Eager to keep the discredited New York Times hit piece against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the news for one more day, on Tuesday, CBS This Morning fretted over President Trump blasting the liberal paper “for publishing and then adjusting this story” and demanding that any reporters involved in the smear job resign.
“President Trump is doubling down on his defense of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh after the latest allegation of sexual misconduct. The President calls it a smear..,” co-host Anthony Mason announced. Correspondent Nancy Cordes declared that Trump was “not staying quiet” and “taking on a familiar target, The New York Times, for publishing and then adjusting this story.”
Of course, by “adjusting” she meant that the Times was forced to correct the story by including key information that was initially omitted – information that completely discredited the supposed allegation in the first place.
“President Trump defended the Supreme Court justice he appointed, against a new accusation of sexual misconduct,” Cordes proclaimed, as if the accusation were still credible. She then used another euphemism to downplay how flawed the reporting was:
Over the weekend, The New York Times published an excerpt from a book written by two of its reporters. In it, a classmate at Yale says he saw Kavanaugh expose himself to a female student at a party in the 1980s. The Times later issued a clarification, noting that the female student “declined to be interviewed” for the book and “friends say that she does not recall the incident.”
Curiously absent from the Cordes segment was any mention of another headline regarding Kavanaugh uncovered by the Times reporters. For their book, The Education of Brett Kavanaugh, authors Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly talked to a close friend of Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford, who admitted to now having serious doubts about those allegations.
To her credit, correspondent Jan Crawford reported on the major revelation during Monday’s CBS Evening News:
Speaking publicly for the first time, to the Times reporters, Ford's close friend Leland Keyser, who Ford said was at the party, said she didn't believe Ford's account and that it “just didn't make any sense”. She also said she told the FBI that Ford's allies pressured her to say otherwise. Now, all four people that Ford identified as being at that high school party in the summer of 1982 have now said no such party occurred.
Wrapping up her report on Tuesday, Cordes noted that Democratic calls to impeach Kavanaugh were being stymied by the party’s focus on trying to impeach Trump: “Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley is introducing an impeachment inquiry resolution into Kavanaugh in the House today, but it’s unlikely to go anywhere because the man who would likely lead that inquiry, Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, says he’s already got his hands full, Tony, with his impeachment inquiry into President Trump.”
On Monday, all three network morning shows boosted the Kavanaugh impeachment push despite the Times story falling apart.
Unlike CBS, NBC’s Today show and ABC’s Good Morning America both moved on from hit piece on Tuesday, not mentioning it once.
Here is a full transcript of the September 17 report from Cordes on CBS This Morning:
7:14 AM ET
ANTHONY MASON: President Trump is doubling down on his defense of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh after the latest allegation of sexual misconduct. The President calls it a smear, while Democrats say the FBI failed to check out that claim a year ago, before Kavanaugh was confirmed. Nancy Cordes is on Capitol Hill. Nancy, have we heard from Kavanaugh himself about this?
NANCY CORDES: Anthony, Kavanaugh has not responded to this new allegation, though in the past he has denied the other accusations. President Trump, on the other hand, not staying quiet. He is taking on a familiar target, The New York Times, for publishing and then adjusting this story.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: “Kavanaugh Smear Story”; POTUS Slams NYT Justice Kavanaugh Misconduct Report]
DONALD TRUMP: I call for the resignation of everybody at The New York Times involved in the Kavanaugh smear story.
CORDES: President Trump defended the Supreme Court justice he appointed, against a new accusation of sexual misconduct. Over the weekend, The New York Times published an excerpt from a book written by two of its reporters. In it, a classmate at Yale says he saw Kavanaugh expose himself to a female student at a party in the 1980s. The Times later issued a clarification, noting that the female student “declined to be interviewed” for the book and “friends say that she does not recall the incident.”
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL [R-KY]: We all remember this pattern from last time around. Shoot first, correct the facts later.
CORDES: Republicans slammed Democrats calling for Kavanaugh’s impeachment.
SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY [R-IA]: This is not an allegation, it’s barely a third-hand rumor.
CORDES: But Democrats are still questioning the thoroughness of the FBI's background investigation into Kavanaugh.
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS [D-CA]: It was a sham.
CORDES: Delaware Democrat Chris Coons said he was aware of the Yale allegations during the confirmation hearings and wrote to the FBI, asking it to investigate.
SEN. CHRIS COONS [D-DE]: The FBI did not thoroughly investigate credible allegations and I think it’s important that we all know why.
CORDES: Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley is introducing an impeachment inquiry resolution into Kavanaugh in the House today, but it’s unlikely to go anywhere because the man who would likely lead that inquiry, Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, says he’s already got his hands full, Tony, with his impeachment inquiry into President Trump.
TONY DOKOUPIL: Nancy Cordes for us. Nancy, thank you very much.
