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A top aide for former Vice President Joe Biden has come under fire for attacking CBS News correspondent Catherine Herridge over the “unmasking” of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.
Biden’s rapid response director Andrew Bates slammed the CBS News senior investigative reporter as a “right-wing hack” in a tweet that he later deleted, attacking her report on a memo to Congress from acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell.
Herridge reported on Grenell’s declassified notification sent to members of the U.S. Senate earlier this week which revealed the names of dozens of former Obama administration officials who “unmasked” Flynn. Biden, who was serving as vice president at the time, was also listed in the memo.
SCOOP @CBSNews obtains @RichardGrenell notification to congress declassified “unmasking list” Flynn between late 2016 and January 2017 – Read 3 pages provided by NSA here pic.twitter.com/NozVpQlRn2
— Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) May 13, 2020
The Biden campaign, through Bates, issued an official statement on the “unmasking list.”
.@JoeBiden camp responds to “unmasking” list: “These documents simply indicate the breadth and depth of concern across the American govt…over intelligence reports of Michael Flynn’s attempts to undermine ongoing American national security policy” via @AndrewBatesNC pic.twitter.com/bNl9Fp5JH1
— Bo Erickson CBS (@BoKnowsNews) May 13, 2020
But Bates also unloaded on Twitter in a personal attack on Herridge, who joined CBS News in Oct. 2019 after more than two decades at Fox News.
“SCOOP: Catherine Herridge is a partisan, rightwing hack who is a regular conduit for conservative media manipulation ploys because she agrees to publicize things before contacting the target to ask for comment,” he wrote in a now-deleted tweet.
Andrew Bates deleted the tweet. pic.twitter.com/zElvDs56em
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) May 13, 2020
The Trump campaign slammed the attack as “part of an authoritarian playbook.”
Of course, the liberal media is always quick to slam Trump for his own attacks on critics, reminding him of the “Be Best” public awareness campaign promoted by First Lady Melania Trump. Yet ironically, the attack by Bates came just days after Biden declared that in his administration, should he be elected, “there will be no bullying of the media from the press room podium or by tweet.”
“A free press is essential to a free society. Tyrants know this all too well. That is why attacking the press and attempting to intimidate independent media is a standard part of the authoritarian playbook,” Biden said in a statement earlier this month. “Efforts to undermine public confidence in the integrity of fact-based reporting violate our core American values and threaten our very system of government.”
“Journalists hold those in positions of authority accountable, investigate and document abuses of power, and expose the truth for everyone to see. In a Biden White House, there will be no bullying of the media by tweet,” the statement continued.
Guessing @AndrewBatesNC didn’t write these tweets. pic.twitter.com/zxOhGxXn6E
— Matt Wolking (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@MattWolking) May 13, 2020
Bates was torched for his tweet, and it was not only conservatives who came to Herridge’s defense. CNN’s Jake Tapper joined a chorus of voices, calling the attack “gross” in a tweet of his own.
Gross. Personal attacks on journalists for sharing facts is obnoxious and indecent. @JoeBiden approves this message? https://t.co/G6jVxWuxMF
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 13, 2020
Tapper couldn’t make the remark without a follow-up on Trump.
It’s so obvious it need not be said but I will anyway: not only does the Trump campaign do this regularly, the White House and the president do it as a matter of policy. And they do it so often it’s impossible to respond every time. If you RT my first tweet, RT this second one.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 13, 2020
He was immediately called out for CNN’s bias.
I appreciate the fairness here Jake. Honestly and thanks. Hey, curious Martha McSally calling Manu Raju a liberal hack was a 3-day news cycle. So fairness assumes that this will be too?
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) May 13, 2020
Come on Jake. You know this tweet wasn’t necessary.
— Allen Covert (@THATAllenCovert) May 13, 2020
Meanwhile, Bates continued to be lambasted on Twitter for his rebuke of Herridge.
Whither the First Amendment? https://t.co/McJ6WpyOMQ
— jon gabriel (@exjon) May 13, 2020
Big Reliable Sources segment on this I expect https://t.co/Wbr1Tw7QwR
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) May 13, 2020
Surely @brianstelter, @Acosta and all the brave 1A firefighters at @CNN won’t stand for this stunning assault on the free press!
— Sam Roberts (@RealSamRoberts) May 13, 2020
Catherine Herridge is a great journalist who is respected in the industry and has won awards for her work.
Sad to see the Biden campaign stoop so low with baseless attacks. https://t.co/MkyPQIyAv2 https://t.co/TePPb4aSvN
— kaitlin, not one of biden’s calendar models (@thefactualprep) May 13, 2020
And suddenly Dems are ok with “attacking the press”
— joe warner (@jwarner180) May 13, 2020
This is an attack on the free press. I’m literally shaking.
— ST_Nole (@ST_Nole) May 13, 2020
Biden campaign deleted the tweet. Does that mean @CBS_Herridge‘s reporting stands then?
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) May 13, 2020
Andrew Bates needs to grow up.
— Carl Cottingham (@cottinghamcarl) May 13, 2020
Of ALL PEOPLE, the Biden campaign goes after Catherine Herridge, whose straight news reporting on television is always dispassionate, and never laced w/her own opinion commentary
— Mike (@CBerthelot227) May 13, 2020
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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