Security guard for CNN's April Ryan reportedly facing charges over incident with reporter By Brian Flood, Joseph A. Wulfsohn | Fox News Bodyguard for CNN's April Ryan attacks journalist covering her event New Brunswick Today editor Charlie Kratovil speaks out after the attack on 'The Ingraham Angle.' The security guard of CNN political analyst April Ryan will apparently face criminal charges after he was captured on video appearing to violently remove a local news editor from an event where the outspoken pundit was a keynote speaker. The alleged victim, Charlie Kratovil, editor of New Brunswick Today, tweeted an image of himself holding up court documents on Monday, noting that Ryan’s security guard, Joel Morris, will be arraigned on Sept. 12 in Superior Court on charges of harassment, assault and theft by unlawful taking. A reporter also tweeted the document, but New Brunswick Municipal Court did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for confirmation. The court’s online archive was not updated with Monday’s documents at the time of this report. CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment. CNN'S APRIL RYAN AFTER BODYGUARD EJECTS LOCAL JOURNALIST: 'WHEN I SPEAK, I DON’T HAVE NEWS COVERING MY SPEECH' The alleged incident occurred on Aug. 3, when Kratovil said he was covering a speech given by Ryan at the 4th annual New Jersey Parent Summit, which focuses on "educating, empowering and preparing parents for our future leaders.” In emails obtained by Fox News, Kratovil had RSVP'd to the event and received confirmation. Kratovil said during the event he was approached by a man who started to ask him questions. He said that he found out later that he was Ryan's security guard. "During the intro, this man came up to me, mentioned my video camera & asked me 'Who are you with?'" Kratovil wrote on Twitter. "I gave him my card & explained that I followed the proper channels to cover the event. I asked if he had a card & he responded by saying he was 'with the speaker.'" Kratovil alleged that Morris threatened to "take... down" the camera if he himself didn't and the public relations team began "pressuring" Kratovil to stop recording all while, ironically, U.S. Rep. Donald Payne Jr. was praising the American Urban Radio Networks reporter for her "Freedom of the Press" award she received. CNN HAS BAD WEEK AMID APRIL RYAN, CHRIS CUOMO AND DON LEMON NEWS: ‘IT WAS QUITE EMBARRASSING’ Morris appears to approach Ryan as she was speaking at the podium and whispered something to her. She nods and then pauses for almost 30 seconds until Morris grabs Kratovil's camera equipment and tripod and walks out of the ballroom. “Don’t touch my camera, please. Put that down. Don’t you dare. Put that down, sir," Kratovil told the bodyguard as he followed him out of the room. As Kratovil and Morris begin causing a scene, Ryan explains to the crowd, “When I speak, I don’t have news covering my speech." Kratovil said another journalist was recording her speech. The two men then enter the lobby, where Kratovil is berated by Shennell McCloud, executive director of Project Ready, the group that hosted the event. McCloud accuses Kratovil of "interrupting" the event and demands his removal from the hotel. Security camera footage from the hotel lobby appears to show Morris forcibly pushing Kratovil toward the exit. Once I got the camera back, I was concerned for my physical safety and I asked for hotel security. I was hoping they would maintain order and maybe document the theft of my camera and any damage that may have occurred to it as a result," Kratovil told Fox News. "I was thinking, 'Wow, this guy is really crossing the line here.' At the same time, I was trying not to fall down face first while also trying to protect the camera, and yelling for bystanders to call the police as this was happening." Kratovil expressed his solidarity with Ryan, an outspoken critic of President Trump and his treatment of the press, but told Fox News that "her reputation" now depends on addressing what had happened and is hoping for an apology. "I think that the President deserves much criticism for his administration's lack of transparency, his own irresponsible rhetoric towards the media, and his childish attacks on individual reporters like Ms. Ryan," Kratovil said. "Her reputation now depends on finally addressing this situation head-on and proclaiming that what happened that night in New Brunswick cannot be tolerated." https://www.foxnews.com/media/cnn-april-ryan-security-guard
NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week By BEATRICE DUPUY, ARIJETA LAJKA and ABRIL MULATOAugust 30, 2019 A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these is legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the real facts: ___ CLAIM: Photo shows a jaguar being rescued after throwing itself in the water during recent fires in the Amazon. THE FACTS: The photo, which has circulated widely on social media as a record number of wildfires burn in Brazil, was taken in 2016 by Brazilian photographer None Mangueira as part of a project to save jaguars in the Amazon. It shows a Brazilian army soldier swimming with a jaguar in the middle of the Rio Negro in Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state. Mangueira told The Associated Press that the jaguar, Jiquitaia, was