Ever since Audie Cornish took over from Kasie Hunt as host of CNN This Morning, we've been noting the paucity of Republicans on her panels.
As we observed on the day of Cornish's debut:
"Cornish's predecessor, Hunt, was no conservative. Even so, her panels almost always included a traditional Republican in the person of either Brad Todd or Matt Gorman."
In contrast, Cornish's panels have almost entirely consisted of voices from the left.
But on this first full day of Spring, could Cornish be turning over a new leaf? On today's panel, there appeared a certified conservative in the person of Rob Bluey, President and Executive Editor of The Daily Signal, with roots at the Heritage Foundation, and where Ben Shapiro is an editor emeritus and contributor.
At NewsBusters, we're proud to count Rob as a former reporter at our sister publication, CNSNews.com where Rob broke the story of Dan Rather's fake typewriter font in the phony Bush Texas Air National Guard draft-evasion story in 2004, using typography experts. (The memos were more compatible with Microsoft Word.)
The panel's first topic was the controversy surrounding Elon Musk's planned visit to the Pentagon. Just a courtesy visit, or, as the New York Times claims, will he be briefed on potential war plans against China?
Cornish and the panel focused on the importance of "transparency," and Bluey agreed that transparency is important, particularly given President Trump's pledge to have the most transparent administration ever.
But if transparency is important to CNN, what of the utter opaqueness of the Biden White House, aided and abetted by the liberal media, in attempting to hide Biden's incapacity for office?
Cornish also slanted her presentation of what members of Congress are facing when they hold town halls back home. As she put it:
"People are showing up angry and frustrated at events for lawmakers from both parties. Democrats facing blowback for not standing up to Republicans. Republicans hearing frustrations for things like Elon Musk's DOGE cuts."
LOL: So Republicans are getting grief over DOGE. But Democrats are hearing complaints that they're not being tough enough against Republicans! Apparently, no one is complaining to Dems about the arson attacks on Tesla facilities! The only town hall clips Cornish played were of angry attendees berating Republicans.
Bluey's most forceful line was on the issue of a federal judge's order that flights deporting members of a violent illegal alien gang be returned to the US:
"This is a national security issue, and this judge is out of bounds trying to stop these flights from leaving. The flights were already out of the United States, so in that particular case, he didn't have the authority to do so anyway."
Note: Kristen Soltis Anderson has appeared on two of Cornish's panels. She is a Republican who, in the past, focused on cultivating the youth vote. But in more recent times, she co-founded a non-partisan firm offering polling and related services. Anderson has never rocked the boat in her CNN This Morning appearances.
Here's the transcript.
CNN This Morning
3/21/25
6:04 am EDTAUDIE CORNISH: Elon Musk heading to the Defense Department. He'll be at the Pentagon. This is raising questions about what exactly the world's richest man is going to do once he gets there.
The Pentagon tells CNN that Musk will be there at the invitation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and that he's just visiting. New reporting from the New York Times suggests Musk will actually be briefed on the U.S. military's top secret plan for any war which might break out with China. They actually cite two anonymous U.S. officials in the story.
President Trump denies this reporting. In a post on Truth Social, he calls it, quote, completely untrue.
The news of Musk's visit, though, comes as angry town hall attendees continue to question why he's playing such a large role in the federal government at all.
ANGRY TOWN HALL ATTENDEE: Have you looked at Musk's DOGE, whatever, website? You are a lawyer. Where is this fraud?
REP. HARRIET HAGEMAN [R-WY]: This is the fraud. Spending is the fraud. As an example.
ATTENDEE: [Screaming] But that's your job, not Musk's job. That's your job. Not Musk's!
HAGEMAN: That's what we need. That's what we need.
CORNISH: Joining me now to talk about this, Margaret Talev, senior contributor at Axios, Elliot Williams, CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, and Rob Bluey, President and Executive Editor at The Daily Signal.
ELLIOT WILLIAMS: Regardless of who's meeting when and where, it would just be good to know what's actually happening. And I think that, that lack of transparency.
CORNISH: Would that be enough? I'm hearing from both of them a threat of transparency. When you don't have it, it becomes a problem. People fill the gap. And in this case, Musk has billions of dollars of federal contracts with the Defense Department in the area of surveillance and reconnaissance. So it's like, him being there is actually not such a stretch. His conflicts of interest, though, as you said, we don't know.
ROB BLUEY: Transparency is great. And remember, Donald Trump has said he's the iimost transparent president that we've had.
So I mean, I think that if he's going to live up to that moniker, he needs to obviously demonstrate the fact that he's allowing his cabinet secretaries and others to speak about what Musk is doing specifically. I do think that that will go a long way in easing some of the concerns.
. . .
CORNISH: With lawmakers out on recess, the arguments which usually play out in the halls of Congress, are now spilling out into town halls nationwide. People are showing up angry and frustrated at events for lawmakers from both parties. Democrats facing blowback for not standing up to Republicans. Republicans hearing frustrations for things like Elon Musk's DOGE cuts.
. . .
Is there such thing as a good ruling, if it's against Trump?
BLUEY: Well, Karoline Leavitt spoke about this. And obviously, I think one of the things that the White House would like to see, we've talked about this in the past, is clarity on these nationwide injunctions or universal injunctions. And I think that's ultimately, Audie, where I hope we get clarity from the Supreme Court. We've had a number of federal district judges. I think there have been, what, over 120 lawsuits or rulings issued against the Trump administration in one way or another. And these are big questions that we need answers to.
CORNISH: Although a lot of immigration attorneys say, look, there were legal ways to do some of this stuff, right? Like, just because you don't choose that path doesn't mean it has to be this way.
BLUEY: Sure. And I think what you'll hear the administration say, and this is their defense in this particular case, is that this is a national security issue, and this judge is out of bounds trying to stop these flights from leaving.
And by the way, the flights were already out of the United States, so in that particular case, he didn't have the authority to do so anyway.
