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View Full Version : CNN FINALLY covers Larry King clip in which Biden accuser's mother purportedly alludes to daughter's sexual assault



Teh One Who Knocks
04-25-2020, 08:22 PM
By Brian Flood | Fox News


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After criticism from media critics and the Republican National Committee (RNC), the liberal network CNN finally broke its silence on its own footage purportedly showing the mother of Tara Reade, who accused former Vice President Joe Biden of sexual assault, alluding to the alleged incident.

At 1:28 p.m. ET on Saturday, the network's website published an article on the issue. Prior to that, the story was missing from the network's coverage, including its "Reliable Sources" newsletter from CNN liberal anchor Brian Stelter, in what some critics are calling "journalistic misconduct". Yet and still, Stelter hasn't tweeted about the video even though he tweeted posts about Elmo and Big Bird. The broadcast programming spent some time on those characters as well, with "interviews" during "CNN Newsroom."
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The Intercept reported earlier that Reade said her late mother once called into CNN’s “Larry King Live” to discuss her daughter’s “experience on Capitol Hill,” where the alleged encounter with Biden took place. Reade didn’t recall other information, such as the date or even year, and The Intercept managed to dig up a transcript of the call but not the video.

Tucked away among hundreds of thousands of hours of old archived footage was the long-forgotten clip that came to light Friday.

But rather than CNN's team of investigative reporters, it was the Media Research Center’s NewsBusters, a conservative group that seeks to expose liberal bias, that exhumed the footage from its own vault.

“It's truly despicable that this footage existed and yet CNN failed to do its own due diligence within its own archives,” NewsBusters Managing Editor Curtis Houck told Fox News.

CNN didn’t even mention the tape’s newfound attention during its Friday night primetime lineup. CNN’s “Reliable Sources” newsletter didn’t think it was worth including, either.
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CNN has largely ignored Reade’s claims, drawing criticism from media watchdogs that often contrast it with how the liberal network handled allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh with hundreds of stories and countless segments. CNN finally published its first story on Reade’s claims on April 17, weeks after they were made, when correspondent MJ Lee framed the story as Democratic leaders and allies of Biden being “asked to respond to an allegation” against the 2020 Democratic frontrunner.

According to one analysis, CNN waited 24 days to cover the allegations. By contrast, the outlet published nearly 700 articles about allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the 19 days from when they became public to his confirmation in 2018.

“Perhaps they thought doing the bare minimum with help from the horribly biased MJ Lee would have done the trick and made the concerns about their on-air silence go away,” Houck said. “Now they've poured gasoline on the fire. Once again, we see a case of how the worst kind of media bias is the bias that you don't see, or bias by omission.”

The resurfaced CNN clip from 1993 appeared to show Reade’s mother alluding to “problems” her daughter faced while working as a staffer for the then-Delaware senator. Reade later told Fox News it was indeed the voice of her mother on the clip. Biden's presidential campaign has adamantly denied Reade's allegations but the video could be cited as evidence supporting Reade’s allegation – even though her late mother, in the clip, does not specifically refer to a sexual assault claim.

CNN did not immediately respond to a series of questions, including whether the network knew the footage existed.

“Larry King may have had the biggest scoop of his CNN career this evening ... And it’s an open question whether his former employer will say a word about it,” New York Post reporter Jon Levine tweeted.

Houck credited The Intercept’s report and the MRC’s “truly exemplary TV news archive” for being able to locate the clip so quickly.

“While unsurprising given how fundamentally unserious of a network CNN has become, it's gratifying for the MRC but shameful for CNN that they hadn't unearthed this long ago,” Houck said.

DePauw University professor and media critic Jeffrey McCall told Fox News that The Intercept reporter Ryan Grim “used to work for the Huffington Post, so he is presumably not some sort of Republican or conservative operative pushing a smear on Biden,” but he blasted CNN for its clear bias.

“That CNN couldn't pull this clip out of their own archives, even after Reade mentioned it in a recent interview, seems to demonstrate that CNN just lacks hustle to investigate this story or just wants to keep the story buried,” McCall said. “Either way, this comes off as journalistic misconduct.”

Biden has made multiple appearances on CNN since Reade came forward, but anchors Anderson Cooper, Brooke Baldwin and Jake Tapper have all ignored Reade’s during separate interviews.

McCall said that CNN is not alone as many other mainstream media outlets have been hesitant to pursue Reade’s allegations against Biden. For nearly three weeks, the mainstream media largely avoided Reade's allegation. The tides began to shift following Rich McHugh's report in Business Insider the Friday before Easter that Reade had filed a criminal complaint against Biden.

“Biden is presumed to be the Democrat nominee for president and that makes this matter newsworthy enough to be investigated, with of course all precautions for fairness and accuracy,” McCall said. “The discovery of this video clip does provide some extra evidence in the matter and it should be reported with proper context and scrutiny. But it shouldn't be summarily dismissed as irrelevant, particularly in this era.”

Teh One Who Knocks
04-27-2020, 11:17 AM
By Joseph A. Wulfsohn | Fox News


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The 1993 episode of CNN's "Larry King Live" featuring an anonymous caller who was later identified as the mother of Biden accuser Tara Reade was no longer listed in Google Play's catalog late Saturday.

Twitter user J.L. Hamilton shared a screenshot showing the Aug. 11, 1993, broadcast of "Larry King Live" was no longer listed in the season three catalog of the iconic CNN talk show. Mysteriously, though, the Aug. 10 broadcast, which is listed as "Episode 154" is followed by the Aug. 12 broadcast, which is listed as "Episode 155," suggesting that episode and the ones that follow could be incorrectly listed and off by a number.

