CNN’s Jake Tapper was hit by a wave of criticism on social media Sunday after he accused President Donald Trump of “launching an unprecedented smear campaign against any rival,” with many accusing him and CNN of hypocrisy.
Tapper, commenting on former President Barack Obama’s recent criticism of Trump’s leadership during the coronavirus pandemic, added during a monologue on his show:
The criticism from Obama comes at a time when President Trump and his team are launching an unprecedented smear campaign against any rival. Leveling wild and false allegations against critics in the media and political rivals that range from bizarre false conspiracy theories to spreading false allegations of pedophilia to even suggesting one TV anchor committed murder. These smear campaigns are unmoored from reality. They’re deranged and indecent and seem designed to distract from us from this horrific health and economic crisis.
Tapper made similar comments on Twitter:
Tapper did not mention specific examples, though the “murder” claim appears to refer to an intern who died in MSNBC host Joe Scarborough’s office when he was a congressman. The death was ruled accidental, caused by a heart condition that had previously been undiagnosed. Trump has ribbed Scarborough over the incident, referring to it as a “cold case.”
But critics were not having it, noting that Tapper and CNN had relentlessly pushed a variety of smears against Trump and his administration, including the false claim of Russia “collusion”; the uncorroborated claims of sexual assault against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and many more besides — without ever offering any sort of apology.
Last week, CNN’s media reporter, Brian Stelter, complained that conservative media were emphasizing the Michael Flynn story — in his view, at the expense of coronavirus coverage. Stelter showed no concern for the role CNN and other networks played in hyping Flynn’s supposed role in a Russia “collusion” conspiracy that never actually existed.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, is available for pre-order. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.