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Unknown A
All right, guys, so what you're about to see here is wild. We've been covering in detail Trump's all out assault on the First Amendment and free speech and a free press. But the conspiracy actually goes a little deeper than you thought. Right. This is not just about bending the knee to authoritarianism to prevent retribution, which it is about that to an extent. Right. But it goes one layer deeper. And actually, this is a rare instance where I'm gonna give credit to cnn, but credit to Jake Tapper over on cnn, because I'm surprised he went there in this segment and he really laid out what some of these media outlets are doing to kowtow to Trump and basically wave the white flag completely. Here we go.
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Unknown B
In our politics lead. There's a story playing out between Paramount and CBS News, President Trump and the Federal Communications Commission that any American who values a free and independent press should care about, including Trump supporters who should not like the precedent that is being set. The story started last fall when 60 Minutes interviewed then Vice President Kamala Harris. Then candidate Trump did not agree to sit down with the news magazine, but nonetheless, he protested how 60 Minutes edited the Harris interview, specifically the answer she gave after correspondent Bill Whitaker asked the vice president why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not listening to the Biden administration. Now, in a preview clip that ran on CBS's Face the Nation Sunday morning, Harris was shown answering like this.
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Unknown C
The work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by or a result of many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region.
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Unknown B
But during 60 minutes airing, Harris gave this answer to the same question.
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Unknown C
We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end.
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Unknown B
Now, CBS News explained the discrepancy by saying they had merely run two different parts from the same longer answer, and that is indeed what the transcript revealed. Now, CBS News did not post the transcript at the time, but they did turn it over to the FCC this week, and the FCC released the transcript to the public yesterday. But that is far from what Donald Trump alleged happened.
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Unknown D
They took the answer out in its entirety, threw it away, and they put another answer in.
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Unknown B
Now, that is, as we saw from the transcript, obviously not what happened at all. But still, Donald Trump called this incident, quote, the greatest fraud in broadcast history. Mr. Trump said, quote, cbs should lose its license, unquote. And then Trump sued under news distortion rules for $10 billion. Now, the suit is widely regarded by legal and First Amendment experts as well, as one put it, quote, a frivolous and dangerous attempt by a politician to control the news media. Broadcasters have a right to edit interviews. It's editorial judgment. For example, Fox in June 2024 aired this. Would you declassify the Epstein files?
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Unknown D
Yeah, Yeah, I would.
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Unknown B
But that wasn't Trump's actual whole answer. It was a taped interview. And as Semaphore noted At the time, Mr. Trump in the full, unedited version sounded a lot less definitive about releasing the Epstein files. Here's the whole answer. Would you declassify the Epstein files?
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Unknown D
Yeah, Yeah, I would.
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Unknown A
All right.
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Unknown D
I guess I would. I think that less so because, you know, you don't know. You don't want to affect people's lives if it's phony stuff in there, because there's a lot of phony stuff with that whole world. But I think I would.
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Unknown B
Or at least do you think that would restore trust? Help restore trust?
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Unknown A
Yeah.
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Unknown D
I don't know about Epstein so much as I do the others, certainly about the way he died. It would be interesting to find out what happened there because that was a weird situation and the cameras didn't happen to be working, et cetera, et cetera.
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Unknown A
So that was an actual dishonest edit from Fox. That was an actual dishonest edit. And by the way, why did Donald Trump say all of those things and sound so wishy washy? Because Jeffrey Epstein is literally on audiotape saying, I was Trump's closest friend for a decade, bruh. Steve Bannon in 2015 or 2016 came out and said, the only person who can stop the Trump train is Jeffrey Epstein. In other words, homies got some duh, duh du, du, duh, duh, duh. Dirt, dog, dirt. And so, yes, if Trump wants to set this precedent that he's trying to set, should Kamala Harris be able to sue fox News for $10 billion because they edited that interview the way they did on rebroadcast? Should she be able to? If you agree with Trump's lawsuit, you have to say, then, yes, Kamala can sue over that. My guess is everybody on the right would not say that.
