Carlson Highlights 'CNN's Long History of Not Getting the Facts First'

Fox News host Tucker Carlson devoted a large portion of his opening monologue Monday night to the fallout from the release of the Mueller report.  Carlson focused specifically on CNN's coverage of the Trump-Russia probe, declaring that "in a fair world, CNN wouldn't call itself a news network at all. It's far less than that." Carlson then went through some examples of CNN's "long history of not getting the facts first," a dig at the network's motto. Carlson's first example dates all the way back to 1996, when CNN "blamed the Olympic bombings in Atlanta on an entirely...innocent security guard named Richard Jewell. In the end, CNN paid Jewell a settlement for slandering him." Carlson continued: "just two years later, CNN falsely accused the United States military of murdering American defectors during the Vietnam War." The final decades-old example Carlson highlighted was the case of California Congressman Gary Condit, whom they accused of murdering one of his interns, noting that "CNN's relentless coverage helped drive Condit from office" before adding that "Condit turned out to be innocent." Carlson then gave some present-day examples of CNN "not getting the facts first," noting that "under the leadership of Jeff Zucker, CNN's recklessness and its dishonesty have only accelerated." Carlson specifically mentioned CNN's characterization of Brett Kavanaugh as a "serial gang rapist alcoholic who targeted underage girls," the network's characterization of the Covington kids as "dangerous bigots who'd threatened a revered tribal elder Vietnam veteran purely because they hated American Indians." After mentioning the Jussie Smollett hoax, Carlson concluded his monologue by stating "the Russian collusion narrative, which by the way has formed the backbone of CNN's entire programming schedule for two years, is fake...CNN responded by congratulating itself."