CNN media pundit Brian Stelter on Monday defended the media for its often negative coverage of President Trump.
“Trump and his allies are telling big lies,” Stelter said. “So, what’s the role of the press in this broken environment? It’s our role to stand up for decency and morality, especially if others won’t.”
Stelter took issue with the Trump team’s celebration of special counsel Robert Mueller findings, which concluded the president couldn’t be charged with obstruction of justice or other matters related to Russian interference in the 2016 election.
On his show @ReliableSources, @brianstelter says Trump and his allies are telling “big lies.”
He said it’s the media’s role to “stand up for decency” in the age of Trump and can help “lead the way by talking about morality and ethics.” pic.twitter.com/SLQbaBEqH8
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) April 22, 2019
A frequent critic of Trump’s openly combative relationship with the press, Stelter said the president’s attempts to obstruct justice are “screaming off the page” in the 400-plus page report.
“There’s no conspiracy found in the Mueller Report,” he admitted. “But there’s no integrity either.”
CNN producers then played a clip of Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, speaking last week about virtue-signaling from the Left.
“If we’re going to start making moral judgments about everybody in public office, we’re going to have nobody in public office,” Giuliani said on CNN.
“We can do better than that,” Stelter snapped back. “Journalists can help lead the way, by talking about morality and ethics.”
He took a deep sigh.
“ … if the people in charge aren’t.”
