Former CNN Editor’s Excuse for Failing to Cover Biden’s Mental Decline Is So Pathetic: 'They Shamed You'

Former CNN journalist Chris Cillizza just offered a stunning excuse as to why the legacy media failed to cover President Joe Biden's physical and mental health ailments during his four years in office.

White House aides bullied them.

That's right. The media, who once likened themselves to firefighters running toward a fire, couldn't find the intestinal fortitude to ask probing questions about Biden's health lest his staff shame them.

As such, it's not their fault. The journalists, you see, were just meek and mild, namby-pamby, balls of fluff who couldn't overcome criticism. Cilizza, who previously served as CNN's digital editor-at-large, pointed the finger at those around Biden.

"I think there is now ample evidence that there was a cover-up on Joe Biden’s actual physical and mental condition by his aides in the White House. There’s been a ton of reporting on it… too much, I think, to dismiss it," he told Fox News Digital.

Here's where it gets truly ludicrous.

"Instead, I think the Biden team made it really hard to ask questions about his health — they shamed you, said you didn’t like him, etc.," Cillizza added.

The new Substack creator indicated that the tactic worked, and most reporters, including himself, "let that be that."

Ex-CNN journalist speaks out on Biden cover-up, says White House aides made it difficult on press

'The Biden team made it really hard to ask questions about his health — they shamed you,' Chris Cillizza sayshttps://t.co/ekOkG8i0wW #FoxNews
— Fearless45 (@Fearless45Trump) May 8, 2025

Chuck Todd Goes Full Ministry of Truth in Rant on Cover-Up of Biden's Decline and I Have Thoughts

They accused you of not liking Joe Biden, and you ... kicked at the grass, turned around, and slowly walked away? How pathetic.

What an absurdly roundabout way to admit that you, and just about everyone else in your field, are really, really bad at your jobs. If you’re pretending to be a journalist and your subject 'liking' you is a factor in how you report, you should find a new line of work.

You're not a journalist any longer. You're a sheep.

How can you be so spineless that the people you're trying to report on shaming you is a deterrent from covering them accurately? Granted, Cillizza comes off as about as tough and intimidating as a piece of toast, but still. Are there no reporters out there with some pride in their work? Willing to take a stand to give the American people the truth?

And no, you don't get to shift blame onto Biden's aides and pretend you had no part. Sorry. Yes, they're responsible for one of the biggest cover-ups in American political history. But it used to be the media's job to expose scandals like this.

Which makes the legacy media just as culpable for allowing what could have been the biggest story in American political history to go unchecked.

Chris, my man, there's a reason nobody is buying what CNN or your little Substack are selling anymore. Put on the clown nose, slather on the face paint, look into the mirror, and admit some blame in a daily affirmation to yourself.

Cillizza was commenting on a matter encompassed by a recent 'come to Jesus' moment by Axios reporter Alex Thompson, in which he scolded his profession for allegedly missing the story of Biden's cognitive decline. (They didn't miss it; they covered it up.)

.@AlexThomp: "President Biden's decline and its coverup by the people around him is a reminder that every White House regardless of party is capable of deception...We, myself included, missed a lot of this story and some people trust us less because of it." #whcd #nerdprom pic.twitter.com/L9CtbB3HIZ
— CSPAN (@cspan) April 27, 2025

It's a hollow admission. Axios and CNN's Jake Tapper, who is the co-author of a book with Thompson pretending to expose the cover-up, actively covered it up.

In a video response to Thompson's remarkable admission, Cillizza does suggest that the media failed to do its duty, but still manages to give them a pass.

"The fact that I do not believe there was any coordinated cover-up by the media of Joe Biden's condition, that does not get us media off the hook," he confessed.

"The media should have asked more questions about Joe Biden. I should have asked more questions about Joe Biden and his health. We should have dug harder."

It didn't require digging. Video evidence was produced daily showing that Biden was suffering from mental deficiencies, rendering him incapable of serving as the leader of the free world. His aides came out and said the videos were "cheap fakes."

Did they bully you into reporting that as well? And would the media act like such cowards if they had any video showing President Trump wandering around lost on stage, tripping on stairs, and asking dead members of Congress to please stand up?

Cillizza commiserated with former "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd last week about how the media is not to blame for keeping the scandal under wraps.

"This is not a media failure. This was a failure of the Democratic Party. And the virtue signaling that some people have done to try to say that the media missed this story. They didn’t miss this story," Todd insisted. "I just refuse to accept this stupid premise! Because it’s a right-wing manufactured right-wing premise in order to stain the media."

The media doesn't need an ounce of help in the staining department. You didn't miss the story. You weren't so weak that the slightest bullying kept you off the trail.

It was intentional media malpractice to keep viewers ignorant of reality and to keep Donald Trump from ever entering the White House again. Just admit it.

If you're interested in trying to regain the American people's confidence, maybe you should figure out who was actually running the country these past four years. Was it Jill? Hunter? Expose that scandal; then, we can talk about journalism as a real profession again in the future.

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