[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 14 (Wednesday, January 23, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H1002]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        CNN--THE FAKE NEWS KING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Alabama (Mr. Brooks) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROOKS of Alabama. Madam Speaker, while CNN has had a rotten, no-
good, horrible week, the American people have had a great week because 
last week exposed the CNN vitriol, prejudice, bias, and deception that 
crowned CNN the fake news king. First, CNN fake news story number 1:
  For 2 days, CNN drooled over President Trump's impeachment propaganda 
in a BuzzFeed report that was so bad it prompted a rare public rebuke 
and ``not true'' proclamation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
  CNN, strike one.
  Second, CNN fake news story number two:
  CNN viciously and wrongly attacked, ridiculed, slandered, and 
maligned Covington Catholic High School students by portraying them as 
racists. By and large, these teenagers at a pro-life march were White 
males, Catholic, and, heaven forbid, President Trump supporters with 
Make America Great Again hats.
  CNN's prejudice against this profile blinded CNN to reality. Had CNN 
done its homework, CNN would have reported from the very beginning that 
the students were the victims of African American racists who hurled 
insults at and sought to intimidate White teenage students and were the 
victims of Native American political activists who rudely accosted the 
students, beat a drum in their faces, and yelled that White people 
should leave America.
  Did fake news CNN report from the very beginning this racism against 
White people and how remarkably well these Catholic high school 
students handled this situation and maintained their composure? No. 
Sadly, CNN's bias and prejudice did not allow that.
  CNN, strike two.
  Third, CNN fake news story number three:
  CNN did a poorly researched fact check on illegal alien and border 
security crime data comments by various Republicans, including me. The 
segment opened with ``New Day'' host Alisyn Camerota deriding ``fact-
free fear-mongering'' from ``Trump supporters.''
  Really? If you support border security and protecting American lives, 
you are a fact-free, fear-mongering Trump supporter who must be 
attacked at all costs? Is that really CNN's viewpoint?
  CNN's John Avlon then falsely claimed that I said a border wall is 
the way to keep death-dealing drugs out of America, when I clearly 
stated a border wall is a necessary subpart of a broader border 
security strategy required to slow down drugs crossing over our 
southern border and save American lives.

  That truth didn't fit CNN's blind fealty to open-border, socialist 
Democrats, so CNN deceived rather than tell the truth.
  CNN next showed me stating that Federal officers apprehended roughly 
2,000 illegal aliens per year for homicides on American soil. That is 
fine. That is true.
  Federal Government's Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Removal 
Operations reports state Federal officers apprehended 1,886 illegal 
aliens in FY 2017 and 2,028 illegal aliens in FY 2018 for homicides 
committed on American soil.
  But CNN's John Avlon attacked this Federal crime data by citing an 
unrelated PolitiFact analysis and making an apples and oranges 
comparison that misunderstands the difference between the words 
``homicide'' and ``murder.''
  Well, all murders are homicides. Not all homicides are murders. 
Murders are a subpart of the word ``homicides.''
  In any event, the PolitiFact analysis involved another person, not 
any of us, and was about murders not homicides and disagreed with 
nothing that I said.
  CNN strike three. You are out.
  Madam Speaker, is CNN the most trusted name in news as it claims? No. 
Not when its reporters, fact-checkers, and newscasters are so blinded 
by vitriol, prejudice, bias, and hatred for President Trump that they 
cannot think or see straight; not so long as CNN is nothing more than 
an apparatchik for radical, open-border, socialist Democrats, not the 
truth and not the American people.
  Madam Speaker, CNN has earned its fake news crown, and based on last 
week, is not at risk of losing its crown anytime soon.

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