Fox News later verified the Aug. 11 episode is not listed on the streaming service. It is unclear when it was removed from the catalog.

Fox News reached out to CNN and Google for comment. Fox News also reached out to the representation of Larry King and have not received a response.

On Sunday afternoon, CNN provided as a statement a reply tweet from CNN Communications spokesperson Matt Dornic, who denied that the network removed anything from Google Play, calling the allegation from Hamilton "B.S."

"Listings on the site are not sourced thru CNN. Click any episode, it will say 'not available to watch,'" Dornic added in the reply to the Twitter user.
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Hamilton later deleted the tweet which included the screenshot from the Google Play page.

Fox News was told that CNN did not license the "Larry King Live" content that appeared on Google Play, and Google controlled the episode listings.

A source told Fox News that "Larry King Live" was never available on Google Play and its entire catalog was listed there for users to add to on their "wishlist" so that they could be notified if the program became available later.

A resurfaced clip of "Larry King Live" from 1993 appeared to include the mother of Tara Reade -- who has accused Joe Biden of past sexual assault while Biden served in the Senate -- alluding to “problems” her daughter faced while working as a staffer for the then-U.S. senator from Delaware.

In a telephone interview with Fox News on Friday night, Reade confirmed that her mother called in to the show. Biden's presidential campaign has adamantly denied Reade's allegations but the video could be cited as evidence supporting Reade’s allegation – even though her late mother, in the clip, does not specifically refer to a sexual assault claim.

The Intercept on Friday first reported the transcript of a broadcast from Aug. 11, 1993, of a woman from San Luis Obispo County, Calif., calling in to the show about her daughter's experience on Capitol Hill.

"San Luis Obispo, California, hello," King begins.

"Yes, hello. I’m wondering what a staffer would do besides go to the press in Washington? My daughter has just left there, after working for a prominent senator, and could not get through with her problems at all, and the only thing she could have done was go to the press, and she chose not to do it out of respect for him," the caller says.

"In other words, she had a story to tell but, out of respect for the person she worked for, she didn’t tell it?" King inquires.
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"That’s true," the woman responds before King cuts away to a panel to discuss her claim.

That woman was Jeanette Altimus, Reade's mother, Reade told news outlets, including Fox News.

Later Friday, the Media Research Center found the clip in its archives matching the information provided by The Intercept.

Reade took to Twitter to confirm that it was her mother who called in to "Larry King Live."
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"This is my mom. I miss her so much and her brave support of me," Reade tweeted about her mother, who died in 2016.

Reade's story first resurfaced in an article in The Intercept on March 24. Podcast host Katie Halper then interviewed Reade, who said that in 1993, a more senior member of Biden's staff asked her to bring the then-senator his gym bag near the U.S. Capitol building, which led to the encounter in question.

"He greeted me, he remembered my name, and then we were alone. It was the strangest thing," Reade told Halper. "There was no like, exchange really. He just had me up against the wall."

Reade said that she was wearing “a business skirt,” but “wasn’t wearing stockings — it was a hot day.”

She continued: “His hands were on me and underneath my clothes, and he went down my skirt and then up inside it and he penetrated me with his fingers and he was kissing me at the same time and he was saying some things to me.”

Reade claimed Biden first asked if she wanted “to go somewhere else.”

“I pulled away, he got finished doing what he was doing,” Reade said. “He said: ‘Come on, man. I heard you liked me.’”

Reade said she tried to share her story last year, but nobody listened to her. Earlier this month, she filed a criminal complaint against Biden with police in Washington, D.C.

Fox News reached out to the Biden campaign on Friday for comment. The campaign referred Fox News to a statement earlier this month from Biden Deputy Campaign Manager Kate Bedingfield that said: “What is clear about this claim: it is untrue. This absolutely did not happen."

"Vice President Biden has dedicated his public life to changing the culture and the laws around violence against women," Bedingfield said. "He authored and fought for the passage and reauthorization of the landmark Violence Against Women Act. He firmly believes that women have a right to be heard - and heard respectfully. Such claims should also be diligently reviewed by an independent press.

Speaking to Fox News on Friday, Reade recalled being "furious" at her mother for phoning in to CNN after having watched the clip on a recorded tape following the broadcast.

She told Fox News she "dreamt" about her mother on Thursday night. The following morning, The Intercept's Ryan Grim told her that he found the transcript.

Reade said she "cried" when she watched the clip on Friday evening, telling Fox News it had been years since she had heard mother's voice. She had urged Reade to file a police report at the time of the alleged assault, Reade said.

"Always listen to your mom, always listen to your mom," an emotional Reade told Fox News.

Still, the mother’s interview doesn’t specifically corroborate Reade’s latest allegations of assault, and could be referring more to the bullying allegations she raised last year. In a 2020 interview, Reade laid more blame with Biden’s staffers for “bullying her” than with Biden himself, The Washington Post reported.

Reade has come forward before: Last year, when multiple women emerged claiming inappropriate touching by Biden.

Reade, at the time, claimed Biden put his hands on her shoulders and rubbed his fingers up and down her neck, but was unable to gain traction on her story aside from an article in a local newspaper.

But in recent weeks, Reade told a far more graphic account, with different and more serious details, raising the allegation to the level of sexual assault.

“Now we’ll see if a different set of rules still applies to Joe Biden,” Erin Perrine, the principal deputy communications for President Trump's re-election campaign, said in a statement to Fox News. “Maybe now at least one reporter will ask him about it.”

Fox News has also requested comment from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who ran against Biden in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary and recently endorsed Biden's campaign after withdrawing from the race.