Like ABC and NBC, CBS’s Friday evening and Saturday morning newscasts ignored the arrest of multiple juveniles in Washington, D.C. for the murder of congressional intern Eric Tarpinian-Jachym. Unlike ABC and NBC, CBS Saturday Morning’s omission bias was made worse by the fact that Justice Correspondent Scott MacFarlane chose to hype a magistrate judge’s rebuke of the Trump Administration’s crime crackdown efforts instead.
Co-host Michelle Miler introduced MacFarlane, “The president deployed troops to Washington, D.C. last month, but now there's also new controversy stemming from how the Justice Department is handling a surge of arrests and cases in the capital. CBS News Justice Correspondent Scott Macfarlane explains from Washington.”
After reporting that the D.C. National Guard will be extending its deployment, MacFarlane unintentionally undermined the hysterical idea, prevalent in certain left-wing circles, that D.C. is now under military occupation, “Some of them are armed, but the Guard is not making arrests. That's left to local and federal agents on the street.”
However, MacFarlane had some criticisms for the feds, “As the weekend begins, the Department of Justice is facing new scrutiny for some of the criminal cases being filed amid this wave of arrests. A federal judge unleashed fierce criticism in court Thursday, accusing the administration of ‘playing cops and robbers like children.’ Bringing serious charges against some people, jailing some of them, only to backtrack days later, and drop the charges.”
He added, “Judge Zia Faruqui said the Department of Justice “is making too many errors,” making sloppy work and ruining some of its credibility, and noted how some grand juries have begun rejecting requests for indictments, saying the U.S. Attorney’s office in Washington is creating crisis. The U.S. Attorney for D.C., Jeanine Pirro, pushed back on that criticism Friday.”
It could be argued that says more about the grand jury members than it does the DOJ, but as for Pirro, she was shown telling Faruqui to stay in his lane, “My job as a prosecutor is to bring criminals into court and to try to prove my case beyond a reasonable doubt. I'm not into going back and forth with judges. I was a judge. Okay? That's not what I did as a judge. So we need to leave politics out of it. I'll do my job. He should do his job as a judge. And leave his politics out of it.”
MacFarlane then responded, “The mayor of Washington, D.C. has been supportive of some of the additional federal resources but said having National Guard troops on neighborhood streets is unnecessary and un-American.”
The clip from Pirro came from the same press conference where she announced the arrest of the juveniles suspected of murdering Tarpinian-Jachym, so it is not as if MacFarlane can claim he was unaware of the news. Pirro also blamed the previous lack of juvenile prosecutions for creating an environment that necessitated the current crackdown. That CBS bias monitor cannot arrive quickly enough.
Here is a transcript for the September 6 show:
CBS Saturday Morning
9/6/2025
8:07 AM ET
MICHELLE MILLER: The president deployed troops to Washington, D.C. last month, but now there's also new controversy stemming from how the Justice Department is handling a surge of arrests and cases in the capital. CBS News Justice Correspondent Scott Macfarlane explains from Washington.
SCOTT MACFARLANE: National Guard officials tell CBS News there are now approximately 2,300 troops deployed here in Washington and the D.C. National Guard concluded the week announcing their deployment will continue beyond this first month.
Some of them are armed, but the Guard is not making arrests. That's left to local and federal agents on the street. As the weekend begins, the Department of Justice is facing new scrutiny for some of the criminal cases being filed amid this wave of arrests.
A federal judge unleashed fierce criticism in court Thursday, accusing the administration of “playing cops and robbers like children.”
Bringing serious charges against some people, jailing some of them, only to backtrack days later, and drop the charges. Judge Zia Faruqui said the Department of Justice “is making too many errors,” making sloppy work and ruining some of its credibility, and noted how some grand juries have begun rejecting requests for indictments, saying the U.S. Attorney’s office in Washington is creating crisis. The U.S. Attorney for D.C., Jeanine Pirro, pushed back on that criticism Friday.
JEANINE PIRRO: My job as a prosecutor is to bring criminals into court and to try to prove my case beyond a reasonable doubt. I'm not into going back and forth with judges. I was a judge. Okay? That's not what I did as a judge. So we need to leave politics out of it. I'll do my job. He should do his job as a judge. And leave his politics out of it.
MACFARLANE: The mayor of Washington, D.C. has been supportive of some of the additional federal resources but said having National Guard troops on neighborhood streets is unnecessary and un-American.
