On Thursday’s The Lead, CNN host Jake Tapper had some “breaking news” to share that he didn’t seem to think was too important: “A source familiar with the investigation prompted by the whistleblower tells me....the whistleblower is a registered Democrat.” Despite this revelation about the political bias of the so-called “whistleblower” (whose complaint kicked off the impeachment inquiry), the evening broadcasts on ABC, CBS, and NBC didn’t care to mention it.
Then, there was the way CNN and Tapper handled their scoop, which was to act like it didn’t raise any red flags about impropriety. “We were being told by some Republicans that wait till they find out what the bias is. But it turns out he belongs to one of the two major political parties in the country,” Tapper chided GOP lawmakers in a question to political correspondent Sara Murray.
Arguing it was “pretty thin” evidence of something nefarious, Murray defended the whistleblower:
You're allowed as an employee of the U.S. government, you can register with a political party and even -- can you believe it -- to exercise your right to vote, Jake! You’re still allowed to do that if you work for the U.S. government.
But as the whistleblower complaint points out, the IG did determine this to be credible. And we have seen, over the course of these weeks, the way that the facts in this complaint have continued to check out, you know, almost across the board.
“And so I think that if this is it, if there is not more there that they found that indicated this kind of bias, it feels like a nothingburger,” she stated in dismissing the story. Of course, they ignored the part of the IG report that noted the whistleblower favored “a rival candidate” on the 2020 election.
Even though CNN media janitor Brian Stelter had trumpeted an anti-Trump book titled “Team of Vipers,” and the network has liked to mock how the White House have been staffed with many against Trump’s best interests, Tapper downplayed the dubious Intelligence Community Inspector General. “And we should point out again that the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community was appointed by Donald Trump,” he noted.
“Right, exactly. There are lots of political appointees that work in government every day. And, you know, sometimes they do things that we don't agree with. But a lot of times we trust them to make decisions that are on everyone's best behalf,” Murray added, seeming to be referring to the whistleblower who helped to kick off impeachment.
She even appeared to compare the whistleblower to career officials in the Defense Department:
On behalf of the U.S. government writ large, not just what would be best for Donald Trump, just what would be best for the person in the White House.
I think that's even truer when you look at career officials. When to look at people who are in the defense community. A lot of people went into the government not because they wanted to serve whoever was sitting in the White House at any given moment but because they thought that was a good job. They wanted to serve their country.
It's highly unlikely that CNN or the broadcast networks would act this dismissive of a whistleblower if they filed an official complaint against a Democratic president like Barack Obama. In fact, the liberal media assailed Pentagon civil servant Linda Tripp for being a whistleblower in Bill Clinton’s impeachment.
Help fight back against the media's impeachment crusade.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s The Lead
October 3, 2019
4:58:06 p.m. EasternJAKE TAPPER: Breaking news. A source familiar with the investigation prompted by the whistleblower tells me the whistleblower's, quote, “possible political bias”, that was referred to by the Intelligence Community Inspector General, who said that the complaint was credible regardless of it, is that the whistleblower is a registered Democrat.
As I stated, the IG announced that the bias did not change his determination that the complaint from the whistleblower was credible. An attorney for the whistleblower declined to comment.
CNN’s Sara Murray joins me now. Sara, what do you make of this? We were being told by some Republicans that wait till they find out what the bias is. But it turns out he belongs to one of the two major political parties in the country.
SARA MURREY: Right. And I think if this is the extent of it, it's pretty thin. You know? You're allowed as an employee of the U.S. government, you can register with a political party and even -- can you believe it -- to exercise your right to vote, Jake! You’re still allowed to do that if you work for the U.S. government.
But as the whistleblower complaint points out, the IG did determine this to be credible. And we have seen, over the course of these weeks, the way that the facts in this complaint have continued to check out, you know, almost across the board. And so I think that if this is it, if there is not more there that they found that indicated this kind of bias, it feels like a nothingburger.
TAPPER: And we should point out again that the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community was appointed by Donald Trump.
MURRAY: Right, exactly. There are lots of political appointees that work in government every day. And, you know, sometimes they do things that we don't agree with. But a lot of times we trust them to make decisions that are on everyone's best behalf. On behalf of the U.S. government writ large, not just what would be best for Donald Trump, just what would be best for the person in the White House.
I think that's even truer when you look at career officials. When to look at people who are in the defense community. A lot of people went into the government not because they wanted to serve whoever was sitting in the White House at any given moment but because they thought that was a good job. They wanted to serve their country.
TAPPER: Yeah. I mean, there are Democrats who work for President Trump.
MURRAY: Yeah.
