CNN is right in the middle of a maelstrom of a scandal.

As my colleague Mike Miller reported, the great James O’Keefe has apparently been listening in on and recording Jeff Zucker’s morning conference calls to the CNN team for the past two months. In what has to be the shocker moment of all time for Zucker, O’Keefe dropped the news about it on the morning call yesterday, announcing he was on the call and that he would be releasing recordings of the calls starting last night.

We reported on some of the calls that O’Keefe dropped last night and they were certainly good.

Now, while everyone knows that CNN has been shilling for the Democrats for some time now, it adds another level of “oh boy” to it when you actually hear the back and forth behind the scenes, including Zucker actually telling CNN employees that they needed to “lean into” Trump and that they needed to go after Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), as he did here.

He also says that he doesn’t think they should be repeating “right wing smears” (referencing stories of “alleged scandals” about Democrats). Of course not. Why would they ever want to actually be reporters and do their jobs?

So CNN’s Chris Cillizza tried to justify his boss’s actions.

So, let me get this straight: Jeff Zucker, the president of CNN, providing editorial direction and thoughts on a staff call every morning is bad somehow?

So dumb. It's called doing his job. The end.

— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) December 2, 2020

“So, let me get this straight,” Cillizza argued. “Jeff Zucker, the president of CNN, providing editorial direction and thoughts on a staff call every morning is bad somehow? So dumb. It’s called doing his job. The end.”

But James O’Keefe was raring to go for them and finished off Cillizza’s ridiculous point. He asked why was Zucker telling them not to cover stories and if this was all just Zucker giving “editorial direction,” why was making noise about calling the police on O’Keefe?

The head of a news network ordering reporters to not cover news, with nobody on call pushing back, should concern independent journalists.

Also why is Zucker calling law enforcement on us for reporting what he said, @CillizzaCNN? Put your conscience before being the company man https://t.co/LrXqYhAbWv

— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) December 2, 2020

“The head of a news network ordering reporters to not cover news, with nobody on call pushing back, should concern independent journalists,” O’Keefe scolded Cillizza. “Also why is Zucker calling law enforcement on us for reporting what he said, @CillizzaCNN? Put your conscience before being the company man.”

Remember Chris Cillizza is the guy who bragged that “reporters don’t root for a side.”

I don’t care what age I am or what future technology will look like, I will always have a screenshot of Cillizza’s “Reporters don’t root for a side” tweet ready to go. pic.twitter.com/9OxWFkcOeW

— Cameron Cawthorne (@Cam_Cawthorne) August 18, 2020

But providing editorial direction with a bias is apparently Zucker’s “job?” Well, at least now they’re admitting it. If it’s just his job and there’s nothing unusual about it, why is he so upset, why is he trying to claim it’s a felony? As we reported earlier and as Donald Trump, Jr observed, CNN had no trouble running with secretly recorded tapes of Melania Trump. If they didn’t have double standards, they wouldn’t have any standards at all. Methinks Zucker and Cillizza doth protest too much. CNN just keeps digging that hole. And there’s more to come from O’Keefe so it sounds like it’s going to be a fun December!

HT: Twitchy