adopted by the army after hunters killed his mother. Soldiers who raised Jiquitaia took him to swim every day. He was 2 years old in the picture. “It has nothing to do with the fires,” Mangueira said. The project, Jaguars in the Amazon, was created by the Military Command of the Amazon, a branch of the Brazilian army. It seeks to promote the preservation of the species in that area. The Amazon provides the largest contiguous area of habitat for jaguars and is considered key to their survival. Mangueira said the photo has been wrongly identified before and used without her authorization. In June 2016, the photo of Jiquitaia was wrongly identified as being Juma, a 9-year-old jaguar shot dead by a soldier after participating in an Olympic torch event in Manaus. She posted on her Facebook page about the misuse of the photo in 2016, “Here’s an alert for us photographers about the bad faith of third parties. Protect you projects, protect your images! Help me spread the truth! __ CLAIM: The Amazon rainforest — “the lungs of the Earth” — produces 20% of the planet’s oxygen. THE FACTS: Scientists say while the Amazon is important to the world’s ecosystem, it does not produce 20% of the world’s oxygen. In fact, the region absorbs the same amount of oxygen it produces. The 20% figure circulated widely this month as concerns grew around fires burning in the Amazon. It was passed on social media platforms, cited by politicians and quoted by the media, including The Associated Press. The reality, according to experts, is that forests, including the Amazon, absorb roughly the same amount of oxygen as they produce. While plants do produce oxygen through photosynthesis, experts explained, they also absorb it to grow, as do animals and microbes. “Even if all plants in the Amazon stopped doing photosynthesis, we would not notice,” Jonathan Foley, executive director of Project Drawdown, a global climate solutions, told The Associated Press. “It would take millions of years for the atmosphere to run out of oxygen.” Still, that doesn’t mean the fires aren’t an issue for the planet. The Amazon plays a key role in draining heat-trapping carbon dioxide, CO2, from the atmosphere. It’s estimated the Amazon takes in almost 2 billion tons a year of CO2, making it key to preventing climate change. Scott Denning, an atmospheric scientist at Colorado State University, told The Associated Press that much of the world’s oxygen comes from the ocean. Plants, such as phytoplankton, have contributed to breathable oxygen through photosynthesis for millions of years. Denning said he has a theory about how the 20 percent figure might have originated, citing a study published in Science Magazine in 2010, which found the Amazon accounts for 20 percent of land photosynthesis. Among those who used the false figure was French President Emmanuel Macron, who took to Twitter on Aug. 22 to demand that world leaders at the G-7 summit in Biarritz, France, discuss what he called an emergency. “Our house is burning,” he tweeted. “Literally. The Amazon rainforest - the lungs which produces 20% of our planet’s oxygen - is on fire. It is an international crisis. Members of the G7 Summit, let’s discuss this emergency first order in two days!” Ultimately, the Group of Seven nations pledged $20 million from the group. ___ CLAIM: Video shows a helicopter setting fire to the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. THE FACTS: The video shows a helicopter participating in an effort to contain a wildfire in the Canadian province of British Columbia in August 2018. The video was shared on Facebook and YouTube, falsely identified as showing a helicopter setting fire to the Amazon rainforest. Tom Arduini, owner of Arduini Helicopters in Williams Lake, British Columbia, told The Associated Press he was flying the helicopter featured in the video. He said fire was being sprayed from the helicopter onto a forest fire below as part of a tactic called back burning, where fires are intentionally set in dry areas to keep a wildfire from spreading. “The area set on fire is known as the fire guard” Arduini said. “If you don’t do it, the fire will continue to burn,” he said. The video was filmed southwest of Quesnel, British Columbia. There was another helicopter flying overhead filming the crew. Arduini posted the video on the company’s Facebook page on August 22, 2018, with the caption: “Busy again this year with firefighting. This time fighting fire with fire!” He said the video was taken a few days before it was published. The video has been used with false claims before on social media. In November 2018, as deadly wildfires burned in California, it was posted on YouTube claiming to show a “helicopter caught causing California fires.” ___ CLAIM: Olive Garden is “funding” President Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign. THE FACTS: Social media users began recirculating the false claim on Twitter early this week, encouraging users to boycott the chain restaurant. Olive Garden responded with a tweet stating that the information was incorrect and that neither the Olive Garden nor Darden Restaurants, Inc., its parent company, contributes to presidential candidates. Darden operates several restaurant chains, including LongHorn Steakhouse, The Capital Grille and Bahama Breeze. Olive