As you’d expect from the “news” operation that defended Donald Trump — and, thus, Russia and Vladimir Putin — over allegations of Russian meddling in the presidential election, CNSNews.com is largely following Trump marching orders in the aftermath of Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn over his conversations with Russian officials about sanctions issued by President Obama before he officially joined the Trump administration.
CNS — unusual for an operation that pays the Associated Press no small amount of money for use of its content but barely promotes it — actually ran an AP story or two about Flynn’s departure on its front page. But most of its original content the day after Flynn left was, as usual, mostly written by chief stenographer Susan Jones and dedicated to spinning for Trump and even saying nice things about Flynn, like these:
- Rep. Peter King: Gen. Flynn ‘One of the First People Who Was Really Onto ISIS’
- Kellyanne Conway: Flynn ‘Either Forgot, Couldn’t Fully Recall, or Outwardly Misled’
- Spicer: Flynn’s Firing a Trust Issue, Not a Legal Issue
- Ryan: Trump ‘Made the Right Decision to Ask for (Flynn’s) Resignation’
- Rep. Perry: Flynn’s Service ‘Beyond Reproach,’ Facts Surrounding Resignation Still Unclear
- McConnell: Don’t Need a ‘Special Committee’ to Investigate Flynn’s Activities
Jones’ work on Democratic reaction to Flynn, also as usual, was decxicated to painting them as alarmist and unreasonable:
- Liberal Frenzy: ‘Impeach’ Trump; ‘Traitor! Resign by Morning’
- Schiff: ‘Need to Bring Gen. Flynn in Before the Intelligence Committee’
- DNC: ‘This Is Already Bigger Than Watergate’
- Democrat Caucus Chair: ‘Trump Doesn’t Have Time to Help Americans Because of All the Scandals’ (Jones parenthetically sneered that the congressman “said nothing about Democrat efforts to stall Trump’s cabinet appointees or delegitimize Trump’s presidency.”)
CNS’s so-called reporting quickly coalesced around the Trump-approved talking point that the real problem wasn’t Flynn by that the offense that got him fired was leaked to the media, which feeds nicely into the tired old talking point that the media is out to get Trump:
- Sen. Johnson: ‘Who Tapped the Phones, Who’s Listening…Who Leaked?’
- Rep. Steve King: Russia Hacking U.S. Election is a ‘CNN Narrative’
- Trump: ‘The Real Scandal’ Is Intelligence Leaks Being Given Out ‘Like Candy’
- House Intel Chair: ‘Big Problem I See’ Is Having an American Citizen’s Phone Calls Recorded
- Trump Chief Strategist Steve Bannon: Liberal Media ‘Completely Focused on Trying to Destroy Trump’
- Trump: Flynn ‘Treated Very Unfairly’ by ‘Fake Media’
- Levin: Flynn Leakers ‘Clearly Violated Federal Law’
The least biased article CNS ran was one in which Jones admitted that Republican members of Congress would also like Flynn brought before the House Intelligence Committee.
So: Lots of bias, with the occasional window-dressing of actual journalism to perpetuate the illusion of being an actual news operation. That’s pretty much how CNS is run under Terry Jeffrey and Michael W. Chapman.
UPDATE: CNS has added a couple more articles: One by Jones on Republicans calling for an investigation of how intelligence was handled (but not of Flynn’s behavior), and another quoting Sean Hannity complaining that the media is trying to “make anything into the next Watergate” in an effort to impeach Trump.