Media top headlines August 26
In media news today, an ABC News insider blasts George Stephanopoulos for role in a 'GMA' lawsuit, the White House cuts off audio feed before Biden's response to a question about Afghanistan, and NY Magazine complains the media 'manufactured' Biden's Afghanistan crisis
CBS's Norah O'Donnell and Nancy Cordes said Thursday marked "the worst day of the Biden presidency" following the deaths of 12 U.S. servicemembers in a suicide bombing outside Afghanistan's Kabul airport.
Thursday's bloodshed marked the deadliest day for U.S. servicemembers in Afghanistan since August 2011.
"Nancy, I think it is fair to say this is the worst day of the Biden presidency," O'Donnell told Cordes, CBS's Chief White House Correspondent.
"It's the worst day of the Biden presidency, Norah," Cordes replied, later adding, "It's a very momentous time for this White House."
12 US SERVICE MEMBERS KILLED IN KABUL AIRPORT EXPLOSION, OFFICIALS SAY: LIVE UPDATES
President Joe Biden is expected to address the nation from the White House early Thursday evening, several hours after the attack and other explosions around the airport where Americans, Afghans and others are trying to flee the country.
"Indefensible that we haven’t heard even a word from the President of the United States today," former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows tweeted. "At least 12 U.S. [Marines] died undertaking a mission to cover for his administration’s failures, and it’s crickets from the Oval Office."
The president, O'Donnell noted, had wanted to get troops out of Afghanistan before September 11, 2021. Instead, she said he finds himself in a "nightmare scenario," another point on which she and Cordes were in sync.
"And as you can imagine, Norah, this one incident is going to create political division in this town, possibly for years to come," Cordes said.
Figures on the right such as former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., demanded Biden's resignation in the wake of Thursday's massacre, as well as that of several other members of the administration.
"Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Antony Blinken, Lloyd Austin and General Milley should all resign or face impeachment and removal from office," Blackburn said.
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The State Department reported that about 500 Americans were evacuated from the country in the past 24 hours, but roughly 1,000 still remain in the country.