CNN, which often dedicates wall-to-wall coverage for any latest controversy from President Trump, virtually avoided covering Joe Biden's "you ain't black" remarks Friday morning that sparked backlash throughout the day. The presumptive Democrat nominee sparked a firestorm on Friday during an interview with Charlamagne tha God on the radio show "The Breakfast Club" as he defended his record with the black community. “I tell you if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black,” Biden said. Later in the afternoon, Biden walked back those remarks during a conversation with black business leaders, stopping short of a full apology. "I've
never ever taken the African-American community for granted, had their
support ... I shouldn't have been such a wise guy. I shouldn't have been
so cavalier," Biden later said. "I don't take it for granted at all,
and no one, no one should have to vote for any party, based on their
race or religion or background." Still, Biden's remarks dominated
the conversation on social media with the hashtags #YouAintBlack and
#JoeBidenIsARacist trending on Twitter.
Fox
News and MSNBC covered the dust-up throughout the day. ABC News, CBS
News and NBC News all addressed the controversy on their evening
programs. However, CNN's lack of coverage throughout the day was called out by critics. "Fascinating
to watch how the left-leaning cable networks have covered Biden’s 'you
ain’t black' comment. MSNBC has discussed it nearly every hour... CNN
hasn’t mentioned it once," former CNN digital producer-turned-media
critic Steve Krakauer tweeted. George Washington University law
professor Jonathan Turley pointed out the "crickets" coming from CNN. In
the afternoon, Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna
McDaniel called out the network for going hours without mentioning the
controversy. "It’s
been over 5 HOURS since Biden told Black people they 'ain’t black' if
they support @realDonaldTrump. How many times has CNN mentioned his
bigoted comment on air? ZERO. Unreal," McDaniel tweeted. She later slammed
the anti-Trump network for waiting until "12 hours" to mention Biden's
"bigoted remarks," tweeting, "We all know that if a Republican made a
similar comment, CNN would have reworked their entire day of programming
to feature 9-person panels condemning it. The bias is unbelievable." "When
you take into account how both MSNBC covered this repeatedly and Biden
decided to issue a mea culpa, you're left with no conceivable excuse for
CNN other than they did so on purpose," NewsBusters managing editor
Curtis Houck told Fox News. "Instead, they decided that trashing the
administration for allowing houses of worship to reopen and gleefully
touting negative hydroxychloroquine headlines were jobs one and two." Houck
continued: "CNN has their insane way of going about their
newsgathering, presentation and selection, but ignoring a story like
this for hours and hours reminds us that their demands that other news
organizations act like they do should not only be dismissed but laughed
out of the room." CNN
didn't offer a full on-air report of Biden's remarks until the end of
the 7 p.m. ET hour, when anchor Erin Burnett spoke with Charlamagne tha
God about the interview, making it the last major news network to report
on Biden's comments. It had articles published on the website earlier
in the day. Instead, the network spent much of the day offering
critical coverage of the Trump administration's handling of the
coronavirus outbreak. Jordan Chariton, co-founder of the progressive media outlet Status Coup, said CNN's lack of coverage of the controversy is because the network "has been in the tank for Biden for over a year." "They
dragged their feet on many stories related to him including him lying
on being arrested in apartheid South Africa on his way to meeting Nelson
Mandela," Chariton told Fox News. "Outlets like CNN are protectors of
the status quo and as such, they will always try and cover up bad
stories for candidates like Biden rather than cover and challenge him." This
isn't the first time CNN's on-air coverage has raised eyebrows. On
Thursday, CNN bizarrely spent over 100 minutes covering President
Trump's refusal to wear a mask at the Ford plant. Meanwhile, the network
spent just 15 minutes combined from Monday through Thursday covering
the growing nursing-home controversy plaguing Democrat New York Gov.
