To use an Atlanta slang term, on today's CNN This Morning, host Audie Cornish made Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) her “dawg.”
A segment today was built around President Trump’s $5,000 “Trump dividend” — a promise the Wall Street Journal, in an editorial board column Cornish quoted, branded “a $5,000 bridge to sell you” and “a classic in vote-buying political cynicism.”
Cornish wanted a Democratic response. She found Ossoff at an Athens rally as he runs for re-election:
“Last week, the broken old man threw a two day party in Texas while it cost more than ever to fill up your truck, to stock your fridge, and to power your home. They made you pay more for everything, they lied us into war, and spent most of the last year covering up for the world’s most famous pedophile.”
Audie dug Ossoff's delivery. “You know, I thought that this was very quippy and fast, and easy to grab on in a way that Trump slogans are,” she said. "He's like, "You threw a party, you faked some checks, you started a war." I mean, it's very fast and direct to the hippocampus."
CNN's @AudieCornish Makes Ossoff Her Georgia Dawg pic.twitter.com/OJcEUhh0j2
— Mark Finkelstein (@markfinkelstein) September 14, 2026
Cornish had no follow-up on “the world’s most famous pedophile.” Ossoff did not name the person. He almost certainly meant Jeffrey Epstein. But by omitting the name, he and Cornish left the smear floating. A listener who wants it to be Trump could hear it that way.
Then there was the "you faked some checks" part. Ossoff did not say that Trump “faked some checks” or anything like it. It's not in the clip. It's not in the rest of his Sunday’s Georgia speech. Cornish so wanted the attack to land on Trump’s $5,000 promise that she heard a check that wasn’t there.
Republican strategist Katie Frost — 3rd District Georgia GOP chair — acknowledged that Ossoff is “very good at speaking in rallies," noting that he had been "a documentary filmmaker; that was his profession before.” Cornish praised him for that, shooting back "being good at the job is helpful."
The other “Republican” at the table was Geoff Duncan, billed [see screencap] as “Former Republican Georgia Lt. Governor.” CNN played it very deceptively, leading viewers to assume that Duncan is still a Republican. He is not. (Or you can take the "Former Republican" part literally.)
Duncan switched parties in August 2025 and ran for governor as a Democrat this year, finishing fourth in the May 2026 primary. As lieutenant governor he had lined up with Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and refused Trump’s demand to “find” enough votes to overturn Georgia 2020.
Trump called him a “RINO Never Trumper,” “too dumb or corrupt,” a “knucklehead,” a “jerk,” and a “puppet.” After Duncan left office, CNN hired him as an on-air commentator. Trump’s later verdict: he “went to work at a low salary for Fake News CNN. His sole function is to knock Donald J. Trump.”
This morning he did — a CNN Democrat accompanied by a “Republican” chyron.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Patricia Murphy closed the circle with a misleading man-in-the-street shot. She was at the Ossoff rally. She found a Republican voter. “Why are you here? What do you like about Jon Ossoff?” The answer: “He tells the truth.” One voter. One quote. Perfectly matching the preferred liberal line for CNN viewers.
Let's summarize. Cornish:
- Praised Ossoff, criticized Trump.
- Misled viewers in claiming Ossoff said Trump had "faked some checks."
- Misled viewers about Democrat Duncan being a Republican.
Nice work, Audie!
Here's the transcript.
CNN This Morning
9/14/26
6:15 am EDT
GEOFF DUNCAN: I mean, just the notion that anybody with any sort of fiscal mindset would say that, there's a good idea, to give everybody five thousand dollars when, oh, by the way, we're forty trillion dollars in debt and our bond markets are going crazy around the world. It's getting harder and harder to sell our bonds because folks are realizing we don't have a plan. Donald Trump has literally spent more money in this, has a bigger, a piece of this national deficit, over eleven trillion dollars under Donald Trump as well.
AUDIE CORNISH: I have to admit, I actually started hearing about this this week as well from Republicans.
DUNCAN: Yeah!
CORNISH: Those are the people who are raising this question first. The Wall Street Journal, is saying, the editorial board of all folks is saying, "Trump has a $5,000 Bridge to Sell You:" "President Trump has a special talent for exposing the cynicism of modern politics, and he knows it.
The other thing is, I've noticed, how do you message on this? If you're a Democrat, and you wanna somehow take advantage of this situation, what would you even say? Here's Jon Ossoff, which you've been hearing that name a lot here, in Georgia at a rally.
JON OSSOFF: Last week, the broken old man threw a two-day party in Texas while it cost more than ever to fill up your truck, to stock your fridge, and to power your home. They made you pay more for everything, they lied us into war, and spent most of the last year covering up for the world's most famous pedophile.
CORNISH: You know, I thought that this was very quippy and fast and easy to grab on in a way that Trump slogans are. When you hear that, do Republicans have a good response that doesn't go into a bunch of explaining about, "Well, Biden did this and also and also and also the debt." He's like, "You threw a party, you faked some checks, you started a war." I mean, it's very fast and direct to the hippocampus, which isn't where that is, sorry, that's my brain.
KATIE FROST: Like, Jon Ossoff is very good at speaking in rallies. He was a documentary filmmaker; that was his profession before.
CORNISH: But we're in the midterms, being good at the job is helpful.
FROST: It definitely is helpful. I will say, I was at that convention where the president brought up this idea of the five thousand dollar checks, and I was speaking to members of Congress the very next day who were saying, "Yeah, I'm not gonna vote for that."
So I mean, it will be very difficult to get that across the finish line to actually pass that in Congress.
CORNISH: Wait, but then you like that he did it?
FROST: Well, the idea of helping the American people and making things easier for families, I'm always going to support. They're just disputing, how are we actually going to do this?
CORNISH: So was it a mistake? He's simply going over and over and over aying a thing that his own party is going out there telling the voter as well, this is BS, don't believe it. How does that help ahead of the midterms?
FROST: Well, I do think that there's gonna be a discussion like Ross Perot said, the devil is in the details.
CORNISH: No, no, for the voter, I'm saying, if you're a voter at home, do you look at this and say, it's happening, or do you think all the chatter around it has been effective in burying it as an incentive?
FROST: I think there are enough people out there who'll say, I'm willing to vote based on the chance it will happen.
PATRICIA MURPHY: I was at the rally where Jon Ossoff was speaking and said that yesterday. I spoke to a Republican voter afterward, and I said, "Why are you here? What do you like about Jon Ossoff?" And she said, "He tells the truth."
And the truth is that we have a one point six billion dollar annual budget, that is a one point three billion dollar, trillion dollar proposal. It's trillion with a T.
Yeah, it's not going to happen. And to act like it's going to, they don't have the votes. If Republicans could do it, they would do it tomorrow. They can't. They don't have the votes.
DUNCAN: I think the average Georgian, average American's, worried about their mortgage rates being almost seven percent, and they also are worried about healthcare, which is unaffordable by every metric.