Garden, an Italian-themed restaurant, first addressed the claim on Aug.9 after a tweet, which got more than 500,000 likes, included the company on a list of places supporting Trump’s reelection. “We did send a message to our restaurants to address the inaccurate information in case they got questions from guests,” Meagan Bernstein, an Olive Garden spokeswoman, said in an email to the AP. The company tweeted Sunday to clarify that Darden does not donate to candidates on the national level. They posted the information after a tweet emerged stating: “Olive Garden is funding Trump’s re-election in 2020. It would be terrible if you shared this and Olive Garden lost business. In the 2018 election cycle, all contributions to candidates from Darden Restaurants were from individuals, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan research group that tracks money in U.S. politics, which runs OpenSecrets.org. For Darden Restaurants, the site includes a disclaimer that says Darden did not donate the money itself. The false claim about Olive Garden follows an internet campaign earlier this month that called for a boycott of the luxury gym Equinox and cycling studio SoulCycle after it was announced that the owner of the companies, Stephen Ross, was throwing a fundraiser for Trump. ___ This is part of The Associated Press’ ongoing effort to fact-check misinformation that is shared widely online, including work with Facebook to identify and reduce the circulation of false stories on the platform.
Manufacturing in the United States is on the decline under Trump. https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-09-03/hiltzik-trump-is-killing-us-manufacturing
This reminds me of Trump. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/blame-abc-news-finds-17-cases-invoking-trump/story?id=58912889
CNN keeps trying to outdo itself on presenting non-news segments featuring alcoholic TDS Hollywood dementia-patient because his unhinged, profane rants make their viewers ignore the facts. Robert De Niro’s foul-mouthed CNN appearance raises eyebrows inside network: ‘What did our viewers gain?’ By Brian Flood | Fox News Outspoken anti-Trump actor Robert De Niro dropped a pair of f-bombs when asked about Fox News during a conversation about President Trump in a vulgar CNN appearance on Sunday that has critics wondering what he was doing on the liberal network in the first place. A current CNN on-air personality who spoke on condition of anonymity questioned the decision to book De Niro. “It’s particularly puzzling that our show, which allegedly critiques media, would choose to host a Hollywood celebrity with zero discernible news value,” the CNN employee said. “What is his credential, other than deeply hating the president? What did our viewers gain from his vulgarity?” The 76-year-old De Niro appeared on CNN’s media show “Reliable Sources” with host Brian Stelter, who told the Hollywood legend that the liberal network had been trying to book him “for a while.” De Niro is famous for his tough-guy shtick and has used profanity to attack Trump in the past, including famously launching a salty tirade at the president during the 2018 Tony Awards. During his live CNN appearance, De Niro called the president “crazy” and didn’t disappoint fans of his iconic gangster flicks when he was asked about pundits on Fox News who support Trump. “F--- ‘em, f--- ‘em,” De Niro said. The Hill media reporter Joe Concha feels the situation was “contrived” because CNN has allowed profanity on its air in the past and De Niro is known for using vulgar language when speaking about President Trump. CNN has not distanced itself from the interview and even promoted it on social media and its website. A second CNN personality, also speaking on the condition of anonymity, said they would have quickly ended the interview when De Niro used profanity. “I would have said, ‘We’re done here,’ but entitlement culture comes from people who are icons in their trade, they think they can get away with that on a Sunday morning,” the source said. “But if it’s good for ratings you can deal with the blowback.” Stelter, unlike his colleague, did not immediately apologize for the language and noted that it was on cable so the comment wouldn’t result in an FCC violation. A CNN spokesperson directed Fox News to a Twitter exchange between Stelter and a National Republican Senatorial Committee staffer when asked why the partisan actor was booked on a media show. “Interviewing one of the best-known actors in the world falls squarely within the purpose, which is (as I say most Sundays) to explore ‘how the media world works, how the news gets made,’” Stelter tweeted when asked the purpose of his show in the first place. “So his reliability as a reliable source on key issues like impeachment and the President’s mental health is based solely on his status as a celebrity? Just wanted to make clear that was the calculus,” NRSC staffer Matt Whitlock fired back at the “Reliable Sources” host. NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck told Fox News that the CNN media show is “as close to a sermon for the Resistance as one will get” and De Niro's appearance was nothing different. "Stelter feigned discomfort for what happened, but in reality, CNN couldn't be any prouder of how that went down. De Niro's tirade