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Unknown A
They'd not say that. All right, let's keep going, because this gets. Again, I told you this. This conspiracy goes deep. Wait for it.
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Unknown B
Quite different right now. Look, Fox had every right to make that edit. Now, did that edit make Trump look more decisive, less equivalent, Equivocating? Did it make Trump therefore look better? Yep. Was that why Fox did it. I have no idea.
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Unknown A
Yeah, of course it is.
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Unknown B
Had some timing issues. Either way, it's Fox's right to do it, just as it was Fox's right to do it when they had Trump's surprise visit to a Bronx barbershop on air, which they also cut down significantly. And coincidentally or not flatteringly, Fox had the right to do it, and not just because cable and broadcast networks have different rules.
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Unknown A
Imagine Trump getting a lineup. Where would that line be, man? Imagine he gets, like, a fade and a lineup at this barbershop.
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Unknown B
Now, the 60 Minutes editing case would almost certainly fail spectacularly in court, according to legal experts. But Paramount Global, which owns CBS News, is currently trying to merge with Skydance Media. And in order to do that, Paramount will need the approval of the Trump administration, specifically the fcc, which under its new commissioner, Brendan Carr, has suggested that Trump's views, Trump's news distortion complaint will be considered by the FCC before any merger can be approved.
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Unknown A
So do you see what's going on here? Do you see what's going on here? In order to play ball, in order to not disrupt their own business, right? They want this merger approved. They need the government's approval to get it approved. So they're like, hey, Donnie, we got some money for you, bro. And you've seen this with so many different media outlets. They are caving, they are cucking themselves, they are rolling over. So you can't have a free and independent press if this is how you bend the knee and genuflect to the powerful. And by the way, why should anybody trust any coverage you do now of Trump, knowing you kind of want to go softer on him to make sure your merger gets approved.
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Unknown B
Enter Sherry Redstone, the owner of Paramount, who stands to make about $8 billion if this deal goes through. Said one CBS News employee to me about this quote, everyone expects Sherry settles with Donald Trump. She is not concerned about her legacy, democracy, or the work we do. It's only about the deal, her pocketbook. The only way she wouldn't settle is if Skydance sent her a smoke signal to hold off. Surely they realize a settlement diminishes the brand and value of 60 minutes, which they claim to admire and want to own, unquote. For Paramount to settle this suit would be hoisting a white flag of surrender. It would be the network of Edward R. Murrow, at the behest of its owners, saying, we will not speak truth to power. We will acquiesce to power at the expense of truth. President Trump has sued any number of individuals in the news media over the years and the regular media.
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Unknown B
Bill Maher, journalist Tim O'Brien, CNN and he has almost always lost because it doesn't seem like the point is actually to win. It seems like the point is to make people think twice before they will say anything critical about him.
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Unknown A
That is such an important point. Understand that he knows these are losing lawsuits, but he wants to put these people through hell, make them pay a lot of legal bills in order to send a warning like, hey, man, just don't fucking criticize me. But when you're the President of the United States, of course you're going to be fucking criticized. Oh, my God.
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Unknown B
But his latest lawsuits represent a dangerous escalation. Mr. Trump is also going after the Des Moines Register and its former pollster Ann Selzer for, quote, brazen election interference. Why? Well, because of a faulty poll that wrongly suggested before the election that Trump would lose Iowa. The Des Moines Register is fighting that lawsuit, though, while it looks like Paramount will settle. The CBS News employee expressed their opinion about all of this to me, saying, quote, let's call it what it is. It's a bribe.
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Unknown A
These are insiders who work at these media outlets going, yes, if you're settling with Trump out of court with his frivolous lawsuits, you are paying a bribe to him. You're paying a bribe to him. I don't want to hear another fucking word from anybody in MAGA from any right winger about free speech and a free press. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it. By the way, Joe Rogan, who's so obsessed with free speech and a free press. Got any thoughts on this, bro? Got any thoughts on this? That the president that you endorsed and that you support is destroying the First Amendment? We just discussed the other day, he's another MAGA robber baron, is trying to overturn New York Times versus Sullivan. New York Times versus Sullivan makes it so. There's a very high standard for defamation when it comes to a public figure.
