Biden’s White House will send letter to CNN, NY Times and other top outlets demanding
The Biden administration has been blasted over plans to send out a letter to major news organizations demanding they probe the ‘lies’ of the House GOP’s impeachment inquiry.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced an official impeachment inquiry on Tuesday over allegations of corruption and involvement in son Hunter’s business dealings, setting off fiery reactions from Democrats.
Ian Sams, a special assistant to the president and senior advisor to the White House Counsel’s Office, penned a letter to both conservative and liberal-leaning outlets, slated to be distributed Wednesday in an apparent attempt to influence their coverage. Among outlets targeted are CNN, the New York Times, the Associated Press and Fox news.
‘It’s time for the media to ramp up its scrutiny of House Republicans for opening an impeachment inquiry based on lies,’ Sams wrote.
Sams added the impeachment inquiry should ‘set off alarm bells for news organizations,’ but commentators both left and ring-wing have condemned the interference.
Journalist Matthew Keys tweeted: ‘This is not okay. The White House should not be encouraging, influencing or interfering in the editorial strategies of America’s newsrooms, including CNN and the New York Times.
The Biden administration is sending out a letter to many of the major news organizations across the country demanding they probe the ‘lies’ of the House GOP’s impeachment inquiry
CNN is allegedly one of the recipients of the letter which will be distributed to networks and outlets on both sides of the aisle
Keys added: ‘The media is not the problem. The bigger problem, at the moment, is what the White House is apparently planning to do, if Oliver Darcy’s reporting is correct (I have no doubt it is).
‘And that is the kind of short-sighted move that gets Donald Trump re-elected next year.’ He was referring to CNN’s media reporter Oliver Darcy, who first broke news of the letter.
The White House is demanding the news media avoid what Sams and the Bidens believe is false equivalency reporting.
‘Covering impeachment as a process story – Republicans say X, but the White House says Y – is a disservice to the American public who relies on the independent press to hold those in power accountable,’ Sams wrote.
He describes the Republican Party as full of ‘every day liars and hucksters’ who ‘peddle disinformation and lies everywhere from Facebook to Fox.
Sams calls them ‘process stories that fail to unpack the illegitimacy of the claims on which House Republicans are basing all their actions only serve to generate confusion, put false premises in people’s feeds, and obscure the truth.’
The letter is going to be sent out to high-level executives at CNN, the New York Times, Fox News, the Associated Press and CBS News, among others, according to CNN.
Sams – who worked on Biden’s transition team and has previously worked for the campaigns of Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton – was heavily critical of the impeachment inquiry in a tweet posted earlier Tuesday, calling it ‘extreme politics at its worst.’
‘House Republicans have been investigating the President for nine months, and they’ve turned up no evidence of wrongdoing,’ he wrote.
Ian Sams, a special assistant to the president and senior advisor to the White House Counsel’s Office, wrote the letter that seems to influence news coverage
The president has denied any involvement in his son Hunter’s business dealings. But Republicans claim at least a dozen Biden family members could be involved in a scheme to benefit financially from Biden’s public office
The letter is going to be sent out to high-level executives at CNN, the New York Times, Fox News, the Associated Press and CBS News, among others
He added Kevin McCarthy’s ‘own GOP members have said so. He vowed to hold a vote to open impeachment, now he flip-flopped because he doesn’t have support.’
McCarthy officially announced he will begin an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden in a shock statement accusing the president of an ‘abuse of power and being involved in a ‘culture of corruption’ over son Hunter’s foreign business deals.
‘House Republicans have uncovered serious and credible allegations into President Biden’s conduct,’ McCarthy said, speaking at the Capitol. ‘Taken together these allegations paint a picture of a culture of corruption.’
‘These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption. And they warrant further investigation by the House of Representatives. That’s why today I am directing our House committee to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden,’ he noted.
‘This logical next step will give our committees, the full power to gather all the facts and answers for the American public. That’s exactly what we want to know the answers.’
Republicans have charged Biden and his family made millions off shell companies Hunter Biden formed when his father was vice president. Hunter had business deals with an energy company in the Ukraine, received a discounted stake in a private-equity firm in China, and did consulting for a Romanian real-estate magnate.
The president has denied any involvement in his son’s business dealings. But Republicans claim at least a dozen Biden family members could be involved in a scheme to benefit financially from Biden’s public office.
House investigators are expected to issue subpoenas for the bank records of the president and his family. The GOP also claim Biden sat in on at least 24 calls with Hunter’s business partners and was referred to as ‘the big guy’ by Hunter’s business associates. And they say Joe Biden used pseudonyms to discuss his activities related to Ukraine with his son Hunter during his time as vice president.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy, facing heavy pressure from the right wing of the Republican Party, will launch an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden
An inquiry is the first step in the impeachment process. It is when evidence is gathered for the articles, or charges, of impeachment against an official.
It is a massive step with many pitfalls, including infuriating Republican moderates and many GOP senators, who are skeptical of the issue and causing friction with the White House as budget negotiations are underway. Congress faces a September 30 deadline to fund the government or it will shut down.
McCarthy, however, is under intense pressure from the conservative wing of his party to make such a move, including threats from some of his own GOP lawmakers to remove him from the speakership.
The White House has repeatedly denied Biden has conducted any wrongdoing. The president himself has said he was not involved with any of Hunter’s business deals.