GOP Rep. Zeldin: CNN, Others Made Money Off ‘Dumbing Down Their Audience’ During Russia Investigation

In a Monday interview on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) took issue with media companies benefitting from spreading falsehoods during the Russia investigation.

Zeldin said CNN and others have “made money” off of “dumbing down their audience,” noting some claimed on television former FBI agent Peter Strzok had nothing to do with the Russia investigation and the investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

“Listen, Devin Nunes has been a warrior through this. He has been roasted for years, he had to recuse himself from this investigation even though he had more facts and he was ready to tell the American public the truth. He was getting run out of town primarily because of that,” Zeldin stated. “The Houston Astros have … been roasted for that whole sign-stealing scandal. And if you want to draw analogies as to what consequences are right with other aspects of our life in the way our world works, what should happen here is that Pulitzer Prizes should be revoked. People have made millions off of this. They have a name because of this. Now, it’s really important for Durham with his investigation for him to actually be delivering accountability and transparency. People don’t want to just get their hopes up, to have their expectations rise, and then it be deflated with no one being held accountable for what happened.”

“We want answers as to who knew what, but we also want to see there be accountability for this, for … the FISA warrants, and for what happened with Michael Flynn,” he added. “And I remember two years ago, I was on Erin Burnett’s show on CNN, and she was giving me a hard time claiming that Peter Strzok had nothing to do at all with the Russia investigation and the Michael Flynn investigation. I mean, she was trying to lecture me on it. This is a time for us to be correcting the record, not just with Fox doing your job as you do, and you have done this entire time, but especially these other networks that made money off of this dumbing down their audience.”

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