Andrew Cuomo. A
CNN insider told Fox News that while Trump should have worn the
mask, the network is putting an undue emphasis on "what's not
important." "I don't know why they focus on things like this when
there are certainly more important things to focus on," the network
source said. The insider knocked CNN, suggesting that if
Trump found the cure for the coronavirus without wearing a mask, him not
wearing the mask would become "the story" on the network. Cuomo
has largely gotten a pass from CNN, as the network has largely refrained
from airing critical coverage of the Democrat governor. On Wednesday,
he appeared for his 10th interview with his brother, "Cuomo Prime Time"
anchor Chris Cuomo. As in previous interviews, the CNN anchor made
no mention of the growing death toll in New York nursing homes. Yet, he
did manage to squeeze in some prop comedy, mocking the governor's
televised coronavirus test examination with overly-sized cotton swabs
while poking fun at the size of his nose. "CNN's
coverage of Andrew Cuomo has been consistent with much of the media:
focus on the glowing verbiage and ignore the catastrophic mishandling of
nursing homes that led to thousands of deaths,” Cornell Law School
professor and media critic William A. Jacobson told Fox News. “This
problem is compounded by a serious conflict of interest arising from
the relationship between Chris Cuomo, one of CNN's highest-profile news
personalities, and his brother the governor,” Jacobson added. “Chris
Cuomo should not be allowed to cover or comment on air about his
brother, and CNN should appoint someone to monitor and review coverage
of Andrew Cuomo to prevent this conflict of interest from bleeding over
to other news coverage.” Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean told "Tucker Carlson Tonight"
Thursday that Cuomo's failed nursing-home policy should be "one of the
biggest" stories of the year after both of her parents-in-law lost their
lives to the coronavirus. "I have not seen the coverage of this,"
an emotional Dean said. "Twenty percent of our lost loved ones are from
nursing homes ... because Governor Cuomo and several other
governors forced COVID-recovering patients into nursing homes." Dean,
who rarely comments on political issues, felt compelled to speak out
after watching Wednesday night's CNN interview between the two playful
Cuomo brothers. "The fact that I am seeing, last night, him
... making fun, inappropriate jokes and insensitive jokes, cruel jokes
... make no mistake," Dean said, "I am glad that Chris Cuomo has
recovered from COVID because he apparently did have it. And I'm glad
that their family is well, but my family is not well. And that is not
something to joke about." Fox News' Brian Flood, Yael Haron, Paul Steinhauser, Madeleine Rivera and Allie Raffa contributed to this report.
Some Democrats in Pennslyvania
are reportedly beginning to put some pressure on Gov. Tom Wolf about
the state’s reopening process two months after his office issued a
stay-at-home order. The Philadelphia Inquirer pointed to
a few recent instances where Democrats seemed eager to see bigger steps
in the state's reopening, including a letter from State. Sen. Maria
Collett that relayed some frustrations of residents in Montgomery
County. The Tuesday letter informed Wolf that many in her county
have seen little evidence that Wolf's administration “recognizes and
sympathizes with the added physical, emotional, and financial suffering
they are facing as a result of our prolonged stay-at-home conditions,
which you know.” Wolf has maintained that his top priority is
safety, but like other states, residents have suffered financially from
coronavirus guidelines. About 2 million Pennsylvania residents
have lost their jobs since mid-March. Food and milk giveaways draw long
lines. Some people have gone two months without money because of the
state’s problem-plagued online unemployment benefits portal. “We’re
making decisions based on the best information we have, and making the
best decisions we can, based on the best models that are always changing
and moving," Wolf said, according to PennLive.com.
The
state is reportedly taking a county-centric approach. The PennLive
report said 37 of the state’s 67 counties are in the yellow stage, which
essentially means caution and mitigation. Eighteen counties are red,
which means a stay-at-home order is in place. President Trump recently talked about the state’s lockdown and said Pennsylvanians “want their freedom now.” The
paper reported that Wolf’s response to the coronavirus has been praised
and “Democrats aren’t exactly defecting” but there is some pressure.
The paper reported that 16 Senate Democrats signed a letter recently for
the governor’s office to consider permitting non-“life-sustaining”
stores for curbside pickup. “The truth of the matter is we do need
to start thinking about getting people back to work," State Sen. Steve
Santarsiero, a Democrat, said. "I really think we’re getting very close
to that point. Curbside pickup is part of that question. I think that
would really help get things moving again.” Dr. Rachel Levine,
Wolf’s health secretary, said the Health Department will soon release
criteria for moving a county into the green phase of Wolf’s reopening
plan. “As
we release the metrics to go into the green zone, we’re also working on
what life in the green zone would (look) like, especially for
businesses, restaurants, etc.,” Levine said.
