Latest news with #Russiagate
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Opinion - Too little, too late: A media in crisis blames Democrats for the Biden cover-up
In May 2025, days before it was announced that former President Biden had been diagnosed with cancer, NBC ran a sensational headline: 'Biden didn't recognize George Clooney at June fundraiser: new book.' It cited 'Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,' co-authored by CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios's Alex Thompson, detailing how the president's team concealed his cognitive and physical decline — and raising ethical questions about transparency. Tapper now claims that the White House 'was lying … to the press, the public, their own Cabinet.' But as a journalist, Tapper's surprise is both revealing and disingenuous. His book shifts blame to Democrats, ignoring how the media aided the cover-up. It's the latest in a string of reputation-saving moves from a media industry in crisis. Credibility in journalism — hard to earn, easy to lose — once demanded rigorous objectivity. Olivia Nuzzi was fired from The New Yorker merely for private contact with RFK Jr., not even for proven bias. But such standards already seem archaic. During COVID-19, CNN's Chris Cuomo used his show to flatter his brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), masking Andrew's deadly mismanagement of nursing homes and corruption, behind jokes about Q-tips. The abandonment of objectivity accelerated with Donald Trump's rise. In 2016, New York Times writer Jim Rutenberg and Univision's Jorge Ramos argued objectivity should give way to moral clarity. But this rationalization led to partisan reporting, such as the Russiagate exaggerations and slanted pandemic coverage. In trying to 'save democracy,' journalists undermined the very pillar that sustains it. By Biden's inauguration, the press seemed to have learned nothing. CNN's David Chalian likened spotlights to Biden's 'arms embracing America.' Wolf Blitzer said Biden 'put his soul' into his speech. NBC's Chuck Todd dubbed him 'the Better Angels president.' Meanwhile, the media dismissed or mocked concerns about Biden's mental acuity, even as video evidence suggested otherwise. Biden confused even basic facts — calling himself the 'first Black woman' to serve in the White House and declaring that 'I wouldn't have picked vice president Trump to be vice president,' not to mention his glitch at a concert and his lack of focus at a G-7 event. Each time, the press downplayed the issue. MSNBC dismissed cognitive concerns as 'hysteria' and used terms like 'cheap fakes' to discredit video evidence. Others, such as The View's Whoopi Goldberg, dismissed the importance of the president's cognitive abilities, and exclaimed that she does not care 'if he's pooped his pants,' she is voting for him anyway. Similarly, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough responded to those questioning Biden's cognitive ability with an 'F you' on the air. Scarborough had argued a mere three months before the debate that Biden 'is far beyond cogent … in fact, I think he is better than he has ever been,' and this is 'the best Biden ever.' This dismissal continued even after a Department of Justice investigator, Robert Hur, described Biden as a 'well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.' In response, media personalities attacked Hur instead of engaging with the facts. However, now new audio has leaked of the interviews, giving weight to Hur's contention that Biden behaved like an unfocused and confused elder. Biden's disastrous June 2024 debate, where he blanked mid-sentence and claimed 'We finally beat Medicare,' ended the charade. He soon dropped out. When Kamala Harris's chaotic campaign also failed, media credibility cratered. MSNBC lost 61 percent of its key demographic post-election, while audiences turned to outlets like MeidasTouch. In response, some journalists tried rebranding. Chris Cuomo adopted populist critiques of both parties, conveniently forgetting his own CNN record. Tapper, meanwhile, portrays himself as deceived, positioning his book as a reckoning. But 'Original Sin' evades the real question: did this cover-up begin before the election? The answer is yes — and Tapper was part of it. Concerns about Biden's cognition emerged well before 2020. During a 2019 debate, Julián Castro asked the president if he was 'forgetting' his own statements. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) publicly worried about Biden's ability to 'carry the ball' without 'fumbling.' Yet the press framed criticisms as attacks on a childhood stutter. Around that same time, journalist Ryan Grim described Biden's debate performance as 'staggeringly incoherent.' -The press failed to adequately address these concerns until five years later. Even by 2020, the year of the election, the red flags were impossible to miss. Biden fabricated stories about being in a war zone, called a voter 'fat' for no apparent reason, told Charlamagne Tha God 'If you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't black' and misnamed his own campaign website as 'Joe 3-0-3-3-0' instead of These were just a few of the many moments, captured on video and widely shared on YouTube, that fueled concerns about Biden's cognitive decline before he ever took office. Tapper's interviews, so far, have conveniently sidestepped the question of whether this cover-up started before the election. For example, in 2020, just prior to the