Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) handed her party a problem it spent Sunday morning refusing to answer when she laughed off a slate of far-left policy positions as the excesses of &#8220;Woke 1.&#8221;
Two of the biggest Sunday shows put Ocasio-Cortez&#8217;s remark to Democratic guests as a loyalty test, and both guests gave a near-identical non-answer. NBC&#8217;s Kristen Welker and CNN&#8217;s Jake Tapper each raised it on &#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EukfmKkYwS4">Meet the Press</a>&#8221; and &#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCBVnEyVdwQ">State of the Union</a>,&#8221; respectively.
Welker put the question to Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) directly, quoting Ocasio-Cortez and asking whether he agreed.
&#8220;She said &#8216;Woke 1 was crazy,&#8217; effectively suggesting some progressive views just went too far in the 2020s,&#8221; Welker said. &#8220;Do you agree with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that Woke 1 was crazy?&#8221;
&#8220;Well, I don&#8217;t know what these labels mean,&#8221; Khanna replied, immediately pivoting to a recitation of his own record: &#8220;I&#8217;ll tell you what I&#8217;ve always stood for. I have never been for defunding police.&#8221; He went on to volunteer that he has &#8220;called for abolishing ICE.&#8221;
Welker followed up by asking about Francesca Hong — the Madison democratic socialist who narrowly lost Wisconsin&#8217;s Democratic gubernatorial primary on Tuesday — and the resurfaced post in which she called for getting rid of Thanksgiving. &#8220;Did that kind of rhetoric hurt the progressive cause?&#8221; she asked.
Khanna refused to give an inch. &#8220;I really feel bad for what happened to Francesca. And I know it&#8217;s fashionable to distance yourself. I am not,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I was proud to endorse her and she&#8217;s far more than the caricature that was presented.&#8221;
Notably, Ocasio-Cortez herself never endorsed Hong. Asked in the same ABC News <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFwAnMLBSOw">interview</a> that produced the &#8220;Woke 1&#8221; line whether she would, she said her focus was &#8220;winning back the Congress&#8221; — putting her in line with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and the national Democratic Socialists of America, all of whom stayed out. Khanna did not.
On &#8220;State of the Union,&#8221; Tapper raised an almost identical line of questioning with Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD), referencing Ocasio-Cortez&#8217;s comments and pressing Moore for his view.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Democrat Governor of Maryland Wes Moore plays dumb when asked if Democrats went too far by calling to defund the police:
“I said I don’t know what woke 1 is, but frankly I don&#8217;t know what woke 2 or woke 3 is either.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/PFVN265qYw">pic.twitter.com/PFVN265qYw</a>
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) <a href="https://x.com/RNCResearch/status/2088985603874463944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez seems to have acknowledged the overreach of the 2020 era of progressivism last week. She said, quote, &#8216;Woke 1 was crazy,'&#8221; Tapper said. &#8220;You were asked about that. You said you didn&#8217;t know what Woke 1 was. So I&#8217;ve been trying to figure out how to ask this question. There&#8217;s no official definition. I think Woke 1 generally refers to what are now viewed as excesses of the progressive movement — defund the police, a far-left view of the world that views the world in terms of only oppressor and oppressee, language policing, holiday policing, cancel culture positions that turned off a lot of middle-of-the-road voters. What is your take on that era, even if that wasn&#8217;t part of how you ran or thought or governed — and what does the Democratic Party need to do if they hope to win outside of blue states and congressional districts?&#8221;
Moore took a position almost identical to Khanna&#8217;s, replying, &#8220;Well, it&#8217;s funny, it&#8217;s true — I said I don&#8217;t know what Woke 1 is, but frankly, I don&#8217;t know what Woke 2 or Woke 3 is either.&#8221; Moore then pivoted to gas prices, recounting a conversation with a woman at a Delmarva Shorebirds game who told him she can&#8217;t afford to drive to her doctor&#8217;s appointments. Tapper did not follow up.
Ocasio-Cortez <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/aoc-has-an-excuse-for-the-lefts-most-radical-woke-1-era">further popularized the phrase</a> during an August 9 appearance on ABC&#8217;s &#8220;This Week,&#8221; where she too was attempting to put some distance between herself and the less popular policies of the far left. Anchor Jonathan Karl had asked her about Hong&#8217;s record. The line wasn&#8217;t hers: she borrowed it from New York City Councilman Chi Ossé, a fellow socialist who deployed it in May while explaining away his own 2021 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/09/nyregion/nyc-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-freezing-eggs.html">declaration</a> that &#8220;a cis white man should not be the next speaker of the Council.&#8221;
“I have a local city councilman that has this saying, ‘Woke 1 was crazy,&#8217;” Ocasio-Cortez <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFwAnMLBSOw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Karl</a> during an interview. “What’s important is that we have to assess what a candidate is saying now.”
She went on to blame the pandemic for the era&#8217;s excesses while insisting the debates it produced were worthwhile.
&#8220;I think that the doors were really open in trying to entertain any and every policy that was going to get us to a better place. And I actually think that the discussions that were had in that time were quite fruitful,&#8221; she said.

Maryland Gov. Moore And Utah Gov. Cox Speak At National Press Club On Bipartisanship

Democrats Suddenly Can’t Define ‘Woke’ After AOC Says It Was ‘Crazy’

