Maybe if he can turn his attention away from FoxNews for a spell, Brian Stelter can address the issues at CNN

The new inspector general report released yesterday was looking into the episode that transpired last year involving U.S Park Police clearing out protestors from the area in and around St. John’s Episcopal Church, and the ensuing photo op that President Trump conducted in front of the church that had been the target of a firebomb attack the prior evening. This report completely exposes the media in their coverage from that time, showing just how disinterested they are in getting the facts and instead amplifying a narrative.

For days — weeks, even — this episode was used as a cudgel against the President. Stern-faced anchors intoned condemnation over this egregious act, and they noted the episode frequently as a sign of the President’s heartless rule over the country. Lost in their seriousness was the attack on the church itself, downplayed by many in the media, as its basement was set ablaze by protestors and to this point — one year later — still not fully repaired. For nearly a year, the press stood with this version of events, as it was cemented as truth.

It was all completely fake.

The finding of the report was that the USPP was not acting in concert with the White House, they were clearing the protestors in order to erect protective barriers around the targeted building and monuments in the area. Teargas was not used on the crowd; they were informed to be dispersed with speakers, and then non-caustic smoke grenades were employed, as they failed to remove themselves. The “peaceful“ aspect was also shown to be wrong, as the report details how police were assaulted with various projectiles.

It is significant that this is going completely ignored by CNN’s resident media analyst. Stelter is the voice on the front lines perpetually braying about how dangerous and insidious the lies dispensed at Fox are for the nation, yet repeatedly, CNN has been shown guilty of the very type of broadcast that raises his ire. Brian’s network was in a collective circle jerk over this event in Lafayette Park.

Rather telling how little we are hearing from CNN on the new IG report that completely neuters their blanket coverage on the episode they had 100% wrong.
These same people bark about FoxNews spread 'disinformation and lies', yet they repeatedly excuse their own prevarications. pic.twitter.com/pcvvwuOqEB

— Brad Slager – Media Antagonist / Bad Movie Curator (@MartiniShark) June 10, 2021

Most hysterical and histrionic over this was, unsurprisingly, Jim Acosta. At the White House, he asked the Press Secretary, “If the White House, President, and his team had to do it all over again, would you have gassed and pummeled protestors to clear the park so the President could have a photo-op?” Also of note is the CNN fact-checker, Daniel Dale. He responded to an earlier report detailing the very things found in the IG findings, yet he declared this to be a false claim.

Van der Veen falsely claims the clearing of Lafayette Square last June happened to "establish an appropriate security perimeter" from a "riotous mob." No. They cleared peaceful protesters out of the way for a Trump photo-op. The "narrative" van der Veen is mocking is correct.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 13, 2021

That was from this past February. It becomes yet another example of the fact-checkers in the media declaring a story to be settled and over, based on a lack of facts, the very thing they are charged with dealing in for their job title. This is not a result of new information arriving. The details cited in the IG report were, in fact, reported at the time. Here is one local journalist who looked into the matter and is essentially saying exactly the same thing as the Inspector General — one year ago,

A source says tear gas was never used — instead smoke cannisters were deployed, which don't have an uncomfortable irritant in them. And, the source says Park Police didn't know President Trump would be walking across the park several minutes later. Park Police say…

— Neal Augenstein (@AugensteinWTOP) June 2, 2020

…the reason the crowd was disbursed with smoke cannisters is that at that moment, officers were being pelted with water bottles. Another factor was that protesters had climbed on top of the structure at the north end of Lafayette Square that had been burned the day before.

— Neal Augenstein (@AugensteinWTOP) June 2, 2020

Daniel Dale is making a bold pronouncement there that is completely incorrect. Either he is lying, or he is making a statement based on wildly inaccurate intel; in either case, he is trafficking in the very behavior that sets off Brian Stelter — delivering misinformation.

In the Reliable Sources newsletter, Stelter turned over the latest issue to Oliver Darcy, and though he did address the IG report lightly, it was not an admission by any stretch. Here is Darcy couching the matter: 

That challenges some media reports from the time which did make a link between Trump’s photo op and the actions of Park Police. NBC’s Ken Dilanian put it this way: “The narrative we thought we knew was not the reality,” he said. That said, CNN’s Whitney Wild and Liz Stark reported the watchdog’s report was limited in scope. Here are the details…

 >> Here’s how CNN legal analyst Elie Honig broke it down: “Sequence, per new IG report: Barr asks, ‘Are these people still going to be here when POTUS comes out?’ … Crowd violently dispersed … Trump strolls through newly-cleared tract, with Barr and others walking alongside … Photo op at church…”

That is all the proof needed that facts are not of interest to this crowd at CNN. In two paragraphs we are served three different reporters who strive to maintain that their position remains intact. When presented with an official report — one conducted by an independent inspector general — they still look to massage the results in order to keep their narrative alive. That this report mirrors exactly the details known last year has no impact on their position. They still cling to their false storyline.

This has been the behavior from this network on a regular basis. For all the carping and moaning about how vile FoxNews news can be, those pointing the accusatory microphone at Fox have been shown to be just as culpable. 

This Lafayette Park report echoes the months of coverage that DC Police officer Brian Sicnick was killed in the riot. It sounds similar to the revisionism taking place with Hunter Biden’s laptop. Currently, the network is grappling with the Wuhan lab leak story becoming valid once again, but that is hardly the lone issue. 

There was the already forgotten revisionist Covid history special, they have backpedaled on the Russian bounty story, and tripped over themselves on the fake D.C. Police letter sent to Congress. There were the corrections needing to be made over the story of Trump’s call to Georgia elections officials, and a retraction about vaccinated people being able to fly. They fact-checked Biden defying his own words about abusing executive orders as ‘’false’’.

On Biden’s first full day in office, CNN claimed there was no vaccine distribution whatsoever and Joe Biden had to build the network from scratch. This despite the fact that by that day, 21 million people had received the vaccine. They could not even manage to get a report on the Capitol riot correct, reporting how Rep. Ted Lieu had bravely run to his office to grab a crowbar and join in the fight. He had in fact gone to get a Power Bar from his desk drawer.

The thing to note on these falsified reports — they all emanate from CNN this year. We do not even need to delve into the Russian collusion or other major crimes against the truth they committed in the 4 years of the Trump Presidency. This shows how the network generates the very same level of misinformation it claims to battle against. Stelter and Company are constantly claiming that Fox not only lies regularly but this is grounds for that network to be taken off of the airwaves.

It is all bluster, as we now can see. CNN dispenses just as much fakery — they just hope to distract from it with their loud complaints of the others. Meanwhile, as they are given ironclad facts on the Lafayette Park incident, they continue to push that false story in defiance of an official report. The very behavior they claim to despise.