The same media who wasn’t shy in accusing President Trump of “lying” at every chance they got, is very reluctant to employ these same blunt words about President Biden. The president’s military advisors testified before Congress yesterday and contradicted his words to ABC journalist George Stephanopoulos in August, saying he had support from the military to withdraw from Afghanistan the way he did. But CNN didn’t seem bothered by the fact that Biden lied about this and misled the public.
During the 8:00am EST hour of CNN’s New Day, co-host John Berman spoke about this debacle with global affairs analyst Bianna Golodryga and former CBS journalist Reena Ninan, now host of the Recount Daily podcast. Berman gave a straightforward account of the contradiction between the top military brass and the president, without any criticism:
Testimony from the top military leaders calls into question some claims made by President Biden in interviews in August. Biden said none of his military leadership recommended keeping a small force in the country after withdraw and then in the same sentence he also said it was split, but his military advisers saying that's not the case.
After playing soundbites from that hearing from General Mark Milley and General Kenneth McKenzie Jr. saying that they actually did advise to keep a small number of troops in the region, Berman pointed out how the White House’s defense of this lie was unconvincing: “Look, the White House claims if you listen to the full totality of what Joe Biden, told George Stephanopoulos, the generals didn't contradict him here, the bottom line is President Biden left the impression that the military wasn't telling him that it wanted to leave U.S. troops there in small forces, when really it did.”
But Golodryga didn’t want to accuse the president of lying. She said maybe he “misspoke” instead:
“Listen it was a known goal on President Biden's part. We all heard him say he wasn't told to his recollection, so either he doesn't recall, which raises a whole other issue, or he was told and he misspoke,” she shrugged it off.
The CNN journalists then seemed to rationalize Biden misleading the public because it was public knowledge he wanted a complete withdrawal from Afghanistan.
They even suggested the media knew he wasn’t telling the truth so really their testimony didn’t matter:
GOLODRYGA: [I]t didn't take a tell-all book or even their testimony yesterday to reveal what we had known throughout the media over the course of the last few months that they in fact many of them had been asking and suggesting that at least 2500 troops remain. So this was unnecessary position to put these men in, and we know that this is an issue and a recommendation that they had made to the president directly.
BERMAN: And the point is, is this the president's decision to make. For better or for worse.
GOLODRYGA: Right. Which is all he had to say.
BERMAN: For better. It's the president's decision to make and we know how Joe Biden feels about this, and has always felt about it.
But ABC wasn’t giving the president a pass for lying to their GMA anchor George Stephanopoulos. Correspondent Terry Moran noted, “The White House is in damage control mode and pushing back hard on the accusation that president Biden lied in his interview with you about the military advice he received on Afghanistan."
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Read the transcript below:
CNN New Day
9/29/21
8:00AM hour
JOHN BERMAN: Testimony from the top military leaders calls into question some claims made by President Biden in interviews in August. Biden said none of his military leadership recommended keeping a small force in the country after withdraw and then in the same sentence he also said it was split, but his military advisers saying that's not the case.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: They wanted to keep about 2500 troops.
JOE BIDEN: No, they didn't. It was split. That wasn't true. That wasn't true.
STEPHANOPOULOS: They didn't tell you they wanted troops to stay?
BIDEN: No, not in terms of whether we were going to get out in a time frame, all troops. They didn't argue against that.
Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr: I recommended that we maintain 2,500 troops in Afghanistan.
CONGRESSMAN: General Milley, I assume you agree with that in terms of the recommendation of 2500.
GEN. MARK MILLEY, CHAIRMAN JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: I do agree with that.
BERMAN: Joining us now, CNN's senior global affairs analyst Bianna Golodryga and Reena Ninan host of the Recount Daily podcast and founder of Good Trouble productions. Bianna, Look, the White House claims if you listen to the full totality of what Joe Biden, told George Stephanopoulos, the generals didn't contradict him here, the bottom line is President Biden left the impression that the military wasn't telling him that it wanted to leave U.S. troops there in small forces, when really it did.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA: Listen it was a known goal on President Biden's part. We all heard him say he wasn't told to his recollection, so either he doesn't recall, which raises a whole other issue, or he was told and he misspoke. And it put the generals in an awkward position yesterday as they were under oath, and it didn't take a tell-all book or even their testimony yesterday to reveal what we had known throughout the media over the course of the last few months that they in fact many of them had been asking and suggesting that at least 2500 troops remain. So this was unnecessary position to put these men in, and we know that this is an issue and a recommendation that they had made to the president directly.
BERMAN: And the point is, is this the president's decision to make. For better or for worse.
GOLODRYGA: Right. Which is all he had to say.
BERMAN: For better. Its the president's decision to make and we know how Joe Biden feels about this, and has always felt about it.
