Project Veritas released alleged internal CNN conversations showing the network slamming President Donald Trump, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson and more on Tuesday evening.
James O’Keefe, Project Veritas’ founder, announced Tuesday morning that the company has been recording CNN’s morning conference call with CNN President Jeff Zucker for months. Portions of the phone call were released Tuesday evening, with one purportedly showing CNN’s General Counsel David Vigilante attacking Carlson’s show as “the white supremacy hour.”
“Yeah, I was just going to say, if you’re going to talk about the story, I think it’s unavoidable that you have to talk about the naked racism of Tucker Carlson,” Vigilante, who was first mistakenly identified by Project Veritas, allegedly said. “Because that’s really what drove this anti-diversity push, you know.”
Vigilante continued on to bring up Trump, saying that the president “watches Tucker Carlson’s show and then reacts.”
“And just as sort of the white supremacy hour they have on Fox News every night, I think it’s the – you can’t disconnect the two,” he added. (RELATED: James O’Keefe’s Twitter Account Suspended For ‘Posting Private Information’)
WATCH:
CORRECTION: @CNNPR has just informed @Project_Veritas that the executive on this tape is in fact their GENERAL COUNSEL David Vigilante, not @marcusmabry.
As if that somehow makes it better for them…
We apologize for the misidentification.
More tapes dropping soon#CNNTapes https://t.co/19QweyWI4G
— James O’Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) December 2, 2020
In other clips posted by Project Veritas, a voice allegedly belonging to Zucker is heard slamming Trump as someone “on the aftereffect of steroids.” Zucker repeatedly warned those on the conference call not to “normalize” Trump’s behavior, which he referred to as “acting erratically,” according to Project Veritas.
“This is a president who knows he’s losing, who knows he’s in trouble, is sick, maybe is on the aftereffects of steroids or not,” Zucker allegedly said. “I don’t know. But he is acting erratically and desperately, and we need, we need to not normalize that.”
“You know, this is what we’ve come to expect for the last three and a half years, four years, but it clearly is exacerbated by the time that we’re in and the issues that he’s [Trump] dealing with,” the CNN president also allegedly said. “I think that we cannot just let it be normalized. He is all over the place and acting erratically, and I think we need to lean into that.”
Zucker also allegedly warned against “repeating unsubstantiated smears” solely based on “right-wing media” pushing for it.
WATCH:
BREAKING: @CNN President BLASTS Trump & Republicans on 9am Call with Senior Leadership
‘He(@realDonaldTrump) is acting erratically…I think we need to lean into that…’
“If we’ve made any mistake, its been our banners have been too polite…”#CNNTapes pic.twitter.com/zMIRxq9qC6
— James O’Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) December 2, 2020
The CNN tapes published by Project Veritas continued with short comments targeting Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham. The tapes appear to show Zucker singling out Graham, telling others to be harsher on the Republican lawmaker and “go well after” him.
“Frankly, if we’ve made any mistake, it’s been that our banners have been too polite, and we need to go well after Lindsey Graham,” Zucker allegedly said, although the exact context of the comments are unclear. “There’s a ton going on. Let’s stay strong. Let’s stay newsy. Let’s stay urgent. Let’s be smart. There is a lot of news out there, and Lindsey Graham really deserves it.”
In yet another recording, Zucker is allegedly heard slamming politicians in general, suggesting it would be unsurprising to discover that they don’t have a conscience and aren’t “completely hypocritical.” In this clip, it is unclear what specific politicians Zucker may have been referring to.
Project Veritas announced that more clips from CNN’s phone calls will continue to be released. CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller, but replied earlier in the day to one of O’Keefe’s tweets.
“Legal experts say this may be a felony. We‘ve referred it to law enforcement,” CNN Communications tweeted after O’Keefe recorded and posted himself announcing Zucker’s morning phone call.
“Our Legal experts say Jeff Zucker is just mad and embarrassed,” O’Keefe hit back.