Politics

TV Networks, Led By CNN And MSNBC, Have Aired Misleading Bloomberg Ad More Than 70 Times

YouTube screen capture/Bloomberg campaign

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Chuck Ross Investigative Reporter
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TV networks, led by CNN and MSNBC, have aired a Michael Bloomberg ad more than 70 times in recent days in which the 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful falsely said he led New York City through 9/11.

“I led a complex, diverse city through 9/11, and I have common sense plans to move America away from chaos to progress,” Bloomberg said in a 30-second campaign ad called “It Won’t Work.” (RELATED: ‘Throw Them Against The Wall’: Bloomberg Aggressively Defended Stop And Frisk In 2015)

The problem with the claim is that Bloomberg did not take over as mayor of the Big Apple until Jan. 1, 2002, several months after terrorists flew airplanes into the World Trade Center towers in Manhattan.

Rudolph Giuliani served as mayor when the attacks occurred.

A Daily Caller News Foundation analysis of Grabien, a TV monitoring service, found that as of press time, CNN, MSNBC, Headline News and affiliates of NBC, CBS and ABC have aired the ad 72 times since Wednesday, when the ad first appeared.

CNN has aired the ad 30 times, according to Grabien. Headline News, a CNN sister network, aired the ad six times over the same time span.

WATCH:

MSNBC has aired the spot 22 times. NBC stations have aired it at least seven times, CBS four times and ABC three times, according to a search of Grabien.

As of press time, the ad last aired in the 12:00 p.m. hour of “CNN Newsroom with Fredricka Whitfield.”

CNN and MSNBC did not respond to requests for comment about the ad. The Bloomberg campaign also did not respond to a request for comment.

Bloomberg, a media mogul worth more than $60 billion, has spent more than $450 million on ads since he launched his campaign in November 2019.

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