The Mirror

USA Today Hunts The Wrong Witch In Tracking Clinton Comrades

Betsy Rothstein Gossip blogger
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Catching journalists in blistering biases is so hot these days.

So much so that a report in USA Today late Wednesday would lead you to believe that CNN’s Jake Tapper is involved in a George Stephanopoulos type of controversy. The ABC newsman has been skewered as of late for donating $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation and not disclosing it to his network.

Tapper is scheduled to interview former President Bill Clinton at a Clinton Global Initiative event next month in Denver.

USA Today is correct when it says that when it approached CNN on the matter, CGI quickly removed Tapper’s name. The organization had inaccurately listed him as a speaker. Tapper is scheduled to interview Clinton for an on-air interview as a journalist. He’ll also moderate a panel that may appear on the network’s airwaves.

As the story reports, Tapper has control over his interview with Clinton.

A CNN spokesperson told The Mirror that everything is above board and does not fall in the category of the Stephanopoulos scandal.

“Tapper is interviewing the president for CNN. Our cameras are going to be there. It’s going to air on TV. Jake Tapper has never donated the money to the Clinton Foundation.”

USA Today waited five graphs to explain that CNN said that Tapper is not a speaker at the event. And even then, held his feet to the fire throughout the entire story, mentioning his work at the liberal pub Salon and as a spokesman for Chelsea Clinton‘s future mother-in-law (because back then he could probably sense that then-Rep. Marjorie Margolies (D-Pa.) would one day rise to be the mother-in-law of the daughter of the woman who would maybe one day run for president.)

USA Today conceded that CNN’s explanation regarding next month’s event probably put him in the clear.

“That stands in Tapper’s favor, but it does not solve the problem for Tapper or CNN, which is scheduled to host three Republican presidential primary debates,” wrote USA Today. “…Tapper has a far better reputation among Republicans than his controversial former ABC News colleague. But like Stephanopoulos, Tapper has a history on the liberal side of the political fence.”