Dems Scramble To Break Free Of AOC's 'Woke 1' Label

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Jake Tapper

Kristen Welker

Media

Politics

Ro Khanna

Wes Moore

Woke Culture

“I wasn’t part of the problem” during Covid-19, insisted CNN’s Dana Bash in an interview with Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Sunday. “Let me just say, for the record, that I am not saying that the entire Covid reaction was accurate. It was a scary time, and people made mistakes.” Bash later added that “What we were doing in Covid… is getting the best information, the best science that we can and putting it out there.”
But Dr. Anthony Fauci’s diary shows that the media was more interested in pushing specific narratives and promoting Fauci than it was in getting the “best information” to the public. On April 17, 2021, for example, Bash herself texted Fauci, “I just watched the whole Jordan thing. Again, you’re a better man than I&#8230;. As our friend Wolf Blitzer said to me yesterday – no one would have blamed you if you said simply ‘Mr. Jordan, go f&#8212; yourself.’”
Bash was referring to a House Oversight Committee hearing in which Representative Jim Jordan pointed out many of the “mistakes” Bash now admits were made.
The next day, Bash sent Fauci another text “pointing out that Vanity Fair recently had a headline that said: Jim Jordan trips over his own asshole trying to debate Anthony Fauci.”
Since Senator Rand Paul released Fauci’s diary, journalists have claimed that he had no real authority to impose lockdowns or mandates, suggesting it wasn’t their job to hold him accountable. “Dr. Fauci did not have the authority to force anyone to do anything,” the New York Times <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/1de9a5f6-7f9b-447d-a6cf-454f3904954f?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">stated</a>.
But his diary shows how members of the media worked to help Fauci win policy debates against President Donald Trump. As early as March 11, 2020, Fauci was aware that the press was heavily on his side, noting, “the CNN commentators (Chris Cuomo, Anderson Cooper, David Gergon, David Gregory) all discussed me as the adult in the room and the person [we] should all trust.”
In this way, the media worked to undermine the authority of the democratically elected president by upholding Fauci, an unelected bureaucrat, as the ultimate expert and truth-teller. While today they claim that Fauci had no power, six years ago they insisted he be granted nearly unlimited power.
When Trump said Fauci disagreed with a decision in May 2020, Fauci noted that “Chris Cuomo, and Jake Tapper are trying to clarify this in my defense on their shows.” In October 2020, Kaitlan Collins contacted Fauci about a campaign ad and tweeted out a statement for him, which “went totally viral on twitter [sic] and several networks and cable reported it.”
Fauci had personal relationships with several members of the press. On April 13, 2020, he noted that CNN’s Jake Tapper called him “to make sure the interview did not cause me any problems.” On July 1, 2020, Fauci wrote that he had dinner with Tapper and his wife. “Terrific couple. Friendship building.” In October, they had dinner again at Fauci’s home.
Journalists didn’t try to hide their affection for Fauci. Chris Cuomo “gave a wonderful explanation to viewers how close and good friends we are and how I checked in on him every night including weekends for weeks during his COVID illness,” Fauci noted in May 2020. “Never saw something like that on TV.”
It’s no coincidence that much of Fauci’s diary is spent recording his various appearances and interviews. Under pressure from the media, political leaders deferred to Fauci when crafting policy, including on issues like school closures, his diary <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/145efd6c-86b7-482c-b4b8-f7635507796e?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">shows</a>.
Rather than, as Bash claimed, sharing the “best science” with viewers, TV and print journalists aired Fauci’s views without examining the evidence. If they had examined it, they would have reported on the publicly available data Fauci privately discussed in his diary. Fauci knew, for example, that vaccines <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/85c12387-d7b7-4030-9098-eb5104e7c211?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">did not prevent</a>infection and transmission and that natural immunity <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/2b5df709-c1c1-49d3-90cc-0b2576248bcc?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">was protective</a>. These facts made vaccine mandates unnecessary, yet he <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/4ac32575-f61a-43e6-a09b-a020e21d056e?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">relentlessly</a> <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/a2d50c08-d88d-42bf-bfd7-7a0b31cd3cc4?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">sought</a> to implement them.
Years later, news outlets have failed to accurately report on Covid, even retrospectively. For instance, they ignored documents <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/4d90b8be-87d4-4ddb-ab36-06c0df3989fc?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">revealing</a> that the CDC received concerning reports about vaccine-induced myocarditis in 2021, and that the CDC Director lied about it. And in 2023, mainstream media outlets did not cover extensive records showing that Fauci and other scientists initially believed Covid originated from a lab in Wuhan before <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/071fc69c-b472-40f6-bb19-2e2b08a7a310?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">collaborating</a> to dismiss the lab leak as a “conspiracy theory.”
While news anchors like Bash may still believe that Covid was well-managed despite a few “mistakes,” it is by now undeniable that their preferred policies created enormous backlash not just against Fauci personally, but against medical institutions, the Democratic Party, and the media itself.
Much of this backlash is due to the kind of duplicitousness displayed in Fauci’s diary. Scientists and officials privately acknowledged the realities of gain-of-function research, vaccine-induced myocarditis, and natural immunity, all while giving the public entirely different messages and using censorship to enforce compliance.
The liberal media’s response to the Fauci hearing shows a broad lack of understanding, or lack of desire to understand. With defending Covid lockdowns and mandates still a political liability, it would be strategically wise for journalists to avoid doubling down. So why do they continue to insist that criticism of Fauci is baseless? Why can’t they reckon with what really happened during Covid?
In 2020 and 2021, The New York Times and Washington Post published article after article in support of school closures. They claimed Covid could <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/87cced0f-80ec-4740-b2f5-0309b35815e1?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">“soar”</a> if schools reopened, that it was <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/46423805-72cc-495a-97eb-3f1831066983?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">risky</a> for children to play together, and that virtual learning provided black families a <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/ee52dc86-25b1-4acc-a595-f959dd34929a?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">relief</a> from racism. They published headlines like <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/c96a5af3-f7d9-4416-93f3-35fe13a398f9?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">“Can We Stop Telling ‘Corona Kids’ How Little They Are Learning?,”</a> <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/d349090c-ca97-4d2a-a95b-6a23e88b0142?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">“The Racist Effects of School Reopening During the Pandemic—By a Teacher,”</a> <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/c272127a-2785-4a4b-bf44-b16f84308569?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">“Does It Hurt Children to Measure Pandemic Learning Loss?”</a> and <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/a1c9c63a-ac68-4be5-a707-431dbd7c1ef1?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">“Actually Wearing a Mask Can Help Your Child Learn.”</a>
This was all despite the fact that European nations had safely reopened their public schools in 2020 and education ministers in the European Union announced that they saw no negative consequences from reopening schools. As David Zweig <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/c387c76e-9078-450c-8c6c-5193f63a498a?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">points out</a>, no one in legacy media reported on this.
At first, when the Chinese government imposed a lockdown in Wuhan, China, many in the liberal media questioned the approach, <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/d7592799-bbab-40e9-bea6-9347ae1257c4?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">noting</a> that it would violate human rights and be ineffective. Democratic politicians <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/555f575b-3cbe-44fc-a08e-e8600245cfb1?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">encouraged</a> people to go to Chinatown and said that concern about Covid was <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/efee174c-e87b-49ff-9e9b-c09977d01ec7?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">racist</a>.
But when it became clear that Covid offered unprecedented power for the professional expert class, the media and the broader Left changed their approach. “Many progressives see the coronavirus response,” <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/1be47999-c7b5-4554-be92-3b6d21143db6?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">noted</a> NPR in May 2020, “as a chance to prove that policies they support can work and should be made permanent… Now there is a crisis, and Democrats want to use this moment to remake the system.”
Covid could thus be used for social restructuring, locking in government spending, and continuously attacking Trump as a mass killer. Before Covid, Trump had remained politically resilient. In January 2020, the percentage of Americans satisfied with “the way things are going” went up to <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/fe4735fd-16d0-4f6e-8a2c-39ab27d4d56a?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">45 percent</a>, the highest since February 2005. And Trump had signaled that if he achieved a second term, he would take aim at many of the Left’s core achievements, including in the areas of education and immigration.
Covid offered a chance to thwart this trajectory while cementing the authority of the managerial class over democratic institutions in the name of “safety” and “saving lives.”
The Left equated wrongthink and “misinformation” with murder, justifying unprecedented censorship. When three epidemiologists from Stanford, Oxford, and Harvard simply suggested an alternative approach in the Great Barrington Declaration, the New York Times called it “dangerous” for not supporting lockdowns. Journalists denounced dissenters and “the unvaccinated” in increasingly dehumanizing terms.
<a href="https://substack.com/redirect/ae808a81-31bc-47b3-8e97-e7e4e1dc3086?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">“I’m Furious at the Unvaccinated,”</a> one column was titled in The New York Times. <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/fed65b3d-1936-42f2-83dc-7137eeee445c?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">“Unvaxxed, Unmasked and Putting Our Kids at Risk,”</a> read another. <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/2da283db-7774-45c6-aa93-eecfce685cdf?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">“The Unvaccinated Are a Risk to All of Us,”</a> a Bloomberg headline stated.
The unvaccinated, explained CNN’s Don Lemon, were <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/f578a6c0-ebb5-4da9-9611-15ef58896575?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">“idiotic and nonsensical.” </a>It was time to “start shaming them” or “leave them behind,” he said. Wrote a columnist in the Los Angeles Times, <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/8fe97ded-98ab-4af4-a043-f216a8f0c036?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">“Mocking anti-vaxxers’ COVID deaths is ghoulish, yes, but may be necessary.</a>” Others warned of “compassion fatigue” for the unvaccinated and platformed doctors who said they would refuse to treat them.
Liberal politicians who the media supported denounced their own citizens. President Joe Biden <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/5a22104a-7e52-4313-a378-24e7e5884122?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">said</a> in the fall of 2021 that his “patience [was] wearing thin” and that we needed to “protect vaccinated workers from unvaccinated coworkers.” He declared a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” and <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/a8932eea-429a-4907-97e5-5b66354d89ed?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">warned</a> “the unvaccinated” that they would face a “winter of severe illness and death.”
“Do we tolerate these people?” <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/5ae06228-5b4f-4110-aade-80d5c82d7052?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">asked</a> Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, about the unvaccinated. They “are very often misogynistic and racist.” French President Emmanuel Macron <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/ba52db55-af3a-4c3c-ae01-5c74e4e71974?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">vowed</a> to put “pressure on the unvaccinated by limiting… access [to] social activities.” Someone who refuses the Covid vaccine, he said, is “not a citizen.” <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/347e4a6d-8101-4cd4-9e90-805d751c1172?j=eyJ1IjoiMjk0dHMifQ.cmJkfm0X0r0SrUjdPQSLO8z8KA2siPUsFk8HgV3kFag">Said</a> a commentator in The Washington Post, “Macron is right: It’s time to make life a living hell for anti-vaxxers.”
So-called “anti-vaxxers” and “anti-maskers” represented resistance to rule by experts, and their very survival was evidence that the experts, and the journalists who endorsed them, were wrong.
***
This is the first section of the author’s full essay. You can read the rest on Public <a href="https://www.public.news/p/journalists-are-still-defending-fauci">here</a> and <a href="https://www.public.news/">subscribe</a> to the newsletter.
Alex Gutentag is a Senior Editor for Public and writes about censorship, government abuse of power, and other topics. She has been a columnist for Tablet and a contributing editor for Compact. She is based in California.

Meet the Press – Season 73

COVID Bitter Clingers In The Media Will Never End Their Fauci Love Affair

Anthony Fauci

Chris Cuomo

COVID

Dana Bash

DW Opinion

House Oversight Committee

Justin Trudeau

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Embattled Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) sat down with CNN&#8217;s Jake Tapper on Tuesday and responded to allegations of abusing his ex-wife and daughter with a series of evasive answers that often raised more questions than they resolved.
Miller has been accused of abusing his ex-wife Emily Moreno — daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) — and their daughter, and his appearance on CNN was one of several public appearances the Ohio congressman made as he attempted to refute the accusations against him. But as Tapper questioned him, Miller offered very few concrete answers — and instead turned the questions on his former father-in-law.
Tapper began with a question about a &#8220;blue bunny doll&#8221; that Miller&#8217;s daughter took everywhere and asked whether Moreno had been telling the truth when he said Miller had refused to return it for two days: &#8220;If it&#8217;s true, that sounds like emotionally abusive behavior toward the toddler, to refuse to give into her when she can&#8217;t sleep without it.&#8221;
Without directly answering the question, Miller said that he agreed that &#8220;would be disturbing if the senator was telling the truth,&#8221; and then pivoted immediately. &#8220;However, he has taken two years to publicly acknowledge — for me to resign from my seat. Why is that, Jake?&#8221;
Then Miller alluded to damaging information he claimed to have on Moreno — about a &#8220;deeply and personal embarrassing matter&#8221; — and claimed Moreno had only called for his resignation because he feared Miller might share that information publicly on his livestream Sunday. Miller did not give any specifics on what that damaging information might be.
Tapper reminded Miller that he&#8217;d been asking about the blue bunny, asking again whether he&#8217;d held the toy &#8220;hostage.&#8221;
Miller denied that he had, and immediately pivoted again, telling Tapper that there had already been two investigations into him that had not resulted in charges. He said one investigation had found fault at a daycare center, and defended himself in the other case — which involved his daughter&#8217;s broken collarbone — by arguing that his wife had violated a custody agreement by taking her hurt child to the emergency room.
&#8220;When I was reported for child abuse for my daughter for a broken collarbone, my daughter was in my ex-wife&#8217;s care nine out of the last 11 days, and she took her to the emergency room, which is a contempt violation from our shared parenting plan,&#8221; Miller said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Rep. Max Miller: &#8220;When I was reported for child abuse of my daughter for a broken collarbone, my daughter was in my ex-wife&#8217;s care 9 out of the last 11 days and she took her to the emergency room, which is a contempt violation from our shared parenting plan.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/Gc05pX2g2t">pic.twitter.com/Gc05pX2g2t</a>
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) <a href="https://x.com/atrupar/status/2084749681448374468?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 4, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Tapper continued to press, asking Miller about a Dropbox link he&#8217;d shared — ostensibly to provide evidence that cleared his name — which included a photo of his daughter in a state of undress. That link remained live for a day before it was pulled down and the image removed.
Noting that Miller&#8217;s lawyer has since fallen on the sword for that &#8220;mistake,&#8221; Tapper argued that it was &#8220;shockingly reckless&#8221; to allow that to happen in the first place.
Miller protested, explaining that the photo was part of evidence in a court case and wasn&#8217;t that inappropriate — and claimed that it was being blown out of proportion by media outlets chasing a good headline.
Tapper, clearly taken aback, asked how he could defend releasing such a photo — and Miller immediately claimed he wasn&#8217;t defending it.
&#8220;You just defended it!&#8221; Tapper replied.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
TAPPER: One of the files you released was an image of your daughter naked. It was available in that drop box for a day before it was removed. Your ex-wife&#8217;s attorney says it could quality as CSAM. That&#8217;s shockingly reckless behavior.
MAX MILLER: I wouldn&#8217;t say it&#8217;s shockingly… <a href="https://t.co/l8tSilKtu5">pic.twitter.com/l8tSilKtu5</a>
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) <a href="https://x.com/atrupar/status/2084750725213532441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 4, 2026</a></blockquote>
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As the conversation continued, Tapper pressed Miller about his claims that his daughter had told him she didn&#8217;t want to return to her mother&#8217;s house. He then asked about competing claims from Emily Moreno, who said their daughter had said things like, &#8220;daddy kill you,&#8221; &#8220;daddy angry,&#8221; and &#8220;daddy&#8217;s house is scary.&#8221;
&#8220;Jake, I wish you could talk to my beautiful baby girl. She can&#8217;t string together sentences like that. She&#8217;s two and a half years old,&#8221; Miller protested.
&#8220;You just told me that she had said that she was scared to go to mommy&#8217;s house,&#8221; Tapper pushed back.
&#8220;She is. I have video of it,&#8221; Miller said.
&#8220;But now you&#8217;re saying that she&#8217;s not capable of saying ‘Daddy kill you?’ I mean, it seems like she&#8217;s either able to say one but not the other. That doesn&#8217;t make sense,&#8221; Tapper pointed out.
&#8220;Jake. To be very direct, this is incredibly disturbing,&#8221; Miller said, adding, &#8220;You have to look at the timing of everything that is taking place, right? What about due process?&#8221;
Tapper then noted that Miller had been accused of inappropriate — and even violent — behavior by other women prior to his ex-wife. Miller shrugged off one of the cases by saying he&#8217;d been &#8220;young,&#8221; and then suggested that the accounts were not credible because at least one of the women had not gone &#8220;on record&#8221; with her accusation.
&#8220;I guess the question is, are all three of these women who don’t know each other, are all three of them lying?&#8221; Tapper asked.
&#8220;Yes, it’s very easy, and I can tell you why,&#8221; Miller said. &#8220;Every single time — and people have asked me, &#8216;What are you gonna do? Are you gonna drop out of this race? Are you gonna resign? Are you gonna get out before the deadline?&#8217; And my answer to you, Jake, is no. And I can tell you why. In 2016, when President Donald J. Trump faced the most extreme allegations in the world that hit him day after day after day, and people in the media very much like yourself and others said that he would have no shot at winning, that he should not be the president of the United States. But guess what? He stayed in and he was resilient.&#8221;
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TAPPER: Hold on &#8212; hold on, &#8217;cause I&#8217;m not done with the list of women who have accused you of violence. Are all three of them lying?
REP. MAX MILLER: Yes. And I&#8217;m not getting out of the race because in 2016, President Donald J Trump faced the most extreme allegations in the… <a href="https://t.co/gf76bMnzB6">pic.twitter.com/gf76bMnzB6</a>
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) <a href="https://x.com/atrupar/status/2084751783470002223?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 4, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Miller also struggled to answer questions about his alleged illegal drug use when Tapper noted that he&#8217;d been inconsistent in his answers during his custody dispute with Moreno.
&#8220;Emily Moreno&#8217;s lawyers asked you a series of questions about past alleged incidents, and some of them you denied outright — &#8216;no, that&#8217;s not true,&#8217; &#8216;no, that&#8217;s not true&#8217; — and others you refused to answer at all, your lawyers claimed that they were not relevant.&#8221;
Among the questions Miller had refused to answer was whether or not he&#8217;d ever referred to the birth of his daughter as &#8220;setting my playground on fire,&#8221; as well as several related to illegal drug use.
&#8220;I can tell you that I never did any of those things, why can&#8217;t you?&#8221; Tapper asked, suggesting that his selective refusal to answer only made him look more suspicious. He then corrected himself, admitting to smoking marijuana &#8220;before it was legal.&#8221;
Miller sputtered briefly, saying he&#8217;d be &#8220;happy to&#8221; discuss those topics, but had not answered before because answering gave the question &#8220;credibility.&#8221;
&#8220;In the Mother Jones story, it says when you were picked up for drunk driving, you had ecstasy in your system. When is the last time you used illegal drugs?&#8221; Tapper asked.
&#8220;I mean, the last time — I don&#8217;t — I would have to say, I don&#8217;t know, several years ago. I don&#8217;t have a timeframe,&#8221; Miller replied.
&#8220;Two? 20?&#8221; Tapper pressed.
Miller then claimed, unsolicited, that if anyone ever found needles it was because he was using them for &#8220;testosterone therapy&#8221; — at which point he name-dropped War Secretary Pete Hegseth and his recent initiative to keep testosterone levels steady for male service members.

Ways and Means Treasury Priorities

Embattled GOP Rep Agreed To Live Interview. It Didn’t Go Well.

Bernie Moreno

Donald Trump

House of Representatives

House Republicans

While publicly urging Americans to avoid family gatherings and maintain &#8220;social distance,&#8221; Dr. Anthony Fauci was also busy behind the scenes cultivating a chummy friendship with CNN anchor Jake Tapper.
Fauci&#8217;s meetings and family dinners with the longtime CNN personality were revealed in a series of <a href="https://www.paul.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2026.07.24_Tonys-Diary-Package.pdf">diary entries</a> made public on Saturday by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who uncovered them during his lengthy and thorough investigation into Fauci and the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The former White House chief medical adviser thoroughly documented his actions throughout the pandemic — with a heavy focus on his own media appearances and coverage, particularly when it was overly flattering — and referenced an interview with Tapper that took place on April 12, 2020. During that interview, Fauci conceded that Tapper had asked tough — but reasonable — questions, and then had called him directly afterward to make sure that the interview had not caused him &#8220;any problems.&#8221;
&#8220;Potential big problem (we shall see). NY Times reporting on an answer to a question that I gave on CNN yesterday (see above). Jake Tapper asked me if we had closed down earlier, whould (sic) that have saved lives. I said it is complicated; he persisted and I said obviously, if you close earlier there would have been lives saved, but the decision was complicated,&#8221; Fauci wrote. &#8220;I could have answered the question better and with more clarity, but the Times is now saying that I was implying that the POTUS was to blame for additional deaths according to me. The far right is tweeting to fire me. The POTUS even re-tweeted the tweet that said to fire me. We shall see how the day goes &#8230;&#8221;
Fauci said that he later met with President Donald Trump, who said that he did not have an issue and business continued as usual.
Of the press briefing that followed, he said, &#8220;I went out and explained that I was being hoest (sic) in my answer to Jake, but that I was not implying that anyone was responsible for more deaths &#8230; Phone call with Jake Tapper. Jake wanted to make sure the interview did not cause me any problems.&#8221;
Later that month, Tapper spoke with Fauci about an interview he&#8217;d done with Coronavirus coordinator Deborah Birx. Of that exchange, Fauci wrote, &#8220;I was not on Sunday shows. Deb was on CNN with Jake Tapper and did not answer the question of whether it was a mistake for the POTUS to talk about injecting or swallowing bleach. Jake wrote me a text afterwards and said: “Birx has lost her way I fear. She has chosen to focus on defending the president and attacking the press. Odd.&#8221;
On May 4, 2020, Fauci referenced a CNN interview in which Tapper had been hard on the Trump administration&#8217;s &#8220;inadequate&#8221; response to the pandemic — but had spared him the ire reserved for the president: &#8220;Jake Tapper did a segment last night on the inadequate response of the Trump administration to the pandemic. I came out relatively well.&#8221;
Later that month, when Katie Miller, a spokesperson for Vice President Mike Pence, tested positive, and Fauci was directly exposed to SARS-CoV-2, he got a call from Tapper making sure that he was all right.
&#8220;Jake Tapper called me and asked whether I was going inot (sic) quarantine. I explained to Jake that I would do a “modified quarantine” since I was a low risk exposure to Kstie (sic). Thid merans (sic) that I will get tested every day, would wear a mask ontinually (sic), and would spend most of my time either alone in my home office or alone in my NIH office and would go to White House or Congress with precautions of universal mask wearing and phycial (sic) distancing. I tested negative yesterday and will get tested every day for 14 days and then 1 time per week,&#8221; he wrote, adding in a subsequent entry that Marc Short was not taking enough precautions.
&#8220;Marc Short (whom I resally (sic) like) practically sits on Katie’s lap and he is vey (sic) close to the VP. Yet he is not even wearing a mask. He actually should be self-quarantining. He was at a much greater risk than I.&#8221;
On July 1, Fauci mentioned a dinner with Tapper and his wife: &#8220;Had dinner over Jake Tapper and Jen Tapper’s home in DC. Terrific couple. Friendship building.&#8221;
By late July, Fauci was feeding questions to Tapper ahead of interviews with other officials: &#8220;Brett Giroir on Tapper (State of the Union) talking bullsh*t about testing with Jake pressing him. I gave Jake some questions to ask him.&#8221;
And Tapper was calling Fauci to complain about President Trump: &#8220;Jake Tapper woke me up at 11:23 AM (I went to bed early) furius (sic) at POTUS for tweeting about the fact that Jake severly (sic) questioned Brett Giroir on SOTU CNN show today. Jake was really pissed at the craziness of it all.&#8221;
In later entries — into the fall of 2020, as Americans were preparing to host holiday dinners via Zoom — Fauci mentioned another dinner at the Tapper home: &#8220;Had dinner at my home with Jake and Jennifer Tapper. Relaxed, good time. Jake clearly believes that Trump is totally nuts.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Tapper texts Fauci to attack Laura Ingraham and defend the integrity of Dartmouth <a href="https://t.co/pLW5c1zuja">pic.twitter.com/pLW5c1zuja</a>
— Emily Jashinsky (@emilyjashinsky) <a href="https://x.com/emilyjashinsky/status/2081488487337906438?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 26, 2026</a></blockquote>
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In a later exchange, after Fauci appeared on Fox News with host Laura Ingraham, Tapper texted to mock Ingraham, saying it was a shock that she&#8217;d graduated from Dartmouth.

