CNN has been called out for a false report suggesting the Trump administration left President Biden with no plan to roll out COVID vaccines and the new administration was being forced to ‘start from scratch.’
Dr. Anthony Fauci had to make a comment effectively debunking the story.
CNN White House correspondent MJ Lee reported Thursday that their ever-revered ‘anonymous sources’ had told them Biden and his advisers “are inheriting no coronavirus vaccine distribution plan to speak of from the Trump administration.”
“There is nothing for us to rework. We are going to have to build everything from scratch,” one source said.
Lee went on to assert that Biden officials were being forced to start from “square one” and that this was “further affirmation of complete incompetence” by former President Trump.
NEW: Joe Biden and his advisers are inheriting no #coronavirus vaccine distribution plan to speak of from the Trump administration, sources tell CNN.
“There is nothing for us to rework. We are going to have to build everything from scratch,” one source said.
— Ana Cabrera (@AnaCabrera) January 21, 2021
RELATED: Trust in Media Just Hit An All-Time Low
CNN’s Fake News On The Vaccine Rollout
CNN wouldn’t publish fake news just days into a Biden presidency with the singular goal of making the Democrat look good and his predecessor – President Trump – look bad, would they?
At a press briefing later in the day, Dr. Anthony Fauci appeared to thoroughly debunk the report.
“We certainly are not starting from scratch because there is activity going on in the distribution,” Fauci said after conveying Biden’s plan going forward.
Dr. Fauci contradicts reports that the new administration is starting from scratch on vaccine distribution:
“We certainly are not starting from scratch because there is activity going on in the distribution.” pic.twitter.com/luMbsgctPK
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) January 21, 2021
CNN was forced to update Lee’s original report by stating the “story has been updated with additional reporting” but failing to note what the additional reporting was.
The correction consisted of three sentences mentioning Fauci’s comments, followed by continued assertions of a “lack of cooperation” and allegations that Americans “could not look to the federal government for any strategy” in the year prior to Biden’s inauguration.
Lee defended her reporting on social media by accusing Fauci – FAUCI – of being “a holdover from the Trump administration.”
Fauci, a holdover from the Trump administration, said about the previous admin’s vaccine distribution efforts: “You can’t say it was absolutely not usable at all.”
(In the last hour, Biden said Trump’s vaccine rollout had been a “dismal failure”)
— MJ Lee (@mj_lee) January 21, 2021
RELATED: Politics Editor Chris Stirewalt, Roughly 20 Others Laid Off At Fox News
Where Are The Twitter Police On This Obvious Misinformation?
Let me know if you spot any pattern with the myriad of CNN and other mainstream media reporters and even politicians who helped spread the false report on Trump’s vaccine rollout plan.
Of course, before the story was rejected outright by the most believable person involved in all this, lots of @CNN’s main voices jumped in about how big of a deal it was. This is what we call expectation setting.
Here we’ve got:@CNNSotu @AnaCabrera @jimsciutto and@cnnross pic.twitter.com/hmu9FuFzTO
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) January 22, 2021
But it wasn’t just @CNN. Other outlets and their reporters piled on, too. Because you see, if people believe this, Biden’s job gets way easier: anything tied to the vaccine is a success.
It wouldn’t be a chance for anti-Trump spin if @maddow and @MaddowBlog weren’t involved. pic.twitter.com/PVeIdvOwry
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) January 22, 2021
Perhaps you remember @HillaryClinton. pic.twitter.com/wMpocuA0az
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) January 22, 2021
So, what don’t you see on any of those tweets? Hillary Clinton, Jim Sciutto, or even MJ Lee’s and CNN’s posts?
That’s right – no Twitter police.
There are no labels on the tweets suggesting ‘experts dispute these claims.’ None of the false tweets have been blocked. And nobody’s account has been suspended.
Steve Krakauer, a one-time senior digital producer for CNN, pointed out on social media that his old network had shared the false report about Trump’s vaccine rollout 23 times on-air during the day.
23 times CNN viewers heard the Biden team had to start “from scratch” with a vaccination plan. Until 4pm, when it became clear their source had misinformed them, and they had misinformed their viewers. An inauspicious Day 1 of the Biden Era. @FourthWatch:https://t.co/gGiiVI4lDN pic.twitter.com/zNiIR32b5p
— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) January 22, 2021
We knew the media – particularly CNN – would be in the tank for the Biden administration. But to produce something so easily refuted just one day into it is pretty startling.
Then again, they might prove to be more emboldened to blatantly publish fake news stories now that they know it worked for the 2020 election.
