As Trump Goes on the Offensive, CNN Turns up the Gaslighting

In a Thursday missive, former President Donald J. Trump announced that he has decided to bring the fire back to the Fake News purveyors in the legacy media. After pointing to the clear evidence that proves the whole Russia Collusion as false, Trump’s weariness over the term “The Big Lie” being lodged against him, and the January 6 Committee accusations (without compelling evidence) that Trump tried to overturn a fair 2020 election and incited an insurrection, Trump has chosen to go on the legal offensive against the media outlets that have run 24/7 coverage and commentary.

From the Desk of Donald J. Trump:

Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America pic.twitter.com/TBmc0tJB81

— RSBN 🇺🇸 (@RSBNetwork) July 27, 2022

I have notified CNN of my intent to file a lawsuit over their repeated defamatory statements against me. I will also be commencing actions against other media outlets who have defamed me and defrauded the public regarding the overwhelming evidence of fraud throughout the 2020 Election. I will never stop fighting for the truth and for the future of our Country!

My colleague Alex Parker covered the details of the letter and lawsuit here.

CNN’s response to this news has been interesting, to say the least. The low-rated news organization has tacitly chosen to ignore it, just like they did with Nicholas Sandmann and the Covington kids.

CNN did post an article about Trump. It wasn’t a response to Trump’s shot across the bow, but it was written intentionally to deflect, and gaslight. The article posited that Trump’s woes and the J6 “evidence” are sure signs that Trump is in growing legal jeopardy.

Mmmkay:

This came a day after it emerged that two senior former aides to then-Vice President Mike Pence, Marc Short and Greg Jacob, had gone before the grand jury. That development was the clearest indication yet that the Justice Department was looking at conduct directly related to Trump and his closest allies.

“I am not one to say every time there is breaking news or a development that it is hugely significant,” said Preet Bharara, former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, who is now a CNN legal analyst.

“This is. This is very significant,” Bharara told CNN’s Jake Tapper, predicting that there would be a flurry of disclosures in the coming days about other witnesses to the grand jury.

This would be the same Preet Bharara who was fired by former Trump Attorney General Jeff Sessions in 2017, and was hired by CNN for the sole reason that he opposed Trump and his administration.

I did not resign. Moments ago I was fired. Being the US Attorney in SDNY will forever be the greatest honor of my professional life.

— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) March 11, 2017

No bias here whatsoever.

The department has also obtained a second warrant to search the cell phone of conservative lawyer John Eastman, a key figure in the plan to thwart the certification of Biden’s victory on January 6, 2021. It is hard to know how long the Justice Department investigation into the post-election period has been running at such high intensity. But there is at least a strong impression now that it is feeding off the progress made by the House select committee — a factor that would lend that probe increased legal and historical significance.

Drip. Drip. Drip. Did they find any compelling evidence on the first dump of Eastman’s phone? And will they publicly embarrass him again, or was the first time sufficient enough?

It’s a drumbeat of public showings of FBI serving warrants meant to disgrace the recipient, probes and testimony of third-degree staffers, and breathless pandering about “potential” criminal activity. But this is barely gunshot residue—where is the smoking gun?

Legal analyst Johnathan Turley poses that question as well:

While the Committee can continue to schedule new hearings, the eighth hearing highlights the fact a compelling criminal case against President Donald Trump has still not been made. Despite the prior promises of the members, the hearings have largely amplified what was previously known rather than introduce new “smoking gun” evidence. Even in the absence of a single dissenting member, the Committee has not been able to make the long-promised criminal case.

Several political prognosticators believe that Trump’s Tuesday speech in front of the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) was the unofficial launch of his 2024 campaign. Much of Trump’s own legal maneuvers appear to be seeding the ground as well as clearing the baggage toward this presidential run. CNN, MSNBC, the “Joke-6” hearings, they are all hoping and—Turley even alluded to religious fervor—praying for a criminal investigation so they can blunt, no, destroy, any future Trump presidential run.

It is still a question whether these legacy outlets in collusion with the DOJ, FBI, and Democrats will be able to blunt anything. It is also a question whether Trump suing media opponents for defamation will have any equally diminishing effect on them.

Until Trump announces his intention, we can only predict how it might play out.