Inside Fauci’s Behind-The-Scenes Bromance With Jake Tapper

COVID-19

Legacy Media

Mainstream Media

Media Bias

Pandemic

Rand Paul

Jenny Racicot, 41, said during a CNN interview that aired Monday that Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, a Democrat, had stopped briefly to apologize while he was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-new-sexual-assault-accusation-rocks-maine-democrat-graham-platner">raping her</a>.
Racicot described the scenario to CNN anchor Jake Tapper, claiming that Platner had appeared to be &#8220;blackout drunk&#8221; when he came into her house — and although he did not listen when she told him to stop, there were periods where he &#8220;came to&#8221; and apologized before going right back to what he was doing.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Ro Khanna and numerous other Democrats have dropped their endorsements of Graham Platner just in time.
Just minutes before CNN&#8217;s Jake Tapper conducted a lengthy exclusive interview with the woman accusing the Senate candidate of r*ping her. <a href="https://t.co/oqyxVuIm03">https://t.co/oqyxVuIm03</a> <a href="https://t.co/5VVWA7oVE1">pic.twitter.com/5VVWA7oVE1</a>
— Media Lies (@MediasLies) <a href="https://x.com/MediasLies/status/2074260143261290668?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 6, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Racicot explained that she and Platner had been texting each other on the evening of the alleged assault, and that she must have said something that he had believed to be an invitation. She said she had not meant it that way, but he said he was going to come over. According to Racicot, she said again that he should not come over, and he stopped responding — at which point she believed he had gotten the message.
It was about thirty minutes later that she said he showed up, entered her home through an unlocked door, and got on top of her. Racicot said she told him several times that she was &#8220;not into&#8221; what he was doing, but that he did not listen. She said that as the assault continued, Platner had a blank look in his eyes.
She said that in the struggle, one of them had knocked over a sewing kit that she kept near the couch — and when the contents hit the ground and scattered, that was the moment she began thinking that she should &#8220;comply&#8221; for her own safety.
&#8220;That was me recognizing that this wasn&#8217;t just like oh, hey, somebody showed up and I&#8217;m going to tell him to go home, like he was heavily intoxicated, had intentions with me, and wasn&#8217;t listening when I said no,&#8221; she claimed.
As the assault continued, she said he seemed to be going in and out of moments of lucidity — and even said that he &#8220;would apologize&#8221; before going right back to what he&#8217;d been doing.
Racicot said that once it was over, she sat in her bathroom for quite some time attempting to process what had happened. The hardest thing, she said, was realizing that he had been someone she trusted and had been involved with before, was that it &#8220;was consensual until it wasn&#8217;t.&#8221;
By the time she came out of the bathroom, she said that Platner had fallen asleep in her bed. Realizing that he had driven to her house drunk and not wanting to put him back on the road in that condition, she said she waited until he woke up and told him to leave. He said he did not remember anything that had happened the night before — and Racicot told him that nothing he had done that night had been acceptable, demanding that he leave.
&#8220;He just got up and got dressed and didn&#8217;t seem concerned,&#8221; she said. &#8220;He didn&#8217;t ask me a single question &#8230; How can somebody that you&#8217;ve been in some type of a relationship with for this long tells you to never speak to [them] again because of something that you did and you don&#8217;t even ask what you did?&#8221;
Racicot told Tapper that she had been torn on whether to come forward, in part because she is a Democrat and would like to see a Democrat win the Senate seat in Maine — but that she felt like she couldn&#8217;t stay silent any longer.
&nbsp;

Maine Democratic Candidate For Senate Graham Platner Campaigns Across The State

Platner Accuser Says He Stopped To ‘Apologize,’ Then Raped Her Anyway

Platner Accuser Says He Stopped To 'Apologize,' Then Raped Her Anyway

graham platner

Maine

U.S. Senate

Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) delivered a Bible-based — and very personal — Father&#8217;s Day message specifically aimed at children who were growing up without fathers.
Scott joined CNN anchor Jake Tapper on Sunday morning&#8217;s broadcast of &#8220;State of the Union,&#8221; where he talked about the fact that he&#8217;d grown up from the age of seven without his own father present — and then, when he married, he&#8217;d become a stepfather to his new wife&#8217;s adult children.
He spoke about <a href="https://x.com/CNNSOTU/status/2068700521251119222">advice</a> from a pastor, who&#8217;d reminded him that he had to &#8220;earn the right to influence&#8221; the lives of the adult children in his newly-blended family — and he said that advice had so far served him well. But then Tapper asked what advice he had for fathers — or for those who might be living without a father.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Senator Tim Scott&#8217;s powerful Father&#8217;s Day message: &#8220;If you are without a father, do not think that his absence somehow makes you less qualified to do anything. You are fearfully and wonderfully made&#8230; Do not let your dad&#8217;s absence be an excuse for doing something that you will… <a href="https://t.co/QUZErFshMg">pic.twitter.com/QUZErFshMg</a>
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) <a href="https://x.com/CNNSOTU/status/2068698028710506509?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 21, 2026</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;On this Father&#8217;s Day, what&#8217;s your message to all the people out there, either the dads or the people who don&#8217;t have dads?&#8221; Tapper asked.
&#8220;If you are without a father, do not think that his absence somehow makes you less qualified to do anything. You are fearfully and wonderfully made,&#8221; Scott said, quoting Psalm 139:14. &#8220;But it is your responsibility at a certain age to take responsibility of your life and to make the most out of it.&#8221;
&#8220;Do not let your dad&#8217;s absence be an excuse for doing something that you will later regret,&#8221; he added.
Scott told Tapper that even though his own father had left when he was young, he&#8217;d always felt motivated to go out and make him proud.
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Senator Tim Scott&#8217;s dad left when he was 7 years old, but he still saw him through rose-colored glasses: &#8220;I don&#8217;t know very many kids who don&#8217;t want to make their dads proud.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/t1eGwVO028">pic.twitter.com/t1eGwVO028</a>
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) <a href="https://x.com/CNNSOTU/status/2068697600300032413?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 21, 2026</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;I don&#8217;t know very many kids who don&#8217;t want to make their dads proud,&#8221; he said.

