [sic] Is Trying to Destroy the Republican Party'
- Conservatives on Trump Indictment: ‘A Rigged Prosecution to Rig an Election’
- Rep. Jordan: ‘Why Won’t They Just Let We The People Decide Who We Want Representing and In Office?’ (Jordan didn't explain why he wants to be represented by a criminal)
- Just 14% of U.S. Adults Say Politics Did Not Play a Part in Trump’s Indictment
- Trump Jumps Ahead of Biden by 7 Points in Latest Rasmussen Poll as Non-Black Minorities, Whites Abandon Biden
- Comer Hopes Media 'Is As Serious' About Biden Business Records As They Are About 'Political Stunt' Involving Trump
- Trump Attorney James Trusty: I Spent 17 Years at This DOJ - ‘I Don’t Recognize It Anymore’
Jones did write an article that purported to attempt balance -- Two Views – Bolton: Don't Delay Trial, It Benefits Trump; Barr: The Case Seems to Lack 'Any Legal Basis' -- instead, she devoted only four paragraphs to the views of John Bolton (whom she called a "bitter Trump foe") but lavished 15 paragraphs on the pro-Trump views of William Barr, whom she identified only as his title as former attorney general.
An anonymously written article complained that Bragg's office website states that "Our office is a safe place for undocumented immigrants to report crime." The anonymous writer didn't explain why this statement was so offensive. More attacks followed:
- DA Bragg’s ‘TGNCNB Working Group:’ ‘Gender-Segregated Bathrooms Can Represent an Obstacle’
- Rep. Jordan Accuses Alvin Bragg of 'Obstructing Our Investigation' After Bragg Sues Jordan for Interfering in Trump Investigation
- Rep. Jim Jordan on Manhattan D.A.’s Lawsuit: ‘First, They Indict a President for No Crime. Then, They Sue to Block Congressional Oversight’
- Sen. Kennedy: DA Bragg ‘Doesn't Want to be Naked and Alone…in Front of a Congressional Committee’
- FEC Commissioner: DA Alvin Bragg ‘Trying to Make a Square Peg Fit into a Round Hole’ with Trump Indictment
Meanwhile, CNS editor Terry Jeffrey wrote an April 5 column that appeared to be an exercise in whataboutism by rehashing the impeachment of President Clinton and complaining he wasn't hauled into court for perjury for "intentionally false" testimony regarding his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
