Struggling, CNN spent all of primetime ignoring the John Durham investigation that tore up the FBI for launching an unfounded investigation into claims of Donald Trump’s collusion with Russia.
The network’s two most prominent nighttime shows — Primetime and Anderson Cooper 360 — each made no mention of the special counsel’s investigation after two hours of programming.
CNN was one of the liberal media outlets obsessed with allegations of Trump-Russia conspiracy when they first surfaced, with the since-fired former host Don Lemon claiming that the infamous Steele Dossier had been partially corroborated.
Cooper ran his show tonight discussing the war in Ukraine.
He also talked about Alzheimer’s disease and an intruder breaking into the home of National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in Washington DC.
Later, Primetime host Sara Snider discussed that President Biden had cut short an overseas trip and interviewed former Trump adviser Steve Cortes.
Struggling CNN spent all of primetime ignoring John Durham’s investigation that ripped up heavily covered and unsubstantiated claims of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election
The network’s two most prominent nightly shows – Primetime and Anderson Cooper 360 – each made no mention of the special counsel’s investigation after two hours of programming.
Trump’s behavior on January 6 was discussed in passing — but no mention was made of Monday’s report criticizing the FBI for launching an investigation into the 45th president’s relationship with Russia under the flimsiest of pretexts. No evidence of conspiracy has ever been found.
It comes just after CNN’s primetime lineup was beaten Friday by Newsmax, according to The everyday beast.
The network averaged 335,000 viewers on Friday night — two days after clinching a victory over Trump’s City Hall telecast — in prime time, between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m., Newsmax, in the same timeslot, drew 357,000 viewers.
Monday’s News still saw the network at a very low 485,000, even though they at least beat Newsmax’s 420,000 in primetime.
CNN’s declines come despite the fact that Fox News dropped to second place and bled viewers after Tucker Carlson’s firing. MSNBC defeated right wing Fox in primetime Monday night.
The investigation brings fresh embarrassment to The Gray Lady and Washington Post, both of which won Pulitzers for their coverage of the saga.
And left-wing networks and newspapers that read the fabricated stories linking Trump to the Kremlin and the bawdy Steele dossier are now facing renewed anger.
Durham points to a December 2017 Times report, which alleged that George Papadopoulos, a young foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump, made “a surprising revelation” to Australia’s top diplomat in Britain in May 2016.
Namely, “Russia had political dirt on Hillary Clinton” and “Moscow had thousands of emails that would embarrass Mrs. Clinton.”
The network, which saw big but still lower-than-expected ratings for its controversial town hall featuring former President Donald Trump, was beaten by Fox News, MSNBC, and even Newsmax in the ratings two days later.
Staff from The New York Times and The Washington Post (from left: Maggie Haberman, Jo Becker, Matt Apuzzo, Rosalind Helderman, Tom Hamburger, Ellen Nakashima, Adam Entous, Greg Miller, and Mark Mazzetti) accept the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting from Lee Bollinger, President of Columbia University
Former NYT editor-in-chief Dean Baquet was criticized in a scathing review of the newspaper’s coverage of the Trump-Russia saga by the Columbia Journalism Review
A report from Special Counsel John Durham discredits a British ex-spy’s file that was gobbled up by the media, including The NYT and Washington Post
Yet the Australian diplomat in question – Alexander Downer – told the Durham Inquiry that “Papadopoulos made no mention of Clinton emails, dirt or any specific approach by the Russian government to the Trump campaign.”
In fact, Durham found that the Papadopoulos information was so unsurprising that officers immediately dismissed it.
But the NYT report was critical in triggering the FBI’s investigation into Donald Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia, which the Durham report has now determined should never have been launched.
It has sparked calls for the Pulitzers to be returned, after the board that awarded the awards rejected calls last year for them to be withdrawn.
Ted Cruz, Trump’s former rival, tweeted Monday: “Accountability now — starting with WaPo and The New York Times returning their Pulitzer Prizes for breathlessly spreading these ‘Russia, Russia, Russia’ lies.”
The Durham inquiry follows a slanderous report from the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR), which targeted The Times for its coverage of the Trump-Russia saga.
The CJR, the in-house publication of America’s most prestigious journalism school, has spent 18 months sifting through media coverage of Trump’s alleged ties to Russia.
The report contained criticism of the media as a whole, but author Jeff Gerth especially reserved contempt for The Times.
The investigative journalist introduced his findings by stating that he believed the newspaper had damaged its credibility outside its “own bubble.”
Noted journalist Bob Woodward told him that the coverage of the Russian investigation was “not handled well.”