illustrated why any lecture from [CNN] about civility and decency will continue to ring hollow,” Houck said. “The desire to impeach the president has become such an obsession for CNN and the rest of the liberal media that it's become a 21st-century version of the golden calf that these people worship.” De Niro – who has played former Special Counsel Robert Mueller on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live – once urged Mueller to speak out against Trump in an open letter published by the New York Times. The Oscar-winning actor has also called Trump a “total loser,” a “f---ing idiot,” “f---ing fool” and said he would like to punch the president in the face. “No Things Considered” host and political satirist Tim Young also questioned why the actor was booked on CNN’s media show. "I'm not sure how Robert De Niro is a ‘reliable source,’ or what he would even be a reliable source on. He didn’t talk Hollywood, he was brought on to rant and swear about why he hates Trump,” Young told Fox News before joking, “Oh, I get it, maybe he was a reliable source on Trump Derangement Syndrome.” DePauw University professor and frequent CNN critic Jeffrey McCall told Fox News: “We live in a weird time in which pop culture blends with public affairs,” but even with that consideration, there is no journalistic purpose to putting somebody like De Niro on “what is supposed to be a serious” show about media and public affairs. “The producers, including Stelter, just had to know that De Niro would go on television and cut loose with verbal brickbats and that's what they got," McCall said. "Having Hollywood types on news programs to discuss national policy is a problem from the outset, but having an actor who has a history of strident and profane outbursts just further disrupts public dialogue. “The problem with this interview is not just the foul language, but also the angry and emotional tone that permeates the discussion,” McCall continued. ‘De Niro clearly detests Trump, which he has a right to do, but Stelter needed to guide the discussion into something that might generate meaningful insight… this interview was not good television or good journalism. It simply fuels public disenchantment with how the media does its job, allowing emotion and polarization into what needs to be rational dialogue.” Media Research Center vice president Dan Gainor mocked the interview on Twitter, writing that “Reliable Sources” is “just left-wing activism” and noting that actual “journalists” don’t care what De Niro thinks of Trump. https://www.foxnews.com/media/robert-de-niro-cnn
Fox News crushes MSNBC, CNN to win 71st straight quarter as ‘Hannity’ finishes atop cable news By Brian Flood | Fox News Fox News Channel has been the most-watched cable news network for a whopping 71 straight quarters after dominating MSNBC and CNN during the third quarter of 2019. Fox News averaged 2.4 million primetime viewers from 8-11 p.m. ET, while MSNBC averaged 1.5 million, and struggling CNN managed only a smidge over the one million mark. FNC’s primetime trio finished as the three most-watched programs, as “Hannity” finished No. 1 on cable news, averaging 3.3 million nightly viewers. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” averaged 3.1 million to finish second and “The Ingraham Angle” averaged 2.6 million to finish third. MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” finished fourth, behind FNC’s entire primetime lineup. It was Maddow’s lowest-rated viewership since the first quarter of 2017. CNN’s most-watched show was “Cuomo Prime Time,” which finished No. 23 overall behind 14 different programs on Fox News and eight on MSNBC. “Cuomo Prime Time” was unable to crack the top 20 programs despite a ton of free publicity in August when nearly 10 million people watched a viral video of host Chris Cuomo famously threatening a man who referred to him as "Fredo." Fox News also topped cable news among they key demographic of adults age 25-54, averaging 366,000 primetime viewers compared to 268,000 for CNN and 228,000 for MSNBC. Fox News nearly topped both networks combined among total day viewers, averaging 1.4 million while MSNBC averaged 880,000 and CNN averaged 624,000. Among the key demo, Fox News averaged 230,000 viewers compared to 148,000 for CNN and 128,000 for MSNBC. FNC had double-digit percent advantages over MSNBC and CNN in both categories and a triple-digit percent advantage over CNN in primetime total viewers. But Fox News didn’t only beat MSNBC and CNN, as it topped all of basic cable in both total day and primetime viewers, too. It was the 13th consecutive quarter that FNC finished atop all of basic cable among total day viewers. “Fox & Friends” celebrated its 21st anniversary during the third quarter by finishing as the most-watched cable news morning show for the 71st straight quarter with an average viewership of 1.5 million, while CNN’s “New Day” managed a dismal total of 461,000 daily viewers. “Outnumbered Overtime” with Harris Faulkner averaged 1.3 million viewers to beat its 1 p.m. ET competition not just on cable, but it even outdrew ABC News’ heavily promoted “GMA” 25 times during the quarter. FNC also finished September as the most-watched network in all of cable for the 39th straight month. All ratings data courtesy of Nielsen Media Research.
