President Donald J. Trump speaks with military service personnel Thursday, Nov. 26, 2020, during a Thanksgiving video teleconference call from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House. (Official White House photo by Shealah Craighead)
CNN CEO Jeff Zucker called President Trump a "national security threat" and discussed with his colleagues suppressing coverage of the pre-election Hunter Biden scandal, according to recordings of conference calls published by Project Veritas.
In one excerpt released by Project Veritas, Zucker states: "Trump continuing to undermine election integrity with baseless claims of fraud. OK? And he's continuing to do it. And that leads to the question of whether or not Trump, in himself, is a national security threat, in light of what he's doing and in light of what he did in the debate."
Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe said that in the morning calls, Zucker "orders his people to suppress some stories — not because they are false — but because they will hurt his political agenda."
He said Zucker wants to shape the news, not report it.
"When Zucker tells CNN reporters, hosts, producers and editors to hype stories because they fit his narrative, or to target public officials like Sen. Lindsey Graham, it’s because they do not toe the Zucker line."
In another recording, Cynthia Hudson, a CNN senior vice-president and managing director, told Zucker she had special insight into why Cuban Americans support Trump.
"Trump has used the communism, socialism, rhetoric as part of his hook for the Cubans in Miami, how that has resonated and how the Biden team, has not done enough to counter that," she said. "This is all that, that the only reason [Cubans in Miami] are supporting Trump is because of that [Biden is socialist] narrative — and that narrative, and the fact that sadly, I have to say, there's a population that's very attracted to bullies."
She said it's "terrifying" that Cubans "are going to vote for Trump."
Sr. Vice President @cynthiacnn Demeans Marginalized Community; States She's TERRIFIED That Cubans Support Trump
"The Cubans are going to vote for Trump, and that's terrifying"
"I have to say, there a population that's very attracted to bullies"#CNNTapes pic.twitter.com/dWBmsvBKJo
— Project Veritas (@Project_Veritas) December 3, 2020
Further, Zucker said on the conference call he wanted CNN not to cover the images and correspondence found on Hunter Biden's laptop, which was abandoned at a computer repair shop and later was turned over to the FBI.
The New York Post published emails from the laptop indicating Joe Biden was to personally profit from his son Hunter's business deal with a Chinese energy firm tied to the Communist Party.
Zucker referred to the "Breitbart, New York Post, Fox News rabbit hole of Hunter Biden, which I don't think anybody outside of that world understood."
Zucker similarly said he wanted his CNN team to steer clear of any coverage of the Biden family's dealings in Ukraine.
Column’s up/CNN caught burying The Post's Hunter Biden exposé https://t.co/YPfZwi2dXw
— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) December 3, 2020
CNN liberal apologists caught burying The Post's Hunter Biden exposé: Devine https://t.co/cgAIxeV2RA via @nypost @mirandadevine
— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) December 3, 2020
Project Veritas on Tuesday published the first batch of edited recordings. Zucker is heard Oct. 9 instructing staff to "lean into" Trump's "erratic actions" as he recovered from COVID-19.
"I just want to re-emphasize that, you know, I think we cannot normalize what has happened here in the last week with Trump and his behavior," Zucker says. "And I go back to what David said, David Chalian said, that this is a president who knows he's losing, who knows he's in trouble, is sick, maybe is on, the after effects of steroids or not. ... I don't know but he is acting erratically and desperately, and we need to, we need to not normalize that."
O'Keefe explained that a CNN insider helped coordinate the recordings of the conference calls.
In the Oct. 9 call, Zucker warns against CNN "repeating unsubstantiated smears" from the "right-wing media."
And he advocates attacks on leading Republicans.
"Franky 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. ... There's a lot of news out there, and Lindsey Graham really deserves it," the CNN chief says.
"Each of these so called 'scandals' for Trump. Each of these things, we should just once again be careful to say that this is the one is going to undo him with his voters."
CNN said in a statement regarding O'Keefe's recordings that "legal experts say this may be a felony" and the network has "referred it to law enforcement."
The post CNN chief calls Trump a 'national security threat' appeared first on WND.
