Posted on 15 January 2021
While the hacks at CNN spend much of their time accusing Fox News and other conservative media outlets of spreading disinformation and conspiracy theories, they also spend plenty of time pushing conspiracy theories of their own. On Wednesday’s New Day, CNN hosts Alisyn Camerota and John Berman collaborated with senior national security correspondent Alex Marquardt and national security analyst and former Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary Juliette Kayyem to spin a -- so far evidence-free conspiracy theory in which they accused the Capitol Hill police and the military of aiding the mob that stormed the capitol building.
Marquardt accused an officer of “showing his allegiance” to the mob and Kayyem donned her tinfoil hat by suggesting that the DOJ needs to investigate if the Capitol Hill police were “told not to have more resources” to help with preventing an attack. Again, where's the proof for any of this?
In a pre-recorded video, Marquardt kicked off the outlandish segment by suggesting that “law enforcement and the military” collaborated with the mob:
The violent insurrection at the Capitol has put law enforcement and the military in the spotlight -- their failures, their victims, and potentially, their participation. While some officers were violently beaten by the mob, crushed -- even killed -- others moved aside as the attackers tried to break through a door. One Capitol Hill officer in a selfie with a rioter. According to Congressman Tim Ryan, that officer and a different one who appeared to direct some in the mob have been suspended. A congressional aide tells CNN at least 17 others are under investigation. But this video posted on the day of the insurrection highlights the difficulty of figuring out what exactly happened. A Capitol police officer is seen in a red “Make America Great Again” hat. It's unclear whether he's showing his allegiance or trying to avoid becoming a target for the mob.
Good to know that CNN finally cares about mob violence! It did not seem too bothered this past summer when BLM rioters ravaged cities across the U.S. Kayyem joined in on the theorizing by proposing that some shadowy government figure had told police and the military to not prepare for the mob:
The dots were connected. We knew what was going to happen and for some reason, the Capitol police and the military were not prepared. And one has to wonder was it that they were just not able to contemplate it or were they told not to have more resources. That's where the investigation should lead.
Berman freaked out about a report that the Capitol Hill Police were more concerned that Antifa would attack the “MAGA Mob,” which was only a surprise to him because CNN has refused to cover Antifa violence.
Kayyem doubled down on her conspiracy about the Capitol Hill police and proclaimed that “we need accounting” because of her conspiracy. With the conspiracies that CNN is pushing these days, it bears more resemblance to InfoWars than a news network.
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Read the full January 13th transcript here. Click "expand" to read more:
CNN New Day
1/13/21
5:31:32 AM
ALISYN CAMEROTA (CNN ANCHOR): This morning, federal authorities are investigating the possible role that Capitol police and military officers may have played in last week's deadly insurrection. Investigators say as many as 17 Capitol police officers are under investigation. CNN's Alex Marquardt has the latest.
[Cuts to Recording]
ALEX MARQUARDT (CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT): The violent insurrection at the Capitol has put law enforcement and the military in the spotlight -- their failures, their victims, and potentially, their participation. While some officers were violently beaten by the mob, crushed -- even killed -- others moved aside as the attackers tried to break through a door. One Capitol Hill officer in a selfie with a rioter. According to Congressman Tim Ryan, that officer and a different one who appeared to direct some in the mob have been suspended. A congressional aide tells CNN at least 17 others are under investigation. But this video posted on the day of the insurrection highlights the difficulty of figuring out what exactly happened. A Capitol police officer is seen in a red “Make America Great Again” hat. It's unclear whether he's showing his allegiance or trying to avoid becoming a target for the mob. He asks for help getting fellow officers out of the building.
5:39:45 AM
CAMEROTA: Joining us now is CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem. She's a former assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security. And, Juliette, I'm glad we're playing this video. There -- as I said, there's new stuff that comes out every day of what lawmakers were up against with this murderous mob. It's amazing they didn't have lit torches as they went into the U.S. Capitol. They were yelling "Hang Mike Pence." They were looking for the Vice President. They killed a police officer. And yesterday, in this DOJ press conference, they said that when we learn more of what they know -- the full story of what happened in there -- we will be shocked. What does that mean?
JULIETTE KAYYEM (CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, FORMER ASSISTANT SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, PROFESSOR, HARVARD'S KENNEDY SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT): I think it means that there was tremendous evidence to suggest two things. One is that there was collusion of some sort -- that's a legal term -- but there was organization by the group. It wasn't some random grouping that said "h, let's just storm the Capitol." And I think you can see that in some of the pictures. If you look at some of the videos it looks like line formations. These guys are entering the Capitol as if they were a military squad. So I think it's going to -- there's going to be more evidence of planning and practice.
The second is, of course, the extent to which federal law enforcement knew that this could happen. We are starting to hear of the FBI having concerns. They tried to alert the Capitol police and others. And I do think that if -- if we view 9/11 as a failure of imagination, right -- that we couldn't quite comprehend the terror attack that might hit us -- excuse me -- 1/6 is going to be the failure of execution and implementation. The dots were connected. We knew what was going to happen and -- and for some reason, the Capitol police and -- and the military were not prepared. And one has to wonder was it that they were just not able to contemplate it or were they told not to -- to have more resources. That's where the investigation should lead.
JOHN BERMAN: It's a fair question. The New York Times is reporting overnight that the discussions that did exist involved preventing Antifa --
KAYYEM: Yeah.
BERMAN: -- or people who didn't like the Trump supporters from attacking them -- the mob.
KAYYEM: Yeah.
BERMAN: That there was no discussion about how to keep the MAGA mob from overtaking the U.S. Capitol. Juliette, when you were watching this news conference yesterday though, with your trained eyes, you saw something else. You saw it not just as a message about what we are doing to the people who launched this insurrection --
KAYYEM: Right.
BERMAN: -- but the message we're trying to send about next week's inauguration.
KAYYEM: That's exactly it. I've been on-air a lot lately just trying to get people to conceive of where we are right now as a nation. We are in the middle of a massive counterterrorism effort. We are in the operational phase. I know people want to talk about unity and -- and bridging the divide. That will happen in this nation. But there is a small portion of -- of Trump supporters who have been incited and who are promising violence. So you shut off Trump from social media, you isolate him -- all the things that we're seeing that are being done politically in -- in -- in terms of media, in terms of -- of the isolation that we need to stop Trump from being able to wreak havoc.
But the other is that we need -- we need to prevent future attacks. We've got seven days, if not beyond. And so part of this press -- press conference was to show would-be recruits that Trump is not going to save them and that they will face penalties and punishment. And that is really important because there's an element to -- to the violence that makes it seem like they’re -- they’re playacting, right? That this is just all pretend, right