As it ramps down petty attacks on Nancy Pelosi as she steps down from Democratic House leadership, CNSNews.com is ramping up petty attacks on her apparent replacement, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries.
A Nov. 16 article by Susan Jones was a Republican attack on Jeffries for calling out MAGA extremism:
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says MAGA Republicans are not the greatest threat facing the nation, as Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) opined on Tuesday.
Jeffries, leader of the House Democratic Caucus, said, “The threat right now in this country to the American people are extreme MAGA Republicans. That’s the threat. That’s the problem. That’s the crisis that we confront.”
Gingrich scoffed:
“Well, look, I mean, first of all, for any Democrat from the party that represents big cities to talk about threats without talking about the murders, the rapes, the carjackings, the robberies that their big cities actually have encouraged by releasing people back on the street is nonsense.
“Second, I would argue the greatest threat to America’s future is the collapse of our public schools under the domination of the teachers’ unions so that we’re not going to be able to compete with China or India or anyplace else if we continue to produce children who can’t do math, can’t read, can’t write, and are propagandized into worrying about their gender in the third grade. I think it’s really a crisis.
“So I would be glad to talk to him some day about the real threats and crises.”
Jones did not give Jeffries an opportunity to reply to Gingrich.
A Nov. 21 article by Jones complained that Jeffries, “next in line to be House Minority Leader,” said that Democrats “will fiercely and vigorously oppose any attempts at Republican overreach and any Republican extremism. And I’m hopeful that the Republican leadership will take lessons away from the rejection of extremism by the American people all across the land, and not double and triple down on it in the next Congress.” Unlike with the uncritical stenography does of Republican politicians, added comments from Republican Rep. James Comer, “the incoming chair of the House Oversight Committee,” bragging about all the partisan investigations he has planned.
For a Nov. 28 article, Peyton Holliday followed the RNC script — literally; most of her Twitter embeds are from the RNC oppo-research account — and attacked Jeffries for previously criticizing election results:
Representative Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who reportedly is running to lead the House Democrats in the next Congress, was an outspoken “election denier” in 2016, claiming that Donald Trump was “artificially” placed in the presidency by Russia. He also claimed the election was “illegitimate.”
In February 2018, Jeffries, who is chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, tweeted, “The more we learn about the 2016 election the more ILLEGITIMATE it becomes. America deserves to know whether we have a FAKE President in the Oval Office.”
In May 2019 he said in Congress, “Russia interfered with our election, attacked our democracy for the sole purpose of artificially placing someone at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. They were successful.”
[…]Fox News further reported, “Democrats have criticized Trump for nearly two years now for his rejection of the 2020 election results. But when asked this week if Jeffries still believes Russia stole the 2016 election for Trump, Jeffries’ office indicated that is still the case and told Fox News Digital his “observations about the twice-impeached Florida man speak for themselves.”
Holliday gave Jeffries no opportunity to respond. And even though he has responded to similar right-wing attacks by pointing out that “I supported the certification of Donald Trump’s election. I attended his inauguration … and found ways to work with the Trump administration,” CNS has never published any response by Jeffries to this partisan attack line.
Indeed, CNS continued with those partisan attacks with a Dec. 1 article by Craig Bannister transcribing how Fox News’ Sean Hannity “list[ed] some of newly-elected House Democrat Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries’ (D-N.Y.) most radical comments and policies” and claimed that “Jeffries’ record is filled with really extreme forms of far-left lunacy.” Again, no balance was offered.
Jones again seemed annoyed that Jeffires pushed back on upcoming partisan Republican House probes in a Dec. 5 article:
“What’s your mission in the new Congress?” ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked incoming House Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Sunday.
“Well, our mission is to find ways to work with Republicans whenever possible to get things done for the American people — to work on issues related to the economy and inflation and lowering costs, fighting for better paying jobs and safer communities,” Jeffries said.
“And I hope that Republicans will look for common ground with us, but we will also oppose them when we must, particularly as it relates to any effort to go down this rabbit hole of unnecessary, unconscionable, unacceptable investigations of the administration.”
House Republicans have promised to launch a number of investigations, including one into Hunter Biden’s alleged influence peddling — getting rich on his family connections. They also want to know how deeply involved former Vice President Joe Biden may have been in his son’s business dealings.
CNS’ mission statement claims that it “endeavors to fairly present all legitimate sides of a story.” But it rarely offers fairness to people who aren’t conservative, and it’s failing to do so with Jeffries.