The White House is taking the unusual step of sending a letter to executives at major news outlets, urging them to rigorously scrutinize Republicans’ impeachment inquiry, calling it “based on lies,” CNN reported.
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy announced the inquiry Tuesday, the first step in what would be a long march to an impeachment vote in the chamber. Democrats say there is no legitimate evidence of criminality by the President.
“It’s time for the media to ramp up its scrutiny of House Republicans for opening an impeachment inquiry based on lies,” White House Counsel’s Office spokesman Ian Sams writes in a draft copy of the letter obtained by CNN.
Republicans seek further inquiry into whether Biden had a hand in the overseas business affairs of his son, Hunter Biden. While no evidence has materialized to definitively prove that Biden benefitted from his son’s endeavors in Ukraine, China and elsewhere, even pro-Biden pundits have raised questions about millions of dollars distributed to Biden’s extended family.
The letter continues that the GOP impeachment inquiry should “set off alarm bells for news organizations.” According to CNN, the letter will be sent to executives leading the largest U.S. news organizations including CNN, The New York Times, Fox News, the Associated Press and more.
“Covering impeachment as a process story – Republicans say X, but the White House says Y – is a disservice to the American public who relies on the independent press to hold those in power accountable,” Sams continued in the letter.
“And in the modern media environment, where every day liars and hucksters peddle disinformation and lies everywhere from Facebook to Fox,” wrote the spokesperson for the White House Counsel’s Office, “process stories that fail to unpack the illegitimacy of the claims on which House Republicans are basing all their actions only serve to generate confusion, put false premises in people’s feeds, and obscure the truth.”
As the White House fends off attempts to discredit its administration, it asks news outlets to be more diligent in their coverage and pay mind to false equivalencies throughout the inquiry.
McCarthy launched the inquiry without a formal House vote, something he directly criticized former Speaker Nancy Pelosi for doing in 2019.
