Opinion

Why I’m Filing An FEC Complaint Against CNN (And So Should Trump)

(Photo: Getty)

William J. Kelly Host, Citizen Kelly Show
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Yes, CNN, there was a pandemic of fake news during the presidential election but it wasn’t from Vladmir Putin, Russian hackers, or conservative news websites like Drudge Report or Daily Caller. It was from the mainstream media.

That’s why I’m filing an FEC complaint against CNN.

Therapists have a technical term that explains the hysterical fits of the liberal punditry since November 8th: psychological projection. Projection is a “psychological defense mechanism in which a person attributes his or her own characteristics to another person.”

The liberal media are guilty as sin and they know it.

Since the election, the Left has been scrambling, desperate to censor or destroy everyone and everything they cannot control. But this is not the first time the Internet media disruption has triggered left-wing seizures.

In 2013, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) penned an op-ed called, “It’s Time To Say Who’s a Real Reporter.” In the piece, he argued that reporters deserve federal statutory protection but government should decide who is a real journalist and who isn’t. His piece was a direct response to a conservative reporter – me – who dared to ask him a tough question at a Chicago press conference. I was a contract blogger for the Washington Times at the time.

After Durbin’s liberal media pals tried to shout me down, he told them, “You guys aren’t going to cover this, are you?” For the record, they didn’t. Had it not been for new media and a video that went viral, Durbin & Co. would have succeeded in controlling the news again that day.

I was attacked by liberal media again after my Washington Times story asking whether Ronald Reagan’s Chicago home was destined to be an Obama Library parking lot went viral. To this day, the former Reagan home is an undeveloped parking lot a stone’s throw from where the new Obama Presidential Library will soon be built. The residential houses next door to the old Reagan home are still completely intact.

But CNN would have you believe this is fake news too.

For decades, conservatives have complained about media bias to deaf ears. The 2016 presidential election marks the first time voters had actual evidence of direct collusion between reporters at CNN, The New York Times, CNBC, and Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

That’s why the liberal media are traumatized by this election. Hillary Clinton’s defeat was also a rejection of the mainstream media as “fake news.” The Fourth Estate, as an institution, has been tarnished and discredited.

That’s why it is so important for outlets like CNN to delegitimize President-elect Trump and the millions of Americans who voted for him. That’s why the popular vote in California and New York matters more to them than the popular vote in the 30 states Trump won. That’s why they say that Republican control of Congress and state governments across the country isn’t a mandate to lead. That’s why Jill Stein’s failed recount effort received millions of dollars and wall-to-wall media coverage. That’s why CNN plays the same snippet from an “alt-right” conference of 100 people night after night and desperately claims President-Elect Trump is a white supremacist.

Conservative media must take action. The evidence of collusion between CNN, Hillary Clinton’s campaign, and the DNC is the tip of the iceberg. WikiLeaks revealed only a small part of the larger picture.

Corporate contributions to political campaigns are prohibited – whether they are in-kind or otherwise – and CNN is a corporation. Even if CNN’s in-kind donations to Hillary Clinton’s campaign were legal, the value of the broadcast airtime gifted to Hillary Clinton’s campaign would be far in excess of legal contribution limits. This represents not only a serious violation of the public trust but federal election law.

Yet no action has been taken by CNN to investigate the employees who leaked debate questions to Donna Brazile, or fire Wolf Blitzer who used DNC-prepared questions for his interview with Donald Trump, or the scores of CNN reporters who participated in secret dinner meetings to coordinate on framing and messaging with Clinton campaign staffers.

CNN should count itself lucky that this election wasn’t a criminal trial because they would have been found guilty of media malpractice in the first degree.

So who’s the real reporter now?

William J. Kelly is the host of “The Citizen Kelly Show” on AM 1590 WCGO. In 2015, he busted the caps in the Chicago mayoral race, forcing Rahm Emanuel into a historic run-off election. Kelly is also an Emmy award-winning TV producer and frequent contributor to American Spectator, The Washington Times, Breitbart.com, and writes “The Chicago Rules,” a monthly column for Newsmax.