election, Lara Trump raised Biden's cognitive issues on Tapper's show. Tapper responded by dismissing her assertion, and scolded her for making children who stutter feel bad. The media knew Biden's mental decline was an issue in 2019. By 2020, it was impossible to ignore. But fearing a Bernie Sanders upset in the primary, Democrats and their media allies closed ranks. Tapper's post-facto outrage avoids this context — and his own complicity. Journalism isn't stenography. Blaming sources for lying ignores the journalist's job: to interrogate power, not merely repeat it. The public deserves better than a press that performs truth only when it's convenient. Now, with Trump back in office, journalists claim they'll be watchdogs again. But the public isn't buying it — not after watching the media abandon objectivity when it mattered most. Credibility, once lost, isn't easily reclaimed. And the damage isn't just to journalism, it's to democracy itself. Nolan Higdon is a founding member of the Critical Media Literacy Conference of the Americas, Project Censored National Judge and university lecturer at Merrill College and the Education Department at University of California, Santa Cruz. All of his work is available at Substack. He is the author of 'The Anatomy of Fake News: A Critical News Literacy Education,' 'Let's Agree to Disagree: A Critical Thinking Guide to Communication, Conflict Management, and Critical Media Literacy' and 'The Media And Me: A Guide To Critical Media Literacy For Young People.' Higdon is a regular source of expertise for CBS, NBC, The New York Times and The San Francisco Chronicle. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
4 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Too little, too late: A media in crisis blames Democrats for the Biden cover-up
In May 2025, days before it was announced that former President Biden had been diagnosed with cancer, NBC ran a sensational headline: 'Biden didn't recognize George Clooney at June fundraiser: new book.' It cited 'Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,' co-authored by CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios's Alex Thompson, detailing how the president's team concealed his cognitive and physical decline — and raising ethical questions about transparency. Tapper now claims that the White House 'was lying … to the press, the public, their own Cabinet.' But as a journalist, Tapper's surprise is both revealing and disingenuous. His book shifts blame to Democrats, ignoring how the media aided the cover-up. It's the latest in a string of reputation-saving moves from a media industry in crisis. Credibility in journalism — hard to earn, easy to lose — once demanded rigorous objectivity. Olivia Nuzzi was fired from The New Yorker merely for private contact with RFK Jr., not even for proven bias. But such standards already seem archaic. During COVID-19, CNN's Chris Cuomo used his show to flatter his brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), masking Andrew's deadly mismanagement of nursing homes and corruption, behind jokes about Q-tips. The abandonment of objectivity accelerated with Donald Trump's rise. In 2016, New York Times writer Jim Rutenberg and Univision's Jorge Ramos argued objectivity should give way to moral clarity. But this rationalization led to partisan reporting, such as the Russiagate exaggerations and slanted pandemic coverage. In trying to 'save democracy,' journalists undermined the very pillar that sustains it. By Biden's inauguration, the press seemed to have learned nothing. CNN's David Chalian likened spotlights to Biden's 'arms embracing America.' Wolf Blitzer said Biden 'put his soul' into his speech. NBC's Chuck Todd dubbed him 'the Better Angels president.' Meanwhile, the media dismissed or mocked concerns about Biden's mental acuity, even as video evidence suggested otherwise. Biden confused even basic facts — calling himself the 'first Black woman' to serve in the White House and declaring that 'I wouldn't have picked vice president Trump to be vice president,' not to mention his glitch at a concert and his lack of focus at a G-7 event. Each time, the press downplayed the issue. MSNBC dismissed cognitive concerns as 'hysteria' and used terms like 'cheap fakes' to discredit video evidence. Others, such as The View's Whoopi Goldberg, dismissed the importance of the president's cognitive abilities, and exclaimed that she does not care 'if he's pooped his pants,' she is voting for him anyway. Similarly, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough responded to those questioning Biden's cognitive ability with an 'F you' on the air. Scarborough had argued a mere three months before the debate that Biden 'is far beyond cogent … in fact, I think he is better than he has ever been,' and this is 'the best Biden ever.' This dismissal continued even after a Department of Justice investigator, Robert Hur, described Biden as a 'well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.' In response, media personalities attacked Hur instead of engaging with the facts. However, now new audio has leaked of the interviews, giving weight to Hur's contention that Biden behaved like an unfocused and confused elder. Biden's disastrous June 2024 debate, where he blanked mid-sentence and claimed 'We finally beat Medicare,' ended the charade. He soon dropped out. When Kamala Harris's chaotic campaign also failed, media credibility cratered. MSNBC lost 61 percent of its key demographic post-election, while audiences turned to outlets like MeidasTouch. In response, some journalists tried rebranding. Chris Cuomo adopted populist critiques of both parties, conveniently forgetting his own CNN record. Tapper, meanwhile, portrays himself as deceived, positioning his book as a reckoning. But 'Original Sin' evades the real question: did this cover-up begin before the election? The answer is yes — and Tapper was part of it. Concerns about Biden's cognition emerged well before 2020. During a 2019 debate, Julián Castro asked the president if he was 'forgetting' his own statements. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) publicly worried about Biden's ability to 'carry the ball' without 'fumbling.' Yet the press framed criticisms as attacks on a childhood stutter. Around that same time, journalist Ryan Grim described Biden's debate performance as 'staggeringly incoherent.' -The press failed to adequately address these concerns until five years later. Even by 2020, the year of the election, the red flags were impossible to miss. Biden fabricated stories about being in a war zone, called a voter 'fat' for no apparent reason, told Charlamagne Tha God 'If you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't black' and misnamed his own campaign website as 'Joe 3-0-3-3-0' instead of These were just a few of the many moments, captured on video and widely shared on YouTube, that fueled concerns about Biden's cognitive decline before he ever took office. Tapper's interviews, so far, have conveniently sidestepped the question of whether this cover-up started before the election. For example, in 2020, just prior to the election, Lara Trump raised Biden's cognitive issues on Tapper's show. Tapper responded by dismissing her assertion, and scolded her for making children who stutter feel bad. The media knew Biden's mental decline was an issue in 2019. By 2020, it was impossible to ignore. But fearing a Bernie Sanders upset in the primary, Democrats and their media allies closed ranks. Tapper's post-facto outrage avoids this context — and his own complicity. Journalism isn't stenography. Blaming sources for lying ignores the journalist's job: to interrogate power, not merely repeat it. The public deserves better than a press that performs truth only when it's convenient. Now, with Trump back in office, journalists claim they'll be watchdogs again. But the public isn't buying it — not after watching the media abandon objectivity when it mattered most. Credibility, once lost, isn't easily reclaimed. And the damage isn't just to journalism, it's to democracy itself. Nolan Higdon is a founding member of the Critical Media Literacy Conference of the Americas, Project Censored National Judge and university lecturer at Merrill College and the Education Department at University of California, Santa Cruz. All of his work is available at Substack. He is the author of 'The Anatomy of Fake News: A Critical News Literacy Education,' 'Let's Agree to Disagree: A Critical Thinking Guide to Communication, Conflict Management, and Critical Media Literacy' and 'The Media And Me: A Guide To Critical Media Literacy For Young People.' Higdon is a regular source of expertise for CBS, NBC, The New York Times and The San Francisco Chronicle.
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Even Fox News isn't impressed with Musk dodging question over alleged drug use
A Fox News host called out Elon Musk's response to the New York Times report alleging drug use while the billionaire was working as Trump's senior adviser at the Department of Government Efficiency. The Times report alleged that Musk was frequently using magic mushrooms, ecstasy, Adderall, and ketamine in amounts that caused him bladder issues. When asked about the report during an Oval Office press briefing on Friday, Musk questioned the newspaper's credibility. 'Wait, wait, The New York Times, is that the same publication that got a Pulitzer Prize for false reporting on Russiagate? Is it the same organization?' Musk replied. 'Let's move on.' On Sunday, Fox News anchor Howard Kurtz called out Musk for refusing to answer the question directly, saying he 'decided to talk about something from five years ago involving the Pulitzers because he knew that he did not want to answer that question. That's my take.' "That's called deflection," Kurtz said. Musk has previously admitted to using a "small amount" of ketamine to treat depression. He made the admission in an interview with former CNN host Don Lemon in 2024. Critics of Musk on social media — including his own platform, X — have been quick to accuse him of being under the influence of drugs, generally in response to videos of him doing odd things. In a recent video in which Musk was recorded stacking spoons at a dinner, one X user accused him of "tripping on ketamine" while visiting Trump's Bedminster golf club. Musk replied to the accusation by saying, "I'm not on ketamine ffs." Another video of Musk's recent appearance in the Oval Office, which shows him lolling his head and rolling his eyes while Trump was speaking. His appearance — including a black eye he said he received while playing with his young son — was similarly lampooned on social media. Musk's latest visit to the Oval Office was something of a send off; his predetermined time serving as Trump's senior adviser at DOGE has expired, and he appears to be returning to the private sector to focus on his businesses, though the president insists that the world's richest man will still be hanging around DC.