Sen. Tim Scott

WATCH: Tim Scott Has Bible-Based Father’s Day Message For Kids Growing Up Without Dads

Father's Day

Tim Scott

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro gave an update on the investigation into Cole Tomas Allen — who opened fire one week earlier at the White House Correspondents&#8217; Dinner — and said that it was clear the would-be assassin had an inflated sense of his own capabilities.
Pirro, the U.S. Attorney assigned to Washington, D.C., spoke with CNN&#8217;s Jake Tapper about the ongoing investigation in Allen&#8217;s actions and motives — and she described the shooter&#8217;s actions leading up to the moment he charged a security checkpoint manned by the United States Secret Service.
Tapper began by asking Pirro — who was in attendance at the dinner herself — whether the fact that she could have been a potential target meant that she should recuse herself from the case entirely. Pirro was adamant that the two things were unconnected.
&#8220;Absolutely not. I mean, there is no way &#8230; my ability to prosecute this case has nothing to do with my being there,&#8221; she said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
TAPPER: &#8220;Has it been suggested to you, at any point, by anyone that maybe you need to recuse yourself because you were both a witness and a potential target?&#8221; 
JEANINE PIRRO: &#8220;Absolutely not. I mean, there is no way&#8230; my ability to prosecute this case has nothing to do with my… <a href="https://t.co/clLO5SJ9DA">pic.twitter.com/clLO5SJ9DA</a>
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) <a href="https://twitter.com/CNNSOTU/status/2050932287219359922?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 3, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Pirro went on to address Allen&#8217;s behavior and actions leading up to the assassination attempt, much of which was either recovered from his personal effects or captured by security cameras at the Washington Hilton.
&#8220;Clearly, the president is a target. And make no mistake, it is not just the manifesto. It is his actions,&#8221; Pirro said of the suspect, who referred to himself as the &#8220;Friendly Federal Assassin&#8221; throughout the manifesto he sent to family. &#8220;I mean, this guy thought he was Rambo.&#8221;
&#8220;And he takes a picture of himself. He is smug, he is proud, and he is focused on what he’s doing,&#8221; Pirro added.
&#8220;I think if you read the manifesto … it is very clear who the intended target is. It is very clear, based upon the fact that as soon as this president said that he was going to be at the Hilton for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on March 2nd, [Allen] then made the decision to hatch the plan,&#8221; Pirro told Tapper, adding, &#8220;I can tell you, we will be able to prove that beyond a reasonable doubt.&#8221;
She went on to say that the defense might have a difficult time if they opted to go for an affirmative defense and claim that Allen was insane: &#8220;The one issue that people might think about is, is he insane. He is far from insane. He is brilliant. He has a master’s degree. He work[ed] at a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
US Attorney Jeanine Pirro on case against alleged press dinner gunman: &#8220;We have a lot of evidence that indicates his intent&#8230; whether it was, you know, following what the president was doing, where he was going, to the day of the of the event at the hotel. Tracking on his phone:… <a href="https://t.co/J9NtXGI3HU">pic.twitter.com/J9NtXGI3HU</a>
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) <a href="https://twitter.com/CNNSOTU/status/2050937470800343261?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 3, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Win McNamee/Getty Images, CBS Photo Archive

Why Jeanine Pirro Says Would-Be Trump Assassin ‘Thought He Was Rambo’

Jeanine Pirro: DC Shooting Suspect 'Thought He Was Rambo'

Jeanine Pirro

Shooting

CNN anchor Jake Tapper repeatedly insisted that President Donald Trump had openly called for &#8220;genocide&#8221; in Iran, prompting a quick response from his Sunday morning guest, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY).
Stefanik joined the longtime host of &#8220;State of the Union&#8221; to discuss her book, &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elise-stefanik-the-moment-the-ivy-league-lost-the-country">Poisoned Ivies</a>&#8221; — where she confronts the &#8220;academic and moral rot&#8221; that have taken over America&#8217;s elite educational institutions — and Tapper used her criticisms of the recent pro-Hamas protests to lay a rhetorical trap for her.
Stefanik shared a clip from Sunday morning&#8217;s interview along with her own caption that read, &#8220;@jaketapper falsely compares President Trump to the radical pro-Hamas antisemites who physically assaulted, spit on American students faces, drew swastikas on their doors, and rioted and destroyed university property. President Trump has targeted the Iranian terrorist regime to save the Iranian people and the world from the largest state sponsor of terror that has slaughtered their own people.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
And here it is 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥from <a href="https://twitter.com/CNN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@cnn</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CNNSOTU?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CNNSOTU</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/jaketapper?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@jaketapper</a> falsely compares President Trump to the radical pro-Hamas antisemites who physically assaulted, spit on American students faces, drew swastikas on their doors, and rioted and destroyed university property.
President… <a href="https://t.co/dXO68D98DW">pic.twitter.com/dXO68D98DW</a>
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) <a href="https://twitter.com/EliseStefanik/status/2045872839069192558?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Tapper began by noting that Stefanik had called out the anti-semitic protests at the time, saying, &#8220;You were praised by many in the Jewish community when you criticized the college presidents who refused to condemn students for chanting ‘From the river to the sea,’ which many Jews interpret to be, and you agreed — you characterized it as a genocide, a call for genocide, to wipe out all the Jews in Israel, ‘From the river to the sea.'&#8221;
But then he pivoted: &#8220;So just to be clear, you believe that wiping out an entire civilization is genocidal and nobody should make a call to do such a thing?&#8221;
Stefanik said yes, genocide is always bad.
&#8220;That’s why the question I asked, which was, does calling for the genocide of Jews violate your university’s code of conduct, yes or no? I worded it because it was a very simple straightforward question. It was not a political one. And the world heard as these universities equivocated saying it depends on the context or it’s a context-dependent decision. It is not,&#8221; she said.
Tapper dropped the other shoe then, referencing Trump&#8217;s blustery Truth Social posted threatening the Iranian regime and asking, &#8220;What did you think when President Trump threatened to obliterate the entire Iranian civilization?&#8221;
Stefanik pushed back immediately, noting that Trump had been speaking directly to the Iranian regime in an attempt to verbally strong-arm them to the negotiating table.
&#8220;And what did it do? It brought the Iranians to the table. It led to the ceasefire. We know that President Trump has very strong statements when it comes to his tweets, but it has been targeted towards the Iranian terrorist regime,&#8221; she said.
&#8220;He said the entire civilization will die,&#8221; Tapper insisted.
&#8220;He was focused on the Iranian terrorist regime. And Jake, isn’t it true that it brought the Iranians to the table to a cease-fire agreement?&#8221; Stefanik continued.
&#8220;I don’t know,&#8221; Tapper replied.
&#8220;It did, because they had a ceasefire agreement going on for days. And President Trump is correct to call out the Iranian terrorist regime, which has financed Hamas and Hezbollah, which I believe has led to some of the financing of the skyrocketing antisemitism,&#8221; Stefanik said.
&#8220;Yes, but I’m not talking about the regime,&#8221; Tapper protested.
&#8220;Jake, you can ask this question, but the reality is it was targeted towards the Iranian terrorist regime. It was an effective tool to bring them to the table. They have no cards,&#8221; Stefanik added.
Tapper continued to insist that he was not talking about the regime, and that what Trump had said was clearly a call for genocide — but Stefanik was not convinced.
&#8220;I just have to say it’s interesting that a 20-year-old college kid on a campus yelling ‘From the river to the sea,’ that’s worthy of condemnation, but a President of the United States who actually has—&#8221; Tapper began.
&#8220;You don’t think it’s worthy of condemnation? Jake, you don’t think it’s worthy of condemnation of students that are targeting Jewish students, that are physically assaulting them, that are spitting in their face, that are drawing swastikas on their doors, these students who have to hire security?”
“I don’t need a lesson on what it’s like to be a Jewish student,” Tapper replied.
“But you’re equivocating, like those university presidents,&#8221; Stefanik declared.
The two went on in that same vein for several minutes as Tapper tried unsuccessfully to end the interview.
&#8220;President Trump was not calling for genocide. Shame on CNN for saying that,&#8221; Stefanik jabbed as they wrapped the segment.
&#8220;I read the quote. Thank you so much,&#8221; was Tapper&#8217;s reply.

IMG_2385

Tapper Hurls ‘Genocide’ Accusation — Stefanik Fires Off A Sharp Counterpunch

Jake Tapper Claims Trump Called For 'Genocide' In Iran. Elise Stefanik Is Having None Of It.

