MRC’s Bozell Trashes Media Over Rice Spin; ‘CNN Has Been on a Jihad’ Against Anyone Who Covers It!

April 4th, 2017 6:25 PM

Appearing on the Tuesday edition of the Fox Business Network’s After the Bell, Media Research Center founder and president Brent Bozell didn’t mince words when it came to the liberal media’s scant coverage of the Susan Rice “unmasking” story, ruling “CNN has been on a jihad” against outlet that have dared cover it.

Bozell appeared alongside co-host David Asman, who introduced by Bozell by pointing out that “the mainstream media essentially dismissing the Susan Rice story today” as “when it [came] to the network evening news last night, CBS devoted a whopping 46 seconds to the story, but that was a lot compared to others who didn't cover it at all.”

“The President has every right to be furious at this point. What the press have been saying for weeks that he had no legs to stand on and making the suggestion that there was surveillance. They dismissed them out of hand. Now you've got independent reports, different independent reports saying that, in fact, Susan Rice was behind this,” Bozell began.

Commenting on the Mitchell-Rice interview, Bozell continued with an epic slam of CNN [emphasis added]:

Yeah and notice, Andrea Mitchell said to her, have you unmasked for political reasons? And her reason was I did not unmask for political reasons. There is parsing of words going on. No, there’s something going on. There’s definitely something going on here. And how did the media react? They just ignored it after saying for so long that Donald Trump had no grounds to say what he was saying and CNN, they're the best. CNN has been on a jihad attacking the media for reporting the story, saying there’s no — if you're Donald Trump, no wonder you call them fake news. No wonder you attack them every single day and the public seen this. The public has seen that media are making no effort whatsoever to be fair and balanced. None whatsoever. 

Asman commented how both the Trump-Russian and leaking stories are legitimate, but it’s the liberal media that’s not covering the latter (seeing as one is an inconvenient plot point for them).

Bozell then responded:

There is not — on the Russian — there have been non-stop, countless, innumerable stories done about these allegations of a Trump campaign conspiring with the Russians. Not one single piece of evidence has come up to point to that allegation. They are searching and searching and searching and looking for something. Now if they're going to do that, fine. But where are they, when there is evidence in the opposite direction?

Here’s the transcript of Bozell’s appearance on FBN’s After the Bell from April 4:

FBN’s After the Bell
April 4, 2017
4:16 p.m. Eastern

MELISSA FRANCIS: Not playing politics. Former President Obama's National Security Advisor Susan Rice, responding first time that claims she requested unmasking of trump transition team members, rejecting claims of a political motive. 

[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Rice ‘Unmasking’ Fallout]

ANDREA MITCHELL [on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports, 04/04/17]: Did you seek the names of people involved in — to unmask the names of people involved in the Trump transition, the Trump campaign, people surrounding the President-elect in order to spy on them and expose them. 

SUSAN RICE [on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports, 04/04/17]: Absolutely — absolutely not for any political purposes, to spy, expose, anything. 

[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: SUSAN RICE on Unmasking: I Leaked Nothing]

MITCHELL [on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports, 04/04/17]: Did you leak the name of Mike Flynn?

RICE [on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports, 04/04/17]: I leaked nothing to nobody and never have and never would.

[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Media Dismissing Rice Story]

DAVID ASMAN: Alright well, the mainstream media essentially dismissing the Susan Rice story today. When it comes to the network evening news last night, CBS devoted a whopping 46 seconds to the story, but that was a lot compared to others who didn't cover it at all. My next guest calls the liberal media's approach “shameful.” Here now is Brent Bozell, Media Research Center founder and president. Well, this morning virtually all newspapers, national newspapers ignored the piece or tried to pour cold water over the whole idea. The New York Times wrote a piece on A-16 which they said President Trump has seized on “reports by conservative news outlets that he was targeted by his predecessor for surveillance, implying anything by conservative news outlets wasn't true. Well, in fact, the story came out in Bloomberg, which is not a conservative news outlet. 

[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Mainstream Media Dismisses Rice ‘Unmasking’ Story]

BRENT BOZELL: Right and notice page A-16. That’s how important, but look, you know, Donald Trump the President has every right to be furious at this point. What the press have been saying for weeks that he had no legs to stand on and making the suggestion that there was surveillance. They dismissed them out of hand. Now you've got independent reports, different independent reports saying that, in fact, Susan Rice was behind this, as unmasking, you've got her going on television and notice what she said to Andrea Mitchell, which by the way, people go to Andrea Mitchell when they want to spin in the Democratic Party. 

ASMAN: Let’s just play a little sound bite from that because in her interview she essentially admitted that she unmasked or asked Intel agencies to unmask some of the stuff. But when asked the same question, whether she any idea unmasking in some much of these areas on PBS a couple weeks ago, here is what she said. 

[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Susan Rice Denies Obama Admin Used Intelligence to Hurt Trump Team]

RICE [on the PBS NewsHour, 03/22/17]: I know nothing about this. I was surprised to see reports from Chairman Nunes on that count. 

ASMAN: Consistency there. 

BOZELL: Yeah and notice, Andrea Mitchell said to her, have you unmasked for political reasons? And her reason was I did not unmask for political reasons. There is parsing of words going on. No, there’s something going on. There’s definitely something going on here. And how did the media react? They just ignored it after saying for so long that Donald Trump had no grounds to say what he was saying and CNN, they're the best. CNN has been on a jihad attacking the media for reporting the story. 

[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Rice: I Leaked Nothing]

ASMAN: Right.

BOZELL: Saying there’s no — if you're Donald Trump, no wonder you call them fake news. No wonder you attack them every single day and the public seen this. The public has seen that media are making no effort whatsoever to be fair and balanced. None whatsoever. 

[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Susan Rice Denies Obama Admin Used Intelligence to Hurt Trump Team]

ASMAN: Well, we’re certainly going to stay on the story, but there are two Russian stories. The one story: Did the Obama administration spy on Donald Trump? We know the media — the mainstream media will not cover it. We will, however, and the other question is the Trump team conspire with the Russians. So far, every time an intel official has been asked this question, they say we don't have evidence of that. There is smoke but there is no fire. On other hand with the first story did the Obama administration spy on trump team, there is some fire? 

[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Mainstream Media Dismisses Rice ‘Unmasking’ Story]

BOZELL: There is not — on the Russian — there have been non-stop, countless, innumerable stories done about these allegations of a Trump campaign conspiring with the Russians. Not one single piece of evidence has come up to point to that allegation. They are searching and searching and searching and looking for something. Now if they're going to do that, fine. But where are they, when there is evidence in the opposite direction?

ASMAN: Alright. We know where they have been with Susan Rice. They're just not accountable at all? 

BOZELL: No. They’re — they’re —

Asman; They just totally ignore it, but we got to leave it at that. Brent Bozell — 

BOZELL: Thank you, David.

ASMAN: — good to see you.