Charlotte, N.C. — Last Wednesday, CBS Senior Investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge was called a “right-wing hack” in a tweet that was later deleted by Andrew Bates, the Biden campaign’s director of rapid response. Bates criticized Herridge for her publishing declassified records showing who inquired about unmasking the identity of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. He was responding to the following tweet by Herridge:
SCOOP @CBSNews obtains @RichardGrenell notification to congress declassified “unmasking list” Flynn between late 2016 and January 2017 – Read 3 pages provided by NSA here pic.twitter.com/NozVpQlRn2
— Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) May 13, 2020
The North Carolinian and NC State graduate Bates tweet read as follows: “SCOOP: Catherine Herridge is a partisan, rightwing hack who is a regular conduit for conservative media manipulation ploys because she agrees to publicize things before contacting the target to ask for comment,”
Earlier this month the presumptive Democratic nominee said,
“attacking the press and attempting to intimidate independent media is a standard part of the authoritarian playbook. Efforts to undermine public confidence in the integrity of fact-based reporting violate our core American values and threaten our very system of government. Journalists hold those in positions of authority accountable, investigate and document abuses of power, and expose the truth for everyone to see. In a Biden White House, there will be no bullying of the media by tweet, that is why attacking the press and attempting to intimidate independent media is a standard part of the authoritarian playbook.”
A free press is essential to a free society. That's why attacking the press and attempting to intimidate independent media is a standard part of the authoritarian playbook around the world. And it’s why Donald Trump’s efforts to demonize the media put us on such a dangerous path.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 3, 2020
However, Biden has remained silent when his campaign attacks a journalist.
Some members of the media defended Herridge. Even CNN anchor Jake Tapper, who continually has a look of constipation across his face, tweeted his support:
Gross. Personal attacks on journalists for sharing facts is obnoxious and indecent. @JoeBiden approves this message? https://t.co/G6jVxWuxMF
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 13, 2020
During an ABC News interview with George Stephanopoulos, Biden said he knew about the investigation of Flynn, but nothing else.
“I know nothing about those moves to investigate Michael Flynn,” Biden said, calling the topic a “diversion” from the nationwide pandemic.“ I was aware that there was—that they asked for an investigation, but that’s all I know about it, and I don’t think anything else.”
Catherine Herridge simply reported fact, but because the facts were inconvenient for the Biden campaign; therefore, Bates found it important to attack her and any reporter who dared even think about doing their jobs as being objective journalists. It’s a sad reflection on the journalism field that Herridge is reporting on a story that is getting an underwhelming amount of coverage in the mainstream news outlets.
According to Grabien founder Tom Elliott, CNN and MSNBC made zero mention of the FISA unmasking story on May 13. Meanwhile, Fox News Channel mentioned it 90 times.
Combined CNN & MSNBC mentions of today’s FISA unmasking story: 0 pic.twitter.com/SnPoAMlfwe
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) May 13, 2020
Bates’ tweet exemplifies the hypocrisy within the Biden campaign. On May 3, Biden tweeted that free press is essential to a free society and called out Trump for attacking and demonizing the media.
This response from the Biden campaign is richer than rich. The Left has turned to vilify the President over his supposed horrible treatment of the press into an Olympic sport. Catherine Herridge did her job and did it without passion or prejudice. Sadly, this seems like a breath of fresh air, given the hostility and contempt the media has had against the Trump administration.
Furthermore, we have heard the likes of CNN and others complaining the Trump campaign constantly disparages the press, and his comments are “an assault on our free press and our free press institutions,” they exclaimed! It’s pretty astonishing that the Obama “tribe” is upset with the media.
The Biden campaign, and by extension those affiliated with the Obama administration, absolutely do NOT get to be upset with the media. They were the ones who leaked this information to the press in the first place!
What is clear, is the Obama administration egregiously politicized the intelligence community and leaked everything they could about the Trump administration out to the public.
A stunning number of 39 separate Obama administration officials snooped on the incoming National Security Advisor Flynn’s conversations with his counterpart in Russia. It seems that everyone but the night janitor wanted to know who Flynn was talking to. Over 50 unmasking demands were made between November 30, 2016, and January 12, 2017.
Most damning was that Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates first learned about the wiretapping personally from Obama in the Oval Office. A revelation that has been reported as stunning Yates when she came to learn this information. That’s how unprecedented this is for a President to be involved.
The same institutions that are tasked with protecting and guarding you, me, Michael Flynn, and others ruined this entire situation royally! Flynn is a Lieutenant General and a decorated war veteran. Think about the rest of Americans. Insert what you do for a living and your name into that sentence, and it will send chills up your spine.
The American people deserve better. Michael Flynn and the Trump administration certainly deserved better.
The Biden campaign and the members of the Obama administration are about to see, should the media do their jobs well, how Republicans are treated in the press. If this tweet from Catherine Herridge trigged a staffer, just imagine what they’ll say as more information comes out regarding this entire situation.
Enemy of the American people? If Andrew Bates’ reaction is any indication, this will be the nicest thing Biden, and his surrogates will say about the media they’ve come to expect in their sycophantic coverage.
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