Sen. Mark Warner, vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, had his hair on fire over Donald Trump’s speech Thursday night. Warner appeared on CBS News after the speech. That was the only network to air it in full. Even Fox “News” cut away.
Before Warner got to the dangerous lies spewed by Trump, he had some choice words for CBS News. “As an American, not as an elected official, I was embarrassed that the President of the United States went before a whole country and networks like yours carried this as news, as opposed to a rehash of falsehoods,” Warner said, “and it is incumbent upon you and any responsible journalist to push back on these falsehoods.”
MAGA CBS anchor Tony Dokoupil tried to interrupt, only to be brushed aside by Warner. “If we don't call into question these falsehoods this president is trying, he is going to lose a free and fair election,” Warner said. He obviously meant that Trump’s lies are dangerous enough to kill our free and fair elections.
“Unless responsible journalists and the American people step up and say our system, which has stood the test of time, is not going to be undermined by this kind of falsehoods, then you know we all have to live with those responsibilities,” Warner continued.
Dokoupil countered that Warner was on the show providing that pushback “and acting as though it’s not happening.” Dokoupil added, “We agree, you and I, that this is a vitally, vitally important topic, and the President has a terrible track record on it.”
Except that Dokoupil acted as though Warner was merely offering an opinion when he called out Trump’s dangerous lies.
As seen in the full discussion below, Warner went on to debunk Trump’s lies about “obliterating” Iran’s nuclear sites and about hostile countries gathering publicly available voter files. Warner concluded, “I've never seen comments like this from a President of the United States - doesn't matter what party, has nothing to do with party - that is so less connected to truth than this. And if we don't step up and you guys as journalists and people across the political aisles stand up and say our election integrity is too important to mess around with, then shame on all of us.”
Dokoupil’s lame response? “Senator, what I hear you saying on the 220 million voter files that the President says China has accessed is that those are public documents and that's not a big deal.”
No, that’s not what Warner was saying! He was talking about the importance of calling out Trump as a liar and the dangers of not doing so.
It went on like that. Warner pointed out more Trump lies about our elections until Dokoupil closed by patting his network on the back for hosting Warner and never acknowledging the threat Trump poses to our elections. “Senator, I appreciate you coming on. I think this interview has been a strength of ours. Thank you for your time. I know you’ll be talking more tomorrow and to Margaret [Face the Nation host] on Sunday.”
Please keep pressing them, Senator!