Elise Stefanik

Global Politics

Iran

Iran war

CNN anchor Jake Tapper and former director of the National Counterterrorism Center Joe Kent traded barbs over media coverage of Operation Epic Fury and Iranian state-promoted propaganda.
Kent, who abruptly left his position in the United States intelligence community over President Donald Trump&#8217;s military operation in Iran, spurred the back-and-forth when he commented on the ongoing rescue mission to retrieve an airman from behind enemy lines in Iran.
&#8220;Praying for the rescue of our downed pilot &amp; the safe return of our Special Operators going in to get him back. USAF PJs &amp; CSAR Air crews are top notch,&#8221; Kent <a href="https://x.com/joekent16jan19/status/2040578006230462496">posted</a>, but also shared a report from Drop Site News that parroted Iranian propaganda that suggested the United States was actively attempting to kill the downed airman rather than rescue him.
<blockquote>Iranian state-linked Tasnim News, citing a military source, claims U.S. forces are bombing areas in southwest Iran where a missing pilot may be located, alleging Washington has “lost hope” of recovery and is attempting to kill him.</blockquote>
Tapper <a href="https://x.com/jaketapper/status/2041125801051967769">pushed back</a> early on Monday, one day after an elaborate rescue mission had succeeded in safely extracting the weapon systems specialist, saying, &#8220;Former National Counterterrorism Center director Joe Kent sharing Iranian state-linked outlet nonsense claiming, falsely, that the U.S. was trying to kill the then-lost U.S. pilot. Aged rather poorly, I think it&#8217;s fair to say.&#8221;
Kent responded by claiming that Tapper was promoting the war and that Iranian media was &#8220;independent,&#8221; and said that anyone &#8220;cheering on wars&#8221; should be questioned.
&#8220;Tapper’s purpose, like the entire corporate media, is to promote this foolish war &amp; attack anyone who points out how this war isn’t in our nation’s interest. Read independent media, Iranian media &amp; US media &#8211; always question those cheering on wars &amp; always pray for our troops,&#8221; he <a href="https://x.com/joekent16jan19/status/2041140400304337063">posted</a>.
The CNN anchor disputed Kent&#8217;s characterization, saying that neither he nor CNN were in the business of promoting any war. &#8220;We cover it, critically.&#8221;
&#8220;Moreover, I wasn’t attacking Mr. Kent. I pointed out that he had promoted false information suggesting the U.S. was seeking to *kill* the missing U.S. pilot. Wild stuff,&#8221; Tapper concluded.
Kent had <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/joe-kent-bomb-bomb-bomb-bomb-bomb-iran">previously</a> called for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/joe-kent-circa-2020-i-personally-think-trump-should-have-crushed-their-ballistic-nuke-capes">far more aggressive treatment</a> of Iran, but pivoted and quickly announced his departure from the Trump administration after the president took action.

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Even The Left Calls Out Joe Kent After He Pushes Iranian Narrative

Joe Kent

Military

Propaganda

World

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg appeared to acknowledge that the ongoing Senate standoff over funding the Department of Homeland Security is largely a political dispute rather than a pure funding crisis, conceding in a television interview that immigration enforcement agencies already have substantial funding.
The admission came during an appearance Sunday on State of the Union with host Jake Tapper, as Democrats continue blocking a House-passed bill that would fund the entire department. Tapper asked Buttigieg whether Democrats should accept what he described as a partial victory and move to reopen DHS.
“Don’t you think Democrats should take what’s something of a win and start funding DHS again?” Tapper asked. Buttigieg responded by arguing that Republicans were blocking Democratic proposals to fund most parts of the department while negotiations continue over immigration enforcement agencies.
“I think Republicans should stop blocking the Democratic proposals to fund all of DHS including TSA and other parts, except for the parts that should be negotiated over which is ICE and Customs and Border Patrol,” Buttigieg said. “Remember ICE has already gotten tens of billions of dollars of funding — it’s larger than many of the world’s militaries.”
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Democrat Pete Buttigieg admits Democrats are the ones shutting down DHS knowing ICE is already funded.
BUTTIGIEG: &#8220;ICE has already gotten&#8230;funding.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/EVFsBEOzwA">pic.twitter.com/EVFsBEOzwA</a>
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) <a href="https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/2033187325153366041?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 15, 2026</a></blockquote>
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The comments come as Senate Democrats have repeatedly voted to block a motion to proceed on a House-passed funding bill for DHS. <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5781155-democrats-blocks-homeland-security-funding-bill/">The latest vote </a>failed 51–46, short of the 60 votes needed to advance. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) was the only Democrat to vote with Republicans to move the legislation forward.
Democrats have argued that the bill should not advance because it includes funding for ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) without changes to immigration enforcement practices.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Democrats want reforms that would require immigration agents to operate more like traditional law enforcement. “We all know that we do not have agreement on how to deal with ICE,” Schumer said before the vote. “Democrats just want ICE to behave like any police department in America and use warrants and not wear masks.”
He added on the Senate floor on Thursday, “Who’s standing in the way? America, look at it. We’re not putting any preconditions on funding TSA; the Republicans are.”
Republicans argue the stalemate is the result of <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/13/democrats-republicans-dhs-shutdown-00827135">Democrats refusing to fund</a> core immigration enforcement agencies. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said GOP negotiators had repeatedly offered compromise proposals, including a short-term resolution that would reopen the entire department.
“There have been offers made repeatedly,” Thune said on the Senate floor, urging lawmakers to fund not only the Transportation Security Administration but also agencies such as the United States Coast Guard and FEMA.
Democrats, meanwhile, attempted to pass funding bills for individual components of DHS, including the TSA, the Coast Guard, and FEMA. Republicans blocked those efforts, trying to keep the funding package whole, to prevent what would essentially be an unlegislated freeze on ICE and CBP.
Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) accused Democrats of political “gamesmanship” on the Senate floor. “The Democrats do not want to fund the Coast Guard because they’re hell-bent on defunding ICE,” Schmitt said.
Buttigieg’s remarks highlighting the existing funding levels for ICE could add a new dimension to the debate, as lawmakers continue to clash over whether the standoff is about government funding or broader disagreements over immigration enforcement policy.