In a round table with the State Department Thursday, Attorney General William Barr emphasized the importance of the US beating China in the race for 5G telecommunications networks. “The
United States and our partners are in an urgent race against the
People’s Republic of China (PRC) to develop and build 5G infrastructure
around the world,” said Barr in a statement. 5G
is expected to change the way people live and work by supplying a
faster and more reliable internet connection - along with a host of
technological advances such self-driving cars, smart cities and remote
surgeries. “Our
national security and the flourishing of our liberal democratic values
here and around the world depend on our winning it,” Barr said Thursday.
“Future 5G networks will be a critical piece of global infrastructure,
the central nervous system of the global economy.” The race to achieving 5G first, is in developing infrastructure to allow 5G to work in the United States and allied countries. Security
officials warn that China may use the development of 5G and its
infrastructure to be able to spy on people more easily. “5G technology lies at the center of the technological and industrial world that is taking shape,” said Barr in a February speech addressing a conference on the security risks China poses. “In
essence, communications networks are not just for communications
anymore. They are evolving into the central nervous system of the next
generation of internet.” Barr noted that telecom giants like
Huawei are leading the 5G race, and currently account for 40 percent of
the global 5G infrastructure market. US
intelligence officials have also said that the equipment made by
Chinese telecom companies could possibly threaten national security. “If
the PRC [People’s Republic of China] wins the 5G race, the
geopolitical, economic, and national security consequences will be
staggering,” said Barr Thursday. Huawei is known to have built
equipment that preserves and shares private information to Chinese law
enforcement officials, through a process known as “lawful interception
interfaces.” US security officials believe this access could be shared
on a larger scale with the Chinese government and put US intelligence in
jeopardy. But
Barr said he believes the US could catch up with China’s 5G progress by
working “closely with trusted vendors to pursue practical and realistic
strategies.” We can win the race, but we must act now.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told "The Story with Martha MacCallum" Thursday that the Senate is "not quite ready to intelligently" lay out the next coronavirus stimulus package, but added "it's not too far off." "The
[CARES] Act, which passed a month or so ago on a bipartisan basis, only
about half of that money has gone out yet," McConnell said. "I think
there's a high likelihood we will do another rescue package, but we need
to be able to measure the impact of what we've already done, what we
did right, what we did wrong [and] correct that. "Let me tell you what it won't be," McConnell added. "It won't be a $3 trillion left-wing wish list as it passed the House." The
majority leader went on to say that lawmakers "need to work smart here,
help the people who are desperately in need, try to save as many jobs
as possible and begin to open up the states, which are decisions by the
governors that are going on all over America now and get this economy
growing again." With that in mind, McConnell said any new stimulus package would not include enhanced unemployment benefits. "The
problem was by paying people more not to work than to work, it's making
it difficult to get people back to work. You can understand that,"
McConnell told MacCallum. "We do need to continue unemployment
insurance, [it's] extremely important at a time like this. "But to
pay people more not to work than to work doesn't encourage resuming
your job. And that will end in July. And we think that in order to
create jobs, we need to incentivize people to go back to work, not
encourage them to stay home." The senator also reemphasized the need for businesses to receive liability protections in any future stimulus. "You're
going to have liability protection in there so that people, or the
plaintiffs' lawyers are prevented from stealing, in effect, all of this
public money we're sending down to hospitals and doctors and non-profits
as a result of the coronavirus," McConnell told MacCallum. "And so
that's one of our red lines, that the next bill will need to have
liability protection in there just to cover narrowly cover the
coronavirus, not anything else." McConnell
also responded to criticism that such liability provisions would
shield nursing homes and care facilities where coronavirus victims died
from legal action "Well, the answer is it wouldn't protect any
nursing home from from a gross negligence or intentional misbehavior
[claim]," McConnell said. "So it's not an absolute protection against
any kind of behavior. So those kinds of lawsuits would still lie."
