Last Updated on April 13, 2021
Project Veritas has released undercover footage of CNN’s Technical Director Charlie Chester admitting the network engaged in anti-Trump “propaganda” and that their “focus” was to get him out of office in 2020.
In the first section of footage released by Project Veritas on Tuesday as part of their #ExposeCNN campaign, James O’Keefe’s investigative journalism organization showed Chester, CNN’s Technical Director, discussing various topics with an undercover journalist from Project Veritas at bars and restaurants, unaware he was being filmed.
Speaking to the undercover reporter, Chester argued that it was down to CNN that President Trump was not re-elected last year. “Look, what we did. We got Trump out,” Chester said. “And I 100% believe it that if it wasn’t for CNN, I don’t that Trump would’ve got voted out,” he added. Rachelle Hoffman, CNN’s Graphics Producer, argued that it was mostly down to the coronavirus pandemic, but Chester shot back, admitting that he actually joined CNN to be a part of their anti-Trump “propaganda” campaign.
BREAKING: Part 1 – @CNN Director ADMITS Network Engaged in ‘Propaganda’ to Remove Trump from Presidency … ‘Our Focus Was to Get Trump Out of Office’ … ‘I Came to CNN Because I Wanted to Be a Part of That’
MORE BOMBSHELLS: https://t.co/kDe3HDdX2r#ExposeCNN pic.twitter.com/0G33tF83jr
— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) April 13, 2021
Last year, O’Keefe and Project Veritas gained access to a number of CNN’s morning calls with top executives. In the morning call dated 9th October, CNN President Jeff Zucker can be heard telling staff that they must not “normalize” the crazy and “erratic” behavior of President Trump, who Zucker alleges may be suffering with symptoms related to steroids.
“This is a President who knows he’s losing, who knows he’s in trouble, is sick (with coronavirus), maybe is on, the after effects of steroids or not, I don’t know,” Zucker said at the time. “But he is acting erratically and desperately, and we need to not normalize that.”
BREAKING: @CNN President BLASTS Trump & Republicans on 9am Call with Senior Leadership
'He(@realDonaldTrump) is acting erratically…I think we need to lean into that…'
“If we’ve made any mistake, its been our banners have been too polite…”#CNNTapes pic.twitter.com/zMIRxq9qC6
— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) December 2, 2020
VIDEO: CNN Guest Says Reopenings Must Be Used As “Carrot” to “Incentivise” People to Get Vaccinated
In the new video, Chester confirmed that not only was there a massive focus on President Trump’s health, but that it was a “propaganda” push, totally driven by “speculation”:
Like when Trump was, I don’t know, like his hand was shaking or whatever I think. We brought in like so many medical people to like all tell a story that like, it was all speculation, that he was like neurologically damaged, that he was losing it. He’s unfit to, you know, whatever. We were creating a story there that we didn’t know anything about, you know? I think that’s propaganda, you know? We had nothing else to run with at that time. We were like, just taking shots off the bow just hoping something would hit, you know?”
In contrast, Biden was deliberately painted by the network as a “young geriatric,” with Chester noting that CNN would constantly show shots of him of jogging. “Showing him jogging was obviously deflection of his age,” Chester said. “I think we got him through the term.” In another conversation with Hoffman, where she pointed out the network was attacked for not giving coverage to the story of Biden falling up stairs, despite previously focusing on Trump’s slow walk down a ramp. Chester argued that such a story about Biden should not be blown up by the network.
Further conversations with Chester and Project Veritas’s investigative journalist confirmed the extent of the propaganda that CNN was pushing out during the election campaign. “Our focus was to get Trump out of office, right? Without saying it, that’s what it was, right?” Chester told the journalist. He added that the next “focus” would be climate change awareness, which they would “beat to death” in a similar fashion to the pandemic. “Fear sells,” Chester said.
You can watch the video in full below:
