Around 1 p.m. ET on Dec. 7, Democratic Sen. Al Franken gave a speech in which he announced his resignation from his Senate seat over allegations of sexual harassment. About five hours later, it was announced that Republican Sen. Trent Franks would resign his seat over a surrogacy controversy. CNSNews.com reported on one with a little more urgency than the other.
Melanie Arter’s CNS story on Franken’s resignation was posted at 9:52 p.m. ET, about 10 hours after the resignation speech was given. It’s a surprisingly straight story, given Arter’s history of being a pro-Trump stenographer.
Arter also wrote the story of Frank’s resignation — but it wasn’t until 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 8, more than 21 hours after his resignation was announced. Unlike with Franken, Arter did try to spin things for Frank.
On top of highlighting that Franks is “pro-life” and “most recently sponsored the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which bans abortions at 20 weeks of pregnancy or greater with exceptions when the mother’s life is in danger or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest,” she also gave space to a former Franks aide to insist that Franks “never put the question to them if they would be surrogates for him” and that she’s never “been made to feel uncomfortable by the congressman” and “never seen any slightest bit of sexual harassment or intimidation.” Arter also uncritically pushes Franks’ later abrupt explanation of his decision to change his resignation from January to immediately, claiming he was motivated by his wife’s illness.
But as WorldNetDaily did, Arter censored evidence that Franks’ staffers were uncomfortable with the surrogacy conversations because they thought he personally wanted to impregnate them, and that one staffer said she was retaliated against for rebuffing Franks’ surrogacy advances.
Apparently, CNS needed all that extra time on the Franks story to figure out how to put the best face on a scandal surrounding an ideological ally.