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Unknown A
In other words, there's a lot of leeway to say a lot of whatever you want about a public figure. They want to ruin that. They want to roll that back, which would make it so that the news media is in handcuffs and they can't aggressively criticize politicians anymore.
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Unknown B
Now, we should note representatives for Paramount and Jerry Redstone and Skydance continue to decline to comment on any of this. You know, you live long enough and you see how eroded standards that politicians think work for their side always end up being wielded against them. And at that point, it doesn't even matter who started it. It just matters that corporations are leaning on news divisions to supplicate themselves to whomever's in power because of their bottom line and the implied threat from the government. As a great CBS newsman once warned about television, this instrument can teach. It can illuminate, yes, and even it can inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise, it's nothing but wires and lights in a box. Unquote. Sherry Redstone seems to have taken the wrong lessons from that speech.
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Unknown B
If Sherry Redstone settles, she may as well take the wires and lights and the box and sell them for parts.
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Unknown A
Bro, I am not a big Jake Tapper fan, but shout out to Jake Tapper. That segment was fucking perfect. And in fact, look again. Now you understand how deep the conspiracy goes. Now you understand just how much of an assault there is on our free press. They don't want any free press anymore. They are going full authoritarian. The Trump administration is going full authoritarian. No more First Amendment, no more free speech, no more free press. Shut the fuck up. Don't criticize us. If you do, we'll come after you. We'll try to bankrupt you. This is the goal. And in fact, I hope some of you out there, if you're on TikTok, clip this out and post it on TikTok so everybody understands just how horrible Trump is when it comes to free speech. Donald Trump, the guy who pretends to be in favor of free speech.
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Unknown A
He sued Ann Selzer for a poll he didn't like. He's suing the Des Moines Register because he didn't like the Kamala was up for in that poll. He sued CBS for how it edited a Kamala interview. He sued Simon and Schuster, the book company, because a Bob Woodward word book quoted him and he didn't like to quote. He threatened to de license news outlets that criticize him. He wants to punish flag burning with a year in jail. He sued CNN for $475 million because they called his election denialism the big lie. Lost that one. Of course he would lose all of them. But he's trying to get bribes from these people. He sued bill Maher for $5 million over a joke he said repeatedly. He wants to open up the libel laws to sue journalists he doesn't like. He called for journalists who reported on the Supreme Court abortion ruling to be.
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Unknown A
He called on them to be jailed. Jailed? Yes. I don't know why my brain stopped working there for a second. But he wants journalists who reported on that to be jailed. He wants to deport pro Palestine protesters. He wants to gag order the EPA from telling the truth on climate change. He arrested six journalists and charged them with felony rioting in his first term. He didn't pardon Assange, a free speech hero, didn't pardon Snowden, a free speech hero, and didn't pardon Daniel Hale, the drone whistleblower free speech hero in his first term. And of course, he wanted to invoke the Insurrection act to deploy US Troops against George Floyd protesters. He said he wants to terminate the Constitution to keep his ass in power in 2020. This is who we're dealing with. So for every right winger. Look, you support Trump, okay, whatever. But just acknowledge he's an authoritarian and you're an authoritarian, period.
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Unknown A
That's your politics. You like authoritarianism. Just admit it, say for what it is. At least if you're honest and upfront about that, okay, we can have a real conversation. But a lot of these guys still pretend like he loves free speech. And they love free speech, right? Well, the record shows the exact opposite, so stop bullshitting us. Hey, y'all, do me a favor and like and subscribe. It helps out big time in the algorithm. Click the bell as well for notifications when videos drop. And watch that video on screen right now. You know you want to.