Transportation Secretary Buttigieg Testifies On 2025 Budget In House Hearing

Pete Buttigieg Admits DHS Shutdown Has No Impact On ICE, Still Blames GOP

Pete Buttigieg

When CNN anchor Jake Tapper contrasted President Trump’s blunt remarks with those of past presidents, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy didn’t hesitate. He delivered a sharp counterpunch that instantly reframed the moment.
Tapper glossed over the behavior of Democrats at Tuesday evening&#8217;s State of the Union address by suggesting that the real problem was the fact that President Donald Trump had noticed — and dared to say something about it. Speaking to Duffy after the speech, he complained that Trump effectively shattered the fourth wall when he spoke directly to the American people about the Democrats in the chamber who refused to stand for even the most basic of shared values.
WATCH:
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JAKE TAPPER: &#8220;He said, &#8216;these people are crazy I&#8217;m telling you, they&#8217;re crazy.&#8217; That&#8217;s not something we ever heard from Obama or Biden from that that stage.&#8221;
SEAN DUFFY: &#8220;We&#8217;ve never had a Speaker rip up a speech either&#8221;
This is why Trump likes TV guys in his cabinet. <a href="https://t.co/4c2NrUvHGu">pic.twitter.com/4c2NrUvHGu</a>
— Thomas Hern (@ThomasMHern) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThomasMHern/status/2026524857668649365?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 25, 2026</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;He said, quote, &#8216;These people are crazy, I&#8217;m telling you, they&#8217;re crazy,'&#8221; Tapper said, referencing Trump&#8217;s brief departure from his remarks to call out Democrats who would not stand in support of key policies. &#8220;I mean, but that&#8217;s not something we ever heard from Obama or Biden from that stage.&#8221;
&#8220;Yeah. We&#8217;ve never had a Speaker rip up a speech either,&#8221; Duffy punched right back, referencing former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi&#8217;s performance during the 2020 State of the Union, when she dramatically ripped up her copy as Trump concluded his remarks.
Duffy went on to argue that what Trump was saying at the time — addressing concerns about illegal aliens being given commercial driver&#8217;s licenses and putting American citizens at risk — should not have been a partisan issue.
&#8220;You have states that are issuing driver&#8217;s licenses to illegals — illegals who haven&#8217;t been trained to drive an 80,000-pound truck on an American road,&#8221; Duffy continued. &#8220;We have a little girl that has been — had her life impacted for the rest of her life — and she&#8217;s five years old, it was an illegal who hit her. I think the question becomes, why doesn&#8217;t every Democrat stand up and go, &#8216;No, we want well-qualified drivers on American roads.'&#8221;
&#8220;That&#8217;s not partisan,&#8221; he added. &#8220;We don&#8217;t want illegals who can&#8217;t speak the language, contrary to American law for decades, to be on American roads. I think these are easy issues, Jake, and I don&#8217;t think we saw Democrats stand up and support them.&#8221;
Duffy noted that there was one truly bipartisan moment during the speech — when the U.S. Olympic hockey team entered the chamber after winning gold for the first time in 46 years — and said that was truly &#8220;too bad.&#8221;
&#8220;If inflation is down, Democrats should applaud it. If real incomes are up, Democrats should applaud it. Those are good things that we should support as Americans,&#8221; he concluded. &#8220;Just because Donald Trump&#8217;s in office doesn&#8217;t mean you have to sit on your hands.&#8221;

Sean Duffy

WATCH: Sean Duffy Torches Tapper With One Brutal SOTU Reminder

Democrats

Nancy Pelosi

Democrats followed big wins — albeit in the reliably blue states of Virginia and Maryland and the deep blue city of New York — with what could only be described as capitulation on the government shutdown as it stretched into its 40th day, as eight Democratic senators voted with Republicans to break the filibuster.
For those who don&#8217;t spend their Sunday mornings glued to the television — and their Sunday afternoons attempting to dig through a week&#8217;s worth of network and cable news media spin — The Daily Wire normally would compile a short summary of what you may have missed. But with the shutdown driving discussions and an 11th-hour deal to break the stalemate, the real news rolled in a bit later than usual.
In the moments leading up to and immediately following the test vote — and then a final vote in the Senate — critics in the media and within their own party quickly began piling on the Democrats who chose putting an end to the suffering of their constituents over another day fighting for something Republicans were clearly unwilling to give.
CNN let the mask slip almost immediately, after weeks of largely giving cover to the Democrats, and conceded that their pet party was actually the driving force behind keeping the Capitol shuttered.
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🚨 JUST IN: CNN has STUNNED viewers after stating the quiet part out loud after Democrats caved on the shutdown
“The DEMOCRATIC filibuster has been broken!”
They just called it the Democrat shutdown!
Remember who REFUSED to pay the troops!
<a href="https://t.co/eXOIzTDxMf">pic.twitter.com/eXOIzTDxMf</a>
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) <a href="https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1987738827814031841?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;We&#8217;ve got plenty more on the other side, we will talk much more about this,&#8221; the anchor said. &#8220;Again, you&#8217;re looking live at the Senate floor as the Democratic filibuster has been broken. We have so far reached 60, we are waiting for the official count, but right now, 60 votes that would unlock moving forward with this plan to reopen the government on the Senate side.&#8221;
CNN anchor Jake Tapper had conceded several days earlier that Democrats were ultimately responsible for the stalemate, but he qualified the statement by noting that he certainly understood why they were holding out.
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CNN exposes Democrats for shutting down the government and trying to mislead the American people.
JAKE TAPPER: &#8220;Democrats are the ones that are not voting to fund the government&#8230;&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/9sTlM9hCwI">pic.twitter.com/9sTlM9hCwI</a>
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) <a href="https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1985870804081655847?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Democrats are the ones that are not voting to fund the government,&#8221; he said on election night, adding immediately, &#8220;Now, I understand why they&#8217;re doing so, they&#8217;re doing so because of health care, and they want to fight and they want Republicans to negotiate, etc., etc.&#8221;
He went on to praise Democrats for sticking to &#8220;sharper&#8221; messaging and convincing voters that Republicans were actually the ones holding things up.
But Senator Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats and had previously voted no on efforts to break the filibuster, said after casting his vote with Republicans that the messaging — however &#8220;sharp&#8221; — was just not working.
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A Democrat senator who helped keep the shutdown alive is now admitting the truth: he caved because the strategy had completely collapsed.
Sen. Angus King told reporters he voted for the compromise funding deal for one simple reason — “it wasn’t working.”
And he openly… <a href="https://t.co/aD9awqpXzO">pic.twitter.com/aD9awqpXzO</a>
— Overton (@overton_news) <a href="https://twitter.com/overton_news/status/1987715584604119345?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;It’s been six weeks. The Republicans made it clear they weren’t going to discuss the health care issue. The Affordable Care Act, tax credits until until the shutdown was over,&#8221; King told reporters. &#8220;We tried to keep working that for six weeks. It didn’t happen. The vote that we have is not a guarantee for sure &#8230; As I assessed it, there was zero chance of dealing with the ACA issue as long as the shutdown continued.&#8221;
On MSNBC, a panel discussion laid out what was happening on Sunday evening – and immediately questioned what Democrats had actually won by keeping the government closed for nearly six weeks.
&#8220;Weekend Primetime&#8221; host Antonia Hylton kicked off the conversation by noting how &#8220;strange&#8221; it seemed to watch Democrats win so handily in Tuesday&#8217;s elections and then roll over just a few days later.
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&#8220;The President is kinda getting what he wanted&#8221;
&#8220;I don&#8217;t understand how a democratic senator goes, &#8216;wow we won really big &#8212; let me cave now. I don&#8217;t understand. That makes no sense to me.&#8217; &#8221; <a href="https://t.co/xkkOptXJlD">pic.twitter.com/xkkOptXJlD</a>
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) <a href="https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1987687026053824842?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;We spoke about this earlier, but it&#8217;s strange, Dean, to go back to the original sort of part of this conversation of whether [Trump] is a good deal maker,&#8221; she began. &#8220;In a way, it seems like the president is kind of getting what he wanted 40 days ago when all this started — he was out there saying that oh, this is all about Democrats trying to give health care to illegal immigrants, he just said that to reporters moments ago, repeated that refrain the Democrats had actually very successfully pushed back against.&#8221;
&#8220;Then there&#8217;s all this energy in the wake of the election on Tuesday,&#8221; Hylton continued, noting that even Trump had conceded that the shutdown was likely hurting Republicans in Tuesday&#8217;s major races. &#8220;[Trump was] acknowledging that he was on his back foot, and now here he is winning again? How did he do it?&#8221;
&#8220;The Democrats — I don&#8217;t understand how a democratic senator goes, &#8216;Wow, we won really big — let me cave now.&#8217; I don&#8217;t understand. That makes no sense to me,&#8221; another replied.
Another questioned whether Democrats had intentionally dragged things out in order to get through the election.

Spin Cycle: Dems Shut The Government Down For 40 Days. What Did They Win?

Government Shutdown

MSNBC

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