Rep. Massie demands, gets retraction from CNN over hallway ambush
May 18, 2021
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) has forced CNN into issuing a correction over its reporting of a live interview with the congressman last week in the House office hallways, after wrongly saying that Massie denied there was any violence during the January 6 incursion into Congress.
Massie took to Twitter to ask for support against CNN after a video showing him talking to CNN’s Manu Raju about the need for more laws to prevent election-related violence was wrongly captioned as Massie saying he “didn’t see any violence” on January 6.
In fact, Raju, in an ambushed interview, asked Massie whether he was concerned that there was something wrong that could lead to more violence. Massie said, “I don’t see any violence,” clearly meaning that there is no ongoing violence.
“I said ‘don’t,’ not ‘didn’t.’ The audio is there for all to hear,” Massie said on Twitter about the inaccurate quote. “Please fix your article @mkraju @CNN I’m one of the few GOP folks who will even talk to you in the hallway. There will be zero if you insist on misreporting our words.”
I said “don’t,” not “didn’t” The audio is there for all to hear. Please fix your article @mkraju @CNN I’m one of the few GOP folks who will even talk to you in the hallway. There will be zero if you insist on misreporting our words. https://t.co/3DG76qmu9C
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) May 14, 2021
The article comes as the media tries to gin up support for a 911-style investigation for the Capitol incursion, trying to make the case that conservative lawmakers wish to rewrite history.
In fact, as the event clearly shows, Massie, for one, just wants history to be written correctly, free of the partisan spin which was evident in CNN’s reporting.
While Massie is a conservative, he is independent of former President Donald Trump.
Last year, he riled both parties by demanding a roll-call vote on stimulus measures he opposed instead of an unrecorded voice vote, that would require members of Congress to attend the vote during a period of quarantine, angering then-president Trump.
There was dark talk in the media about Massie being kicked out of the GOP by Trump.
And it prompted former Secretary of State John Kerry to tweet: “Breaking news: Congressman Massie has tested positive for being an asshole. He must be quarantined to prevent the spread of his massive stupidity. He’s given new meaning to the term #Masshole. (Finally, something the president and I can agree on!)”
Trump retweeted the comments.
Breaking news: Congressman Massie has tested positive for being an asshole. He must be quarantined to prevent the spread of his massive stupidity. He's given new meaning to the term #Masshole. (Finally, something the president and I can agree on!) https://t.co/N1CNLPsZjc
— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) March 27, 2020
In this latest controversy over CNN’s reporting, Massie later thanked his supporters for helping pressure CNN to making the correction.
“Thank you to everyone who stuck with me yesterday to demand that
@cnn issue this correction. Mission accomplished,” read Massie’s tweet.
This is inaccurate too… pic.twitter.com/KCAdwQsF65
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) May 14, 2021
CNN rewrote the caption for the video and stated simply: “This video headline has been updated due to an inaccurate characterization of Rep. Thomas Massie’s remarks.”