President Trump blasted the attorney general of Michigan late Thursday after she said she was going to have a “very serious conversation” with Ford
Motor Co. for allowing the president to go without a mask during part
of a tour of the company's Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti. “The
Wacky Do Nothing Attorney General of Michigan, Dana Nessel, is
viciously threatening Ford Motor Company for the fact that I inspected a
Ventilator plant without a mask,” Trump tweeted after his tour. “Not
their fault, & I did put on a mask. No wonder many auto companies
left Michigan, until I came along!” Trump did wear a mask for part
of the tour of the plant that has been repurposed to make medical
supplies, but refused to put it on in front of reporters -- although at
least one photographer snapped a photo that was posted on social media.
It showed the president wearing a mask that included the presidential
seal.
President Trump holds his protective face mask as he speaks while
touring Ford's Rawsonville Components Plant that has been converted to
making personal protection and medical equipment, Thursday, May 21,
2020, in Ypsilanti, Mich. (Associated Press)
"I had one on before,” Trump told reporters during
the visit. “I wore one on in this back area. I didn't want to give the
press the pleasure of seeing it. In the back area I did have a mask on. I
had goggles and a mask right back there.” He
added it wasn’t necessary to wear a mask around reporters and Ford
representatives in the front of the plant because “Everybody's been
tested.” Nessel told CNN the state would be speaking to Ford about
allowing the president to go without a mask for the public portion of
the tour in what she said was a violation of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s
executive order requiring masks in enclosed public spaces. "They
knew exactly what the order was and if they permitted anyone, even the
president of the United States, to defy that order, I think it has
serious health consequences potentially to their workers,” Nessel told CNN. She
also said she was "ashamed" to have him as the president and she hoped
Micigan voters voters "will remember this when November comes, that he
didn't care enough about their safety, he didn't care about their
welfare, he didn't respect them enough just to engage in the very simple
task, the painless task, the easy task of wearing a mask when he was
provided one." Trump suggested in another tweet that Ford might leave Michigan if they’re held accountable for his actions. “Do
nothing A.G. of the Great State of Michigan, Dana Nessel, should not be
taking her anger and stupidity out on Ford Motor - they might get upset
with you and leave the state, like so many other companies have - until
I came along and brought business back to Michigan. JOBS!” he wrote. When
asked if it was true that it wasn’t required that the president wear a
mask, Ford’s CEO, Jim Hackett, told reporters, “It’s up to him.” In
a statement Thursday afternoon, the Ford Motor Company added: “Bill
Ford encouraged President Trump to wear a mask when he arrived. He wore a
mask during a private viewing of three Ford GTs from over the
years. The president later removed the mask for the remainder of the
visit.” Bill Ford, the great-grandson of Henry Ford, has been the
company’s executive chairman. Nessel later responded to Trump on Twitter, defending the state's auto industry. "Hi!
After struggling with our Gov & SOS, impressed you know my name,"
she wrote. "Seems like you have a problem with all 3 women who run MI-as
well as your ability to tell the truth. The auto industry has been
thriving for years bc of our incredible auto workers & companies." She
added that it was hard to say she's done nothing "with all the lawsuits
myself and the other @DemocraticAGs have filed and won against you."
White House press
secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday called out CNN’s Chris Cuomo
for taking a “less safe version" of hydroxychloroquine during his recent
bout with the coronavirus. "You had Chris Cuomo saying, ‘The
president knows that hydroxychloroquine is not supported by science. He
knows it has been flagged by his own people and he has been using it.’
Well, Cuomo mocked the president for this,” McEnany said. She
then compared hydroxychloroquine -- which President Trump recently said
he is taking to prevent catching the virus -- to the version that Cuomo
claims to be using. “Hydroxychloroquine, of course, is an
FDA-approved medication with a long-proven track record for safety," she
continued, "and it turns out that Chris Cuomo took a less safe version
of it called quinine which the FDA removed from the market in 2006
because of its serious side effects, including death. So, really
interesting to have that criticism of the president." Cuomo’s
wife, Christina Cuomo, recently addressed her husband's coronavirus
recovery, explaining he’s taking “potenized quinine,” which she called a
“natural antibiotic.” On Monday, President Trump told reporters
he has been using hydroxychloroquine as a prophylactic against the
coronavirus for a little more than a week. Trump has been
extolling the potential benefits of hydroxychloroquine since the
beginning of the crisis, but medical experts and health officials have
debated how effective the anti-malaria drug is for either preventing or
treating the coronavirus.
