With absolutely ZERO evidence to back up the assertion, CBS Evening News spent part of Wednesday’s newscast giving oxygen to a conspiracy theory spawned from a Democratic congresswoman, claiming Republican members of Congress were in league with the insurrectionists and intentionally gave them “reconnaissance” assistance. The network even brought on a former U.S. attorney to call them Benedict Arnolds.
“Was it an inside job? New allegations that some members of Congress gave tours to rioters who stormed the Capitol,” anchor Norah O’Donnell loudly proclaimed during the opening tease, teeing up the fact-free report from chief Justice correspondent Jeff Pegues.
When it was his turn to smear Republicans with the unsubstantiated allegations, Pegues touted how New Jersey “Democrat Mikie Sherrill, a combat veteran, accused some of her congressional colleagues of working with the demonstrators.”
He then played this soundbite of Congresswoman Sherrill:
REP. MIKIE SHERRILL (D-NY): Those members of Congress who had groups coming through the Capitol that I saw on January 5th, a reconnaissance for the next day. [Transition] I am going to see that they are held accountable.
“Sherrill said that she has passed on her information to law enforcement,” he added. But he didn’t note that Sherrill wasn’t answering media questions about her claims.
As reporter Andrea Salcedo wrote for The Washington Post, “Sherrill did not specifically identify which lawmakers she saw leading groups through the Capitol. Her office did not immediately respond to a message from The Washington Post late Tuesday.” The Post report also tried to boost Sherrill’s claims.
“One day before a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, a Democratic lawmaker says, she saw colleagues leading groups on ‘reconnaissance’ tours of the building,” she told Post readers. “Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) made the startling claim in a Facebook Live broadcast on Tuesday night as she accused Republicans of inciting the pro-Trump mob that vandalized the Capitol and attacked police officers.”
Back on CBS, Pegues gave former U.S. attorney and anti-Trump pundit Harry Litman a forum to accuse Republicans of being traitors to the country. “It's mind-boggling. I mean that congressmen, sitting congressmen may actually have helped insurrectionists storm the Capitol, that's Benedict Arnold territory,” he proclaimed.
But on Fox News Channel’s Special Report, Federalist editor Mollie Hemingway had a retort for Rep. Sherrill’s vile assertion:
I don't know if that's a new member of Congress, because when she described the situation of members of Congress taking constituents through the Capitol, that's actually a pretty common scene if you've gone to see your member of Congress. It is not uncommon that you will be given a tour of the Capitol either by the member him or herself or their staff. So, I think members should be very careful about making allegations without substantiation.
In the past, CBS had characterized corruption allegations against Joe Biden as Russian ‘disinformation,” but they turned out to be true. Now they’re running with claims made by a Democrat who won’t even talk to the press about them. Just like they let Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA) get away with claiming there was a “mountain of evidence” pointing to President Trump colluding with Russia, and there wasn’t.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CBS Evening News
January 13, 2021
6:31:27 p.m. Eastern(…)
NORAH O’DONNELL: Was it an inside job? New allegations that some members of Congress gave tours to rioters who stormed the Capitol.
(…)
6:42:40 p.m. Eastern
JEFF PEGUES: Democrat Mikie Sherrill, a combat veteran, accused some of her congressional colleagues of working with the demonstrators.
REP. MIKIE SHERRILL (D-NY): Those members of Congress who had groups coming through the Capitol that I saw on January 5th, a reconnaissance for the next day. [Transition] I am going to see that they are held accountable.
PEGUES: Sherrill said that she has passed on her information to law enforcement. Harry Litman is a former U.S. attorney.
HARRY LITMAN: It's mind-boggling. I mean that congressmen, sitting congressmen may actually have helped insurrectionists storm the Capitol, that's Benedict Arnold territory.
(…)
