Towards the end of a very heated and contentious argument with Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis during Sunday’s Reliable Sources, CNN host Brian Stelter was so triggered by being called “fake news” that he angrily lashed out at his guest; telling her that in 10 to 20 years her kids and grandkids were long to look back on her work for President Trump with disgust.
As they neared Stelter’s petulant attacks from the gutter, he threw a tantrum about the President blasting Comcast, the parent company of MSNBC and NBC News. Of course, he cited a former Obama administration official to preface his outrage:
Let’s put on screen what Norm Eisen told me. Norm was an Obama White House aid specializing in ethics, he’s now at the Brookings Institution. He said: “It's an abuse of power for an American president to use the awesome authority of the Oval Office to target an American company. He said it's even worse, because here he is retaliating against the exercise of the First Amendment-protected constitutional rights.”
The hypocrisy was blatant. You may recall that that President Obama had directed a lot of hatred and animus at Fox News, even trying to cut them from the White House press pool. That fact didn’t stop Stelter from later claiming Trump’s contempt for the opposition press was “aberrant (…) in American history.”
With the CNN production team repeatedly turning down Ellis’s audio volume to allow Stelter to more easily talk over and down to her, Stelter blew a fuse. “You understand that like someday you're going to regret this, right,” he bitterly declared.
He continued, claiming her kids and grandkids would be ashamed of the anti-media “slurs” she was using:
STELTER: You understand that like someday you're going to regret this, right?
ELLIS: -- you for the last three and a half years --
STELTER: Someday you're going to regret this when your kids –
ELLIS: No, I’m standing up for truth.
STELTER: -- and grandkids look back at this and you use slurs and smears --
ELLIS: Oh, now you’re going to the personal attacks.
STELTER: -- like fake news to hurt news outlets.
“Oh, now you’re going to the personal attacks. That’s when you know you lost the debate, Brian,” she shot back. “You're not a journalist, Brian. You're an activist. That's the problem. You have an agenda, and your agenda is anti-Trump,” she accurately pointed out.
Unfazed, Stelter continued to talk down to her. “I think in 10 or 20 years if we just sit down and talk about this, you'll recognize how damaging it was. How damaging it was to use terms like fake news, to attack journalists who are trying to do their jobs,” he lectured.
Then, completely ignoring what his guest was actively saying, Stelter began to opine directly to the audience. “The reason I think it's helpful to have these conversations folks have gotten used to alternative realities and I think it's important we see there are alternative realities.” The interview ended moments later.
Telling a mother she’s an embarrassment to her kids. This is CNN.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s Reliable Sources
June 14, 2020
11:28:15 a.m. Eastern(…)
BRIAN STELTER: Let’s put on screen what Norm Eisen told me. Norm was an Obama White House aid specializing in ethics, he’s now at the Brookings Institution. He said: “It's an abuse of power for an American president to use the awesome authority of the Oval Office to target an American company. He said it's even worse – [Jenna Ellis begins talking and Stelter continues] – Because here he is retaliating against the exercise of the First Amendment-protected constitutional rights.”
JENNA ELLIS: I've heard “abuse of power” before. That was with the whole fake news, impeachment hoax that's what you guys charged during –
STELTER: You guys?
ELLIS: -- that's what you guys peddled and what the House charged was that false abuse of power. This isn't an abuse of power –
STELTER: And Eisen was involved in that.
ELLIS: -- this President Trump as an American citizen having an opinion on really bad service that's entirely okay.
STELTER (Speaking over Ellis): When the President’s telling people to punish – He actually called out MSNBC and NBC News. So, he was linking it to his distaste for news coverage. Again, that is so far beyond the pale for American presidents.
ELLIS: He has an opinion.
STELTER: Right, but do you understand how aberrant that is in American history.
ELLIS: He is also a citizen. No, he's the first one to actually use -- to use his platform as an American citizen to be able to call out the fake news media and say because you are peddlers of false information --
STELTER: You understand that like someday you're going to regret this, right?
ELLIS: -- you for the last three and a half years --
STELTER: Someday you're going to regret this when your kids –
ELLIS: No, I’m standing up for truth.
STELTER: -- and grandkids look back at this and you use slurs and smears --
ELLIS: Oh, now you’re going to the personal attacks.
STELTER: -- like fake news to hurt news outlets.
ELLIS: That’s when you know you lost the debate, Brian.
STELTER: Jenna.
ELLIS: You can't even come on facts and truth--
STELTER (Talking over Ellis): I think in 10 or 20 years if we just sit down and talk about this, you'll recognize how damaging it was. How damaging it was to use terms like fake news, to attack journalists who are trying to do their jobs.
ELLIS: In 15 or 20 years -- you're not trying to do your job. You're not a journalist, Brian. You're an activist. That's the problem. You have an agenda, and your agenda is anti-Trump. The American people see through that and they and they are very grateful. This president is finally holding the fake news media accountable because you're activists. You're not reporting fact and truth. You won't even say that as a journalist --
STELTER: The reason I think it's helpful to have these conversations --
ELLIS: -- that a factually false statement shouldn't ever appear in a media outlet.
STELTER: -- folks have gotten used to alternative realities and I think it's important we see there are alternative realities.
And Jenna, I appreciate you coming on to talk with me.
(…)