Dan Gainor: Fake news – ABC falsely portrays Kentucky shooting range as Syria battle scene By Dan Gainor | Fox News ABC News aired misleading footage during its coverage of a battle between Syria and Turkey. The battlefield images came from a gun range in Kentucky. The network has issued an apology. How far will the media go to get rid of President Trump? Journalists hyped a phony Russian collusion narrative for nearly three years. ABC News’ Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross’ false Russia reporting was so bad it actually tanked the stock market. This week, ABC News outdid itself. It used video of shooting at a gun range in Kentucky and said it showed an attack by Turkish forces on Kurds in Syria. This made Trump look bad and potentially escalated the conflict. It appears someone at ABC may have tried to get the U.S. into a war. But the press downplayed the incident as an accident. The incident resembled the plot from the movie “Wag the Dog,” except the movie had better writing than ABC. Here’s what happened. Sunday’s “World News Tonight” featured a report called “Slaughter in Syria,” with weekend anchor Tom Llamas reporting. He talked while a video appeared on screen apparently showing a massive gun battle peppered with explosions. Describing the scene, words on the screen said: ‘CRISIS IN SYRIA, ISIS prisoners escape as death toll rises in attack.” Llamas described the U.S. troop pullout from the Syria-Turkey border as “effectively abandoning America’s allies in the fight against ISIS.” Then he explained what looked like a terrifying scene. “This video right here appearing to be showing Turkey’s military bombing Kurdish civilians in a Syrian border town,” Llamas said. “The Kurds, who fought alongside the U.S. against ISIS – now horrific reports of atrocities committed by Turkish-backed fighters on those very allies.” The video was so powerful that ABC used it again on “Good Morning America” the next day. This time, correspondent Ian Pannell told viewers: “This video obtained by ABC News appears to show the fury of the Turkish attack on the border town.” Appears. But as the old saying goes, appearances can be deceiving – and they certainly were in this case. Extraordinarily deceiving, in fact. Sure, it was amazing video. Lots of guns going off. Lots of things exploding. But it wasn’t a battle scene. The video was from a nighttime machine-gun shoot at the Knob Creek Gun Range in West Point, Ky. – not Syria. Social media posters recognized the video wasn’t from Syria and other news outlets reported the shocking incident. ABC issued Twitter corrections, because that’s what outlets do when they are too embarrassed to tell viewers. The correction stated the network removed the video “after questions were raised about its accuracy.” Naturally, “ABC News regrets the error.” More like ABC appearsto regret the error. This was briefly a big controversy. CNN’s Brian Stelter called it “a big black eye for ABC News.” Even The New York Times noted that “ABC News did not specify how the error had occurred.” Journalism’s Poynter Institute added: “Into that vacuum of non-information rushed a familiar barrage of cynical accusations.” Then it proceeded to rationalize how showing the wrong video was simply an accident, because there was no proof it wasn’t. Poynter insisted that “knowingly misrepresenting anything is not in the interest of a standards-based news organization.” Of course, the standards-based news organization also tanked the stock market in its desperate attempt to get Trump. The president called the ABC blunder “a big scandal” and a “disgrace.” He’s right. And, perhaps, those who simply say that “accidents happen” might be right