Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe offered damning revelations last month about the apparent role of liberal media outlets in advancing what they described as the Russian collusion hoax.
Despite the findings, the media organizations that heavily promoted the narrative for years have shown little sign of reckoning with their coverage.
For instance, after the release of the newly declassified Durham annex—which contained credible intelligence suggesting the Clinton campaign fabricated the collusion claims, fed them to the press, and used them to give the FBI a pretext to target her opponent—the New York Times downplayed the report’s significance.
Instead, the outlet framed the release as a distraction from the Epstein files, misrepresented key findings, and softened the annex’s implications for its readers. “Whereas the Times recently tried to gaslight about an old hoax, CNN — which has not covered the Durham annex — set to work this week on a new story that turned out to be a hoax,” The Blaze reported.
On Tuesday, CNN published a piece titled “Top Trump officials will discuss Epstein strategy in Wednesday meeting at Vice President JD Vance’s residence.” But the ‘scoop’ has neither aged well nor stood up to scrutiny.
In its initial report, CNN stated that Vice President J.D. Vance, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche were expected to gather at the vice president’s residence to discuss “the administration’s handling of the Epstein case, as well as the need to craft a unified response.”
Citing two anonymous sources, the liberal publication further claimed that “the White House considers those officials the leaders of the Trump administration’s ongoing strategy regarding the Epstein files.” CNN has since edited its article to clarify that Vance is not among those the White House considers leaders of the administration’s ongoing Epstein strategy.
“The CNN story is pure fiction,” William Martin, communications director to the vice president, said in a statement obtained by Blaze News. “There was never a supposed meeting scheduled at the vice president’s residence to discuss Epstein strategy.”
Alayna Treene, the CNN White House reporter on the apparently fake story, began to backpedal on Wednesday, noting first that “administration officials familiar with the meeting said the dinner was now in flux, given its intense coverage, & it was unclear whether it would ultimately be called off, moved to another location or rescheduled.”
An hour later, Treene shared the following comment from Martin: “As we’ve said publicly, there was never a supposed meeting scheduled at the vice president’s residence to discuss Epstein strategy. Any reporting to the contrary is false.”
