On Sunday, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., clashed with CNN correspondent Dana Bash over allegations of election interference related to the Hunter Biden laptop scandal. The exchange became heated as Cotton accused Bash and her colleagues of spreading misinformation that, he claimed, affected the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. During the segment, Bash cited a recent Department of Justice report alleging that Russian operatives had funded conservative media influencers through Tenet Media to influence American voters.
Last week, the Biden-Harris administration announced a “whole government action” to eliminate what it termed ‘Russian propaganda’ and ‘disinformation’ ahead of the 2024 election. The Department of Justice revealed that employees from Russia Today’s media outlet had invested $10 million in a scheme to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with covert Russian government messaging. According to the Biden DOJ, RT employees financed Tenet Media, a media startup associated with prominent conservative figures, including Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, Dave Rubin, Lauren Southern, and Tayler Hanson.
“How concerned are you that right-wing influencers, people who do have an impact on your constituents, are being funded, either directly or indirectly, by the Russian government in order to make an impact on this election?” she asked. But Cotton quickly redirected the discussion to a much larger issue—the media blackout of the Hunter Biden laptop story during the 2020 election. He pointed out that mainstream networks, along with over 50 former intelligence officials, many of whom had close ties to the Biden family, fully supported this suppression, including CNN.
Additionally, Dana Bash’s ex-husband, Jeremy Bash, was one of the 51 intelligence officials who falsely labeled the Hunter Biden laptop story as Russian disinformation. Jeremy Bash served as the chief of staff at both the Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. Department of Defense under President Obama.
“First off, Dana, we haven’t been in session, so I haven’t seen any intelligence about this matter. I haven’t seen the allegations I’ve read in the newspaper,” said Cotton. “People should not knowingly take money from the government of Russia, or Iran, or China, or any other adversarial nation to try to influence the election. But I also think it’s fair to say that a few memes or videos in the vast sea of political commentary are not going to make much of a difference in this election, nor have they in past elections as well.”
“What did make a difference in the last election were the lies about Hunter Biden’s laptop that more than four dozen former intelligence officials lied about in the middle of that campaign. Most networks, including this one, bought that lie, hook, line, and sinker. That did make a difference,” Cotton continued.
WATCH:
RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA: State-Media correspondent Dana Bash uses DOJ-supplied narrative to question Tom Cotton on Putin “using right-wing influencers to affect an election.”
Cotton responds with the Hunter Laptop media coverup, to which Bash has no answer (her ex-husband was part… pic.twitter.com/diTK710c8Q
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) September 8, 2024
