Donald Trump releases statement after AG Merrick Garland's remarks
Fox News hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum react to the latest on the FBI raid on Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate on 'Your World.'
Journalist, podcast host and author Matt Taibbi compared CNN’s coverage of the FBI's Mar-a-Lago raid to "dystopian" state propaganda being spoon-fed to the public in order to compel respect for nefarious government law enforcement agencies Tuesday.
In his latest Substack article, Taibbi described a recent interview between CNN’s Jim Acosta and Phil Mudd, where Acosta let the former intelligence agent spread pro-FBI propaganda on his news network, without giving him any pushback.
Taibbi wrote, "CNN Newsroom anchor Jim Acosta, famed for being the WWE version of a media tough guy during the Trump years, curled up like a kitten last weekend when interviewing Phil Mudd, onetime head of the FBI’s National Security Branch. Also a former CIA man, Mudd is now an Acosta colleague, a ‘senior intelligence analyst’ on the CNN payroll."
The reporter mentioned how Acosta seemed to tee up Mudd with an opportunity to belittle and intimidate anyone questioning the FBI’s raid on Trump’s West Palm Beach, Florida estate.
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Matt Taibbi recently claimed that an interview between CNN Jim Acosta and CNN senior intelligence analyst Phil Mudd seemed a bit like "dystopian" state propaganda. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
"’You know, there are real consequences,’ said Acosta, ‘when people go out and trash the integrity of the FBI…’ It was less question than invitation, and Mudd jumped at it," Taibbi wrote, adding, "The FBI man seethed that even if you’re upset about the raid of Donald Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago, if you think state police can deal with the Iranians, the Russians, the Chinese, white collar crime, mortgage fraud and cyber-porn involving kids, you suck."
Taibbi recounted how he watched Acosta let Mudd talk about "how difficult things are for FBI agents now that the unredacted warrant was out, releasing names and robbing agents of their birthright anonymity just as ‘our kids are going back to school.’"
The CNN anchor sympathized with Mudd. "’Yeah…’ said Acosta again. ‘They want to intimidate people in law enforcement,’" Taibbi stated.
The reporter then noted, "As they spoke, CNN flashed a graphic of mean things people said online about the FBI last week, like ‘kill all feds.’ Acosta noted, as if spontaneously, that this reminded him of the atmosphere before January 6th."
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Matt Taibbi penned a scathing Substack post headlined, "Sweeps Week on FBI TV!" describing how CNN seems to be spoonfeeding the public propaganda for U.S. intelligence agencies. (Daniel Zuchnik/WireImage/Getty Images)
Acosta also asked Mudd "if he was worried about another ‘spasm’ of ‘domestic terrorism,’" which Mudd agreed with and, as Taibbi paraphrased, responded, "America is filled with extremists like the ones ‘abroad,’ and ‘I think we’re going to see a catastrophic event’ like January 6th."
Taibbi’s point in recounting this exchange was relaying the strange feeling he got that this was propaganda "out a dystopian novel."
The independent journalist wrote, "There was no pretense of separateness between the CNN employees, and the spot’s purpose appeared to be to let a senior CIA/FBI counterintelligence official whine about the reaction to the Trump raid, stoke fear, and compare Americans to al-Qaeda."
He added, "It felt less like news than something out of a dystopian novel like Fahrenheit 451 or We, and this is essentially on air round the clock."
"We’re a week into one of the biggest stories of our time, and the feds and media have spent most every minute acting as an unembarrassed unified front," he said, describing their commentary as "breathless, hyperbolic, and and [sic] eerily synchronized."
Local law enforcement officers are seen in front of the home of former President Donald Trump at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida on Aug. 9, 2022. (GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images)
Accusing CNN of essentially putting out state propaganda, he asked, "What’s the public supposed to see, other than an American analog to China Central TV or Rossiya-1, when they tuned in to all this?"