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Paranoid Kash Patel Polygraphs FBI Agents in MAGA Purge
The FBI has devolved into chaos amid Director Kash Patel's ongoing efforts to rid the agency of staff disloyal to the Trump administration. Patel is now subjecting senior executives to polygraphs at a 'rapid rate,' The New York Times reports, as part of a wider effort to stamp out embarrassing news leaks from within the agency. One senior official told the Times in its exposé that he was forced out last month after being subjected to a lie detector test. He believes he was targeted because he hadn't told Patel about his wife taking a knee during the 2020 protests against police brutality in Washington, D.C. Others accuse the FBI chief of using the threat of polygraphs to intimidate agents and staff out of criticising or discussing his policies and staffing decisions. President Donald Trump appointed Patel earlier this year with a mandate to end what the GOP has characterised as the agency's 'weaponization' under the administration of former President Joe Biden given the FBI's past investigations into the Russiagate scandal and the Republican president's mishandling of classified documents. Within weeks of his appointment, Patel had already reportedly inquired about setting up a direct phone line between his office and the White House, raising significant concerns over the possibility of political pressure being applied to the agency from the Oval Office. Critics have also been alarmed by Patel's apparent desire to retain a private security detail, rather than one provided by the FBI. Patel has presided over an unprecedented purge of staff from the investigative body. Many senior executives and agents have found themselves forced out of the organization, demoted, or placed on leave without formal reason, per the Times' report. Other moves have included disbanding an elite investigations squad at the Washington, D.C., office that had previously probed Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Internal critics say the firings, forced retirements, unfair reassignments, and unit shutdowns have not only 'obliterated decades of experience in national security' from the agency but also signal that the agency will not brook dissent over the actions of Trump as well as as Vice President J.D. Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the latter two who were caught up in a leak scandal involving commercial messaging app Signal.
Kuwait Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Kuwait Times
Trump lauds Musk in bizarre black-eyed Oval Office farewell
WASHINGTON: Billionaire Elon Musk bade farewell to Donald Trump in an extraordinary Oval Office appearance Friday, sporting a black eye, brushing aside drug abuse claims and vowing to stay a 'friend and advisor' to the US president. As the world's richest person bowed out of his role as Trump's cost-cutter-in-chief, the Republican hailed Musk's 'incredible service' and handed him a golden key to the White House. But Trump insisted that Musk was 'really not leaving' after a turbulent four months in which his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cut tens of thousands of jobs, shuttered whole agencies and slashed foreign aid. 'He's going to be back and forth,' said Trump, showering praise on the tech tycoon for what he called the 'most sweeping and consequential government reform program in generations.' South-African born Musk, wearing a black T-shirt with the word 'Dogefather' in white lettering and a black DOGE baseball cap, said many of the $1 trillion savings he promised would take time to bear fruit. 'I look forward to continuing to be a friend and advisor to the president,' he said. But many people were more interested in the livid black bruise around Musk's right eye. Speculation about the cause was further fueled by accusations in the New York Times Friday that Musk used so much of the drug ketamine on the 2024 campaign trail that he developed bladder problems. The SpaceX and Tesla magnate said that his son was to blame for the injury. 'I was just horsing around with lil' X, and I said, 'go ahead punch me in the face,'' 53-year-old Musk said. 'And he did. Turns out even a five-year-old punching you in the face actually is...' he added, before tailing off. Musk, however, dodged a question about the drug allegations. The New York Times said Musk, the biggest donor to Trump's 2024 election campaign, also took ecstasy and psychoactive mushrooms and traveled with a pill box last year. Musk, who has long railed against the news media and championed his X social media platform as an alternative, took aim at the paper instead. 'Is that the same publication that got a Pulitzer Prize for false reporting on the Russiagate?' said Musk, referring to claims that Trump's 2016 election campaign colluded with Moscow. 'Let's move on. Okay. Next question.' Later in the day, when a reporter asked Trump if he was 'aware of Elon Musk's regular drug use', Trump simply responded: 'I wasn't.' 'I think Elon is a fantastic guy,' he added. The White House had earlier played down the report. 'The drugs that we're concerned about are the drugs running across the southern border' from Mexico, said Trump's Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, whose wife works for Musk. Musk has previously admitted to taking ketamine, saying he was prescribed it to treat a 'negative frame of mind' and suggesting his use of drugs benefited his work. The latest in a series of made-for-TV Oval Office events was aimed at putting a positive spin on Musk's departure. Musk is leaving Trump's administration under a cloud, after admitting disillusionment with his role and criticizing the Republican president's spending plans. It was a far cry from his first few weeks as Trump's chainsaw-brandishing sidekick. At one time Musk was almost inseparable from Trump, glued to his side on Air Force One, Marine One, in the White House and at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The rightwing magnate's DOGE led an ideologically-driven rampage through the federal government, with its young 'tech bros' slashing tens of thousands of jobs. But DOGE's achievements fell far short of Musk's original goal of saving $2 trillion dollars. The White House says DOGE has made $170 billion in savings so far. The independent 'Doge Tracker' site has counted just $12 billion while the Atlantic magazine put it far lower, at $2 billion. Musk's 'move fast and break things' mantra was also at odds with some of his cabinet colleagues, and he said earlier this week that he was 'disappointed' in Trump's planned mega tax and spending bill as it undermined DOGE's cuts. Musk's companies, meanwhile, have suffered. Tesla shareholders called for him to return to work as sales slumped and protests targeted the electric vehicle maker, while SpaceX had a series of fiery rocket failures. – AFP