as well. ABC hasn’t elaborated and has already proved itself untrustworthy. You notice how the news media don’t make big errors that help Trump? Instead, they assume the worst and ignore one of journalism’s cardinal rules – when a story seems too good to be true, it usually is. ABC leaves viewers with only two disturbing choices. It is either trying to destabilize the Mideast and cause a war with NATO ally Turkey or it employs idiots who are easily duped and bosses who don’t even bother to verify the video they run. Both choices say a lot about journalism in 2019. Finger-pointing at Trump and Obama gets different reactions We turn from “Wag the Dog” to wag the finger. Only no two digits are alike when it comes to the press. This week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., stood across from Trump at a crowded conference table and pointed her finger. The media couldn’t wait to celebrate Pelosi’s victory over Trump and evil men. CNN ran a video from correspondent Dana Bash headlined: “Look at Pelosi standing up to Trump at table of all men.” That was a common theme. Give credit to the Washington Free Beacon’s Andrew Kugle, who captured all sorts of examples of finger-pointing fandom. Only he paired it with media outlets up in arms when then-Gov. Jan Brewer, R-Ariz., treated then-President Barack Obama in the same manner back in 2012. Journalists were furious at Brewer for allegedly disrespecting the president who they voted for and adored. Some even turned it into a racial incident. Jack Cafferty, then of CNN, summed up that view with the comment: “All that many saw in that famous photograph was a white woman wagging her finger at the first black president.” Brewer took to Twitter to underscore the double-digit, double-standard. “The news media hails @SpeakerPelosi as a hero for pointing her finger at @POTUS @realDonaldTrump but when I stood up to @BarackObama I was vilified as rude and racist. Such Hypocrites!” Brewer wrote. And she’s right. Both times the media were giving the finger to honest journalism. Free press hates free speech Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg went to Georgetown University this week and gave a pivotal address on free expression. He paired it with a Washington Post op-ed, both times calling for “the freedom for people to express themselves.” And the news media were furious about it. Think about that. Facebook wasn’t subtle. It headlined his speech on its own site as “Mark Zuckerberg Stands for Voice and Free Expression.” It’s long past time that Big Tech did just that. To be fair, Zuckerberg also called for governments to deliver “new regulation in four areas: harmful content, election integrity, privacy and data portability.” Given the tendency of governments to restrict freedom (China!) that could become a global nightmare, just as it’s becoming one in Europe. Letting government just decide so-called “hate speech” would torch online free speech. Journalists were critical of Zuckerberg’s “controversial” speech. “CBS This Morning” co-host Anthony Mason was typical: “Coming up, Mark Zuckerberg’s controversial comments about censoring politicians.” There are reasons why the press is upset about “controversial” speech. A Politico article by reporter Ryan Lizza this week noted how the big social media companies are viewed as dangerous to the left. “A consensus is emerging in Democratic politics that these platforms are the greatest threat to the party’s eventual nominee,” he wrote. That’s because the left doesn’t dominate social media the way it does traditional news. That’s a big reason why journalists want Zuckerberg and others to restrict political speech. They want to beat Trump in 2020.
what the media and many others are bothered by is that facebook refuses to take down obvious fake stories and lies that are typical of what comes out of the trump administration. You know, things like that fake video of trump shooting up his opponents. For a guy that cries fake news on a daily basis to then come back with your post promoting fake news is about as big of a hypocrite one can be. Time to slither back under that rock.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/assoc...adicted-sondlands-testimony-with-direct-quote Associated Press deletes tweet falsely claiming Trump contradicted Sondland's testimony with direct quote By Joseph A. Wulfsohn | Fox News The Associated Press was forced to take down a tweet that inaccurately claimed President Trump had contradicted the testimony of U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, despite Trump and Sondland using the same words. Speaking to reporters before departing on a scheduled trip to Texas, Trump claimed Sondland's testimony meant "it's all over" for the proceedings and that the House inquiry into Trump needed to come to a halt. Trump then read from notes, "'I want nothing. I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo. Tell [President Volodymyr] Zelensky to do the right thing.'" Earlier, Sondland testified that Trump previously said those words after the ambassador asked the president what he wanted from Ukraine. "It was a very short, abrupt conversation," the ambassador said. "He was not in a good mood, and he just said, 'I want nothing. I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo. Tell Zelensky to do the right thing.' Something to that effect." MEDIA OUTLETS ATTRIBUTE OBAMA-ERA CHILD-DETENTION STATS TO TRUMP, ISSUE RETRACTIONS The Associated Press was forced to take down a tweet about President Trump and U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, who testified before House lawmakers Wednesday. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Montage) However, The Associated Press tweeted that Trump's remarks were "contradicting" Sondland's. "Contradicting the testimony of his own ambassador, President Trump says he wanted "nothing" from [Ukraine] and says the #ImpeachmentHearings should be brought to an end," the now-deleted tweet read. Critics slammed the news outlet for the inaccurate tweet. "This is not a contradiction. It is a direct quote from Amb. Sondland's testimony," Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., reacted. "It’s a direct quote from Sondland’s testimony about his conversations with Trump, you incompetent liars," The Federalist co-founder Sean Davis wrote. After deleting the tweet, The Associated Press then wrote how Trump was "highlighting" Sondland's testimony, but adding that Sondland "said at other points that there was a quid pro quo involving" the Ukrainian government. The AP also said, "An earlier tweet that didn’t make clear that President Trump was quoting from Gordon Sondland’s testimony in which he was quoting Trump has been deleted."
Fake News Fredo gets mocked twice in one day. CNN's Chris Cuomo fails to ask former FBI's McCabe, Baker about network's own FISA bombshell report By Joseph A. Wulfsohn | Fox News CNN anchor Chris Cuomo made a stunning omission on Thursday night and failed to ask former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and former FBI General Counsel James Baker about the network's own report regarding an unnamed FBI official being under criminal investigation by Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz. CNN first reported that Horowitz had been investigating an FBI official who allegedly altered a document used to obtain a FISA warrant in order to surveil a former Trump campaign adviser during the 2016 election. Horowitz reportedly turned the evidence over to U.S. Attorney John Durham, who has launched a criminal probe in the origins of the Russia investigation. The Washington Post also verified the reporting. However, despite his network breaking the news hours earlier, Cuomo did not mention the report during his entire show Thursday night, most notably, during his sit-down with McCabe and Baker, who are now CNN contributors. Instead, the "Cuomo Prime Time" anchor spent the entire hour covering the ongoing impeachment hearing into President Trump and spoke with McCabe and Baker on how Thursday's testimony of former National Security Council aide Dr. Fiona Hill "shattered GOP conspiracy theories." McCabe and Baker were still high-ranking officials at the FBI when the FISA application into Page was drafted. Horowitz is set to reveal his findings on the alleged DOJ abuses on December 9. Cuomo had a rough day during Thursday's impeachment hearing. He was brutally mocked after his attempt to disprove Trump’s theory about how phones work backfired on live television. David Holmes, the political counsel at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, testified during Thursday’s impeachment hearing that he overheard a would-be damning phone call between Trump and European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland. Holmes said he “could hear the president’s voice through the earpiece of the phone,” which was not on speakerphone. Trump, in real-time, tweeted his skepticism. “I have been watching people making phone calls my entire life. My hearing is, and has been, great. Never have I been watching a person making a call, which was not on speakerphone, and been able to hear or understand a conversation. I’ve even tried, but to no avail,” Trump tweeted. “Try it live!” CNN’s Cuomo took the president up on the challenge and called his mother during coverage of the impeachment hearing. “Let's just play with that for a second. Mom can you hear me?” Cuomo asked, without receiving a response from his mother. “I’m with Dana Bash… can you just say hello? Mom? She probably can’t hear me,” Cuomo said as he struggled to hear whether or not his mother could hear him. Cuomo then put the device on speakerphone. “Mom, can you hear me?” he asked again. “I hear you, when you talk to me I hear you,” his mother responded. The “Cuomo Prime Time” namesake then turned off speakerphone and could no longer hear his mother — just as Trump explained is typically the case. A frustrated Cuomo then hung up the phone and critics quickly lampooned the moment.
