Nation

CNN Wins WHCA Award For ‘Excellent’ Coverage Of FBI Predawn Raid On Roger Stone’s Home

Published

3 years ago

June 10, 2020

The White House Correspondents Association announced Tuesday a list of 2020 journalism award winners, among them is CNN for the network’s coverage of the FBI raid on President Donald Trump’s Associate’s, Roger Stone, Florida home.

CNN was the only network on the scene of the pre-dawn raid that occurred shortly after Stone was indicted by a Grand Jury in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe on charges of witness tampering, obstruction and false statements.

“CNN’s reporting on the Roger Stone arrest began a month earlier, with a clue about a court scheduling anomaly,” the WHCA wrote. “Then came unusual grand jury activity. Then an odd, packed suitcase wheeled by one of the prosecutors in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Stone. It culminated early in the morning of Jan. 25, 2019, when a CNN producer and a photojournalist, staked outside of Stone’s home in Ft. Lauderdale, captured the 5 a.m., no-knock raid by the FBI of the former confidant of President Donald Trump.”

They added, “CNN’s viewers saw the raid unfold in real-time, the product of a team or reporters, producers and photojournalists tracking the investigation over months, connecting the dots and scooping the rest of the press corps. They even scooped Stone’s own lawyers, who only found out when CNN called for a comment. In addition to the exclusive video, the team produced a compelling, supportive package that explained the charges against Stone. On deadline.”

CNN’s footage that day showed a half-dozen police vehicles, nearly a dozen officers and FBI agents with large weapons in tactical vests storming Stone’s home. Stone was seen answering the door in his pajamas and appeared to be taken by surprise.

“Thanks to CNN My face is instantly recognizable everywhere,” Stone told “The Sara Carter Show” in April. “So the idea that I would flee was absurd. I had been widely reported that I was under investigation. So their claim that I would destroy evidence if I knew they were coming was ridiculous. I destroyed nothing.”

Stone described to Carter the FBI raid, adding, “After being swept off to the FBI center for fingerprinting and mug shotting and then to the courthouse for arraignment for the next 13 hours, FBI agents went through every square inch of my home literally tore it to shreds.”

“My wife was ordered to sit in the corner where she could not touch her cell phone and you know what they found absolutely nothing. Nothing that was used in my trial. Now the most curious part about this, Sara, is thanks to my security camera footage which the FBI mistakenly I think forgot to take because you can actually see them putting tape over the camera lens,” Stone explained.

“We know that CNN actually showed up eleven minutes before the FBI arrived. CNN continues to insist that this is based on a hunch. That is ridiculous. And the FBI, under Christopher Wray, has refused to turn over to Judicial Watch the e-mail records between CNN and the FBI in the days before the raid.”

Stone was sentenced to over three years in prison in April and has had the charges since deferred. Now, Stone is appealing the Judge’s decision over alleged bias. The President has also signaled that he could be granting Stone an upcoming pardon.

Nation

Biden Administration Proposes Rule to Fortify Federal Bureaucracy Against Republican Presidency

Published

24 hours ago

September 22, 2023

Alexander Carter

In a strategic move, the Biden administration has unveiled a proposed rule aimed at reinforcing the left-leaning federal bureaucracy, potentially hindering future conservative policy implementations by Republican presidents. This move has raised concerns about the efficacy of democratic elections when a deep-seated bureaucracy remains largely unchanged, regardless of electoral outcomes.

Key points of the situation include:

Presidential Appointees vs. Career Bureaucrats: Of the 2.2 million federal civil workers, only 4,000 are presidential appointees. The vast majority, made up of career bureaucrats, continue in their roles from one administration to the next. This continuity is facilitated by rules that make it exceedingly difficult to discipline or replace them, resulting in a bureaucracy that tends to lean left politically.

Union Political Affiliation: A striking 95% of unionized federal employees who donate to political candidates support Democrats, according to Open Secrets, with only 5% favoring Republicans. This significant political skew among federal workers raises questions about the potential for political bias in the execution of government policies.

Obstructionism and Challenges for GOP Presidents: Some career bureaucrats have been accused of obstructing Republican presidents’ agendas, leading to policy delays and challenges. For example, during the Trump administration, career lawyers in the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division declined to challenge Yale University’s discrimination against Asian American applicants, prompting Trump to seek legal counsel from other divisions. The case was subsequently dropped when Joe Biden took office.

Biden’s Countermeasures: President Biden has taken steps to protect the bureaucracy’s status quo. In October 2020, Trump issued an executive order aiming to reclassify federal workers who make policy as at-will employees, but Biden canceled it upon taking office.

Proposed Rule and Congressional Actions: The rule unveiled by the Biden administration seeks to further impede a president’s ability to reinstate Trump’s order. Additionally, some Democrats in Congress are pushing to eliminate the president’s authority to reclassify jobs entirely. This has been referred to as an attempt to “Trump-proof the federal workforce.”

Republican Candidates’ Pledge: GOP candidates such as President Donald J Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Ron DeSantis have pledged to address this issue. According to reports from Fox News, Ramaswamy has gone further, advocating for the elimination of half or more of civil service positions, emphasizing the need for accountability.

Debate on the Merit of the Civil Service: While Democrats and their media allies argue that civil service protects merit over patronage, critics contend that the system has evolved into a form of job security for federal workers with minimal accountability. Federal employees often receive higher salaries and more substantial benefits than their private-sector counterparts.

In summary, the Biden administration’s proposed rule and broader actions to protect the federal bureaucracy have sparked a debate over the role of career bureaucrats in shaping government policy.

Republican candidates are vowing to address these concerns, highlighting the need for accountability and ensuring that government agencies work in alignment with the elected president’s agenda. This ongoing debate raises important questions about the relationship between the bureaucracy and the democratic process in the United States.

Information in this article was retrieved from Fox News.