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Sen. Warner Scolds CBS Bosses for Treating Trump Speech 'As News'
On CBS’s Face The Nation, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) told host Margaret Brennan that he is "disappointed" with CBS's senior management for covering the president's speech alleging Chinese election interference "as news." Brennan cued up Warner, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, to throw the “no evidence” card at Trump’s claims of Chinese interference in our elections. On CBS, Margaret Brennan set up Sen. Mark Warner to attack Trump's primetime address, but he turned around on her, and said he was "very disappointed" that "senior management" at CBS (Bari Weiss?) treated the speech "as news." Apparently, nothing this president says is… pic.twitter.com/bHad3oYQyl— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) July 20, 2026 MARGARET BRENNAN: Has your committee been given evidence to back up those claims that suggest a direct ability to interfere?SENATOR MARK WARNER: No, absolutely not. And, matter of fact, here is the – there are so many absurdities and falsehoods in Trump's Thursday night speech, and I'm glad that most media treated it not as serious news. And I know some folks at your network – the journalists, I have huge respect for. I was disappointed that your senior management made the decision to cover it as news. There's so many falsehoods. Where do you begin? You know, the only election that Trump is concerned about is 2020. That was the election that his administration was in charge of. Warner suggested CIA Director John Ratcliffe shouldn't have his job, since he was Director of National Intelligence in 2020. But by that logic, alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election could be faulted on the Obama administration. WARNER: You know, he goes through this focus on China, when he forgets or just omits the biggest country that tries to influence on every election is Russia. We've documented that time and again.And the complete conclusion of the intelligence community, 18 different agencies, said, yes, folks tried to influence, didn't mean they changed any vote, and they sure didn't interfere in the machinery.The Democrats and their allies in the intelligence community -- the same allies who claimed Hunter Biden's laptop was a Russian disinformation plot -- worked overtime to deny that Donald Trump was legitimately elected. They used the bureaucracy to push "election denialism."Brennan then talked about potential foreign interference in the 2024 election: BRENNAN: I'm wondering, though, since the Trump administration has been in office for so long now, have they released to the Intelligence Committee their analysis of the 2024 election that President Trump won? What degree of foreign influence or interference was there?WARNER: We have not had it released. The…BRENNAN: Why?WARNER: I have not the foggiest idea.Brennan didn’t cry “no evidence” as Warner then unfurled grand conspiracy theories about the midterms: “Donald Trump intends to interfere in this year's elections. He knows, if there is a free and fair election, his policies will be rejected at record levels.”Brennan asked “what do you mean, interfere?” He added: “Donald Trump intends to interfere in this year's elections. He knows, if there is a free and fair election, his policies will be rejected at record levels....he's not ruled out bringing ICE to the polls. He's not even ruled out the idea of trying to bar certain voting machines."Face The Nation is proof that "senior management" isn't all about "disappointing" the Democrats. But they find it disappointing when CBS isn't completely compliant with their wishes about what is "news."