This week CNN’s Jim Acosta hit out at Fox News for a bungled report about a book written by Kamala Harris being handed out to the children in cages at the border.
“That tale from the border didn’t just border on BS, this was USDA Grade-A bullsht. And the (NY Post) reporter who wrote the story resigned, claiming she was forced to make it up. But the damage was done, pumped out over the airwaves at the bullsht factory also known as Fox News,” Acosta said.
No doubt anyone can agree that fake news is a problem and media outlets can be too eager to get a story out there without waiting for confirmation first. However, Jim always fails to hold himself or the network he works for accountable for the fake news they have pumped out there.
On top of that CNN claims they do not lie. That itself is a lie.
So in light of that, here’s 20 times CNN got it wrong.
1. Scaramucci Screw Up
CNN retracted a story in June of 2017 claiming that former Trump adviser Anthony Scaramucci was under investigation by Congress for his alleged ties to Russia.
The story relied on one anonymous congressional source and CNN apologized to Scaramucci for the error. Three CNN reporters ended up resigning from the company over the botched report.
2. Trump Jr. WikiLeaks Collusion Conspiracy
CNN reported in December of 2017 that Donald Trump Jr. received special access to documents stolen by WikiLeaks on Sept. 4, 2016. However, Donald Trump Jr. actually was emailed about the documents on Sept. 14, 2016 — a day after they were already available to the general public.
CNN updated the report but still has not explained how two sources managed to give them the wrong date on the email.
3. 17 Intel Agencies Lie
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said during a congressional hearing in May that three intelligence agencies — the CIA, NSA and the FBI — concluded that Russia interfered with the 2016 election.
Nonetheless, CNN has repeatedly claimed that all 17 intelligence agencies came to the same conclusion about Russian meddling. CNN’s claim is pure nonsense, as the Department of Energy, Department of the Treasury, and Drug Enforcement Agency, among others, would have no authority to make any assertions about Russian meddling in elections.
4. Comey Testimony Confirmed Trump Was Right
On June 6, 2017, CNN reported that former FBI director James Comey would contradict President Donald Trump’s claim that he was not under investigation.
When the time came for Comey to release his opening statement for his congressional testimony, he actually ended up confirming Trump’s account.
“This article was published before Comey released his prepared opening statement. The article and headline have been corrected to reflect that Comey does not directly dispute that Trump was told multiple times he was not under investigation in his prepared testimony released after this story was published,” CNN corrected.
5. Fish-Gate
When President Trump met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last November, the pair took part in a koi fish feeding ceremony. A video posted by CNN appeared to show Trump dumping his entire box of food into the koi pond unprompted. the video was edited by CNN.
An unedited video revealed that President Trump was in-fact following the lead of Abe, who emptied his box of food first.
6. Pre-Existing Conditions Lie
In May 2017 when Republicans were authoring a new health care bill, CNN made the claim that GOP changes to Obamacare could make rape and sexual assault pre-existing conditions.
PolitiFact jumped on that and rated that claim “mostly false,” explaining that “the bill does not change what is or is not a pre-existing condition; the health insurance companies write those definitions for themselves.”
7. Cuomo’s Fear Tactic
CNN anchor Chris Cuomo inexplicably said in October of 2016 that possessing WikiLeaks stolen documents is “illegal,” but insisted it’s “different for the media.”
“Also interesting is, remember, it’s illegal to possess these stolen documents. It’s different for the media. So everything you learn about this, you’re learning from us,” Cuomo said. Clearly said in an attempt to stop people from reading the entire documents for themselves.
According to The Washington Post, it is not illegal to possess or distribute illegally obtained material so long as you were not involved in the original hack.
8. Wrongfully Dismissing Wiretapping Claims
CNN originally denounced Trump’s claim in March of 2017 that former President Barack Obama was wiretapping phones in Trump Tower as a “flat-out lie.”
Then, in September of 2017, CNN reported that the FBI did in fact have a wiretap on former campaign chairman Paul Manafort — who resides in Trump Tower.
While it is unclear if the FBI tapped Manafort’s phones in Trump Tower or picked up his conversations with the president, it’s plausible enough that CNN should not be dismissing Trump’s claims out of hand.
9. Not Paying Attention Or Flat Out Lying?
CNN reporter Jeff Zeleny tweeted out on July 31, 2018, that President Donald Trump had not taken questions from reporters in at least a week.
That was utter gobshite as just one day before Zeleny’s tweet, President Trump answered questions during a joint news conference with the Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.
10. The Dossier and The Republicans
The ridiculous over the top and unverified Steele dossier was paid for by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Clinton campaign, but despite that CNN tried pinning the document on the GOP.
Former Obama official and current CNN reporter Jim Sciutto was just one of many network talking-heads who claimed the dossier was “initially paid for by Republicans.”
While Republicans bought standard opposition research from Fusion GPS, they stopped paying the firm well before it ever contracted with Christopher Steele to compile the anti-Trump dossier.
11. If You Build It, They Will Lie
CNN claimed that only Democratic members of Congress gathered to pray before the 2017 Congressional Baseball Game — the first game after House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was shot and nearly killed.
Pictures of the prayer circle clearly show both Democrats and Republicans praying together, and CNN eventually deleted their tweet with the false claim.
12. Incoming Cruz Missile
After the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, CNN reporter Brian Stelter accused Republican congressmen of being “scared” to go on the network and debate gun control. Anchor Chris Cuomo went for Texas Senator Ted Cruz taunting him to rise to the challenge.
As it turns out, Sen. Cruz had done a 15-minute interview with CNN earlier on that day. He slammed the network for airing “NONE” of his interview and noted that he had previously done three town hall debates on CNN with Senator Bernie Sanders.
13. Stelter’s Screw Up
CNN’s Brian Stelter accused the Republican National Committee (RNC) of “misquoting” him in an ad attacking the credibility of Michael Wolff’s book “Fire and Fury.”
“Real factual errors … makes you wonder about the overall content,” Stelter was quoted.
Stelter did utter those words during a CNN International television hit and quickly deleted his accusatory tweet.
“I stand corrected: I thought this RNC ad misquoted me, but the quote came from a @CNNI TV hit,” Stelter admitted.
14. Spinning A Joke
Nancy Sinatra made a quick joke about her late father’s song, “My Way,” being used at Trump’s Inauguration in January 2017. She tweeted in response to the news to “just remember the first line of the song” — which is, “And now, the end is near.”
CNN spun Sinatra’s tweet into an article claiming she was “not happy” about Trump using her father’s song at the Inauguration.
“That’s not true. I never said that. Why do you lie, CNN?” Sinatra asserted. “What a rotten spin to put on a harmless joke.”
15. School Shooting Spin
After the horrible May shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas, CNN reporters immediately began reporting that there were 22 school shootings in the year.
However, CNN massively exaggerated the number of school shootings by using methodology that includes accidental firearm discharges on school property, domestic disputes, and other non-active shooter events.
For example, one listed shooting at Savannah State University in Georgia involved just two people, neither of whom were students.
16. Melania
A few CNN reporters speculated about the whereabouts of Melania Trump after a scheduled kidney surgery and then denied responsibility for any conspiracy theories about the first lady.
Brian Stelter kicked-off his “Reliable Sources” newsletter on June 3rd with the sensational headline “Melania M.I.A,” and insisted the first lady’s whereabouts was a “mystery” because she had not been seen in public since May 10.
While Stelter blamed random internet commenters for specific conspiracy theories about plastic surgery or a move back to NYC, CNN repeated such theories in an article and even asked Melania’s spokesperson to comment on them.
17. Fake News Study
CNN cited a study from the Oxford Internet Institute to claim that fake news targeted swing states during the 2016 presidential election.
However, as The Daily Caller first reported, the study says nothing of the sort.
The researchers in the study were talking about “junk news,” not “fake news” — and their definition of junk news includes mainstream conservative sites like The Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. A deep dive into the study thus reveals that Twitter users didn’t receive nearly as much “fake news” as CNN initially claimed to readers.
18. Trump And Japanese Cars
CNN Money’s Daniel Shane accused President Donald Trump of not knowing that Japan makes cars in the United States, writing, “Trump asks Japan to build cars in the U.S. It already does.”
During President Trump’s November visit to Japan, he told Japan Inc, “Try building your cars in the United States instead of shipping them over. Is that possible to ask?”
However, when reading his full remarks — which Shane conveniently left out — it’s clear that President Trump was making a joke and knows that Japanese manufacturers make cars in the United States.
Daniel Shane eventually issued a correction on his article.
19. Hands Up Don’t Shoot
A CNN panel consisting of Margaret Hoover, Sally Kohn, Sunny Hostin and Mel Robbins displayed the “hands up, don’t shoot” gesture in 2014 while talking about marches against police violence.
The gesture seemed was a reference to the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
While initial reports speculated that Brown had his hands up when he was shot by the police officer, the DOJ concluded their report in 2015 that physical and forensic evidence showed Brown’s hands could not have been above his waist.
20. Calling For Peave Lie
CNN deceptively edited a video of Sherelle Smith and Kimberly Neal, the two sisters of an unarmed black man who was shot by police. CNN claimed Smith and Neal were “calling for peace” amidst riots in their neighborhood.
“Don’t bring that violence here,’ [Kimberly] Neal, his other sister, said while sobbing,” CNN’s report said.
However, in the full video, Sherelle says, “Y’all burning down s—t we need in our community. Take that s—t to the suburbs. Burn that s—t down. We need our s—t. We need our weaves. I don’t wear it. But we need it.”
CNN removed the portion of their report about Sherelle and admitted their error.
“An earlier version of this story mischaracterized what the victim’s sister was trying to convey. She was calling for peace in her community, urging the protesters to go elsewhere,” CNN told The Washington Examiner.
