CNN Outrageously Gaslights on Court-Packing Issue, but Facts Simply Aren't on Their Side

AP featured image — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., center, accompanied by Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of N.Y., left, speak to reporters following a meeting with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows as they continue to negotiate a coronavirus relief package on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Aug. 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

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On Monday, during CNN’s “Newsroom” program, one of their reporters morphed into a Joe Biden campaign spokeswoman on live TV, filing a “report” that sounded more like campaign talking points than actual reporting.

During the segment, CNN correspondent Abby Phillip made a rather astonishing claim when asked by co-host Poppy Harlow as to why Joe Biden continued to refuse to answer questions about whether or not he would consider packing the Supreme Court if elected president.

Phillip’s answer was to suggest that it was President Trump and other Republicans who put “random ideas” out there like court-packing in an effort to paint Biden into a corner (bolded emphasis added):

I think the Biden campaign recognizes that the Trump campaign and Republicans are trying to set an agenda item, putting court-packing on the table and forcing Biden to reject or accept it. As you pointed out, he doesn’t support this idea. He hasn’t in the past.

I do think it’s odd that he won’t just put this to bed. Look, Democrats on the left of Joe Biden have stomached a lot of other rejections on a lot of other issues, whether it’s Medicare For All, you name it, and I don’t see why Democrats wouldn’t stomach this one if Biden would just say, no, I don’t support this. But I do think there is a strong sense among the Biden camp that they don’t want to let President Trump just sort of put random ideas on the table and they are forced to respond and being put on the defense.

Watch Phillip completely revise the recent history on what side first brought up the possibility of court-packing below:

This is just a straight-up lie, and one Harlow didn’t correct. It was Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Squad leader Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who first brought up the possibility not long after the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Those three, and a number of other Democrats, have either suggested it will be up for consideration after the election or at the very least have refused to rule-out putting it on the table should they win the Senate and the White House.

For Phillip to say it’s Trump, his campaign, and other Republicans who have made court-packing an issue in this campaign is just gaslighting in the extreme here. I mean, even her liberally biased colleague Jake Tapper made the point Sunday that it was progressives who first floated this idea.

Republicans are only responding to the Democratic leaders who have gone on record as saying “nothing is off the table” post-election, should Judge Amy Coney Barrett be confirmed to the Supreme Court.

Phillip and others on CNN can spin a web of lies on this issue all they want to, but the facts as confirmed by one of their colleagues are simply not on their side.