Perez/Tapper: Trump ‘In Cahoots’ With Putin?

Tom Perez – the newly minted chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) – joined CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday’s State of the Union to push the narrative of 2016’s presidential election having been compromised by malevolent Russian interference. Both Perez and Tapper used the same innuendo-laden language, inviting CNN’s audience to ponder if President Donald Trump is “in cahoots” with Russian state interests.

Tapper invited Perez to respond to President Donald Trump’s claim via tweet that the DNC’s leadership race was “rigged:”

Perez implied that 2016’s presidential election had been “rigged” via collusion between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. He also called for an “independent investigation” to pursue the baseless allegations (emphases added):

“What we need to be looking at is whether this election was rigged by Donald Trump and his buddy Vladimir Putin… Having Jeff Sessions oversee such an investigation, it’s really unfair to any foxes across America to say that would be the fox guarding the hen house. We need an independent investigation because that is a serious, serious issue, and the American people need to understand whether the Russians in cahoots with the Trump folks and others rigged the election. When Sessions and Flynn are out there together campaigning, they clearly lacked the authority and the objectivity to conduct that investigation. So we need an independent investigation.”

Tapper set the stage for Perez’s innuendo, asking CNN’s audience during State of the Union‘s introductory minute if Trump was “in cahoots” with malign Russian state interests. He also referred to “the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia,” offering no details of such connections.

Tapper offered no challenge to Perez’s suggestion that 2016’s presidential election had been compromised via malicious collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian state interests. He and his CNN colleagues regularly push the narrative of “election hacking” to cast doubt on the legitimacy of Trump’s presidency.

Below are examples of how CNN advances the aforementioned innuendo via its website’s headlines.

As the face of CNN’s flagship Sunday show, Tapper presents himself as an objective and non-partisan news media figure. CNN brands itself as “The Most Trusted Name In News” while likewise presenting itself as an objective and non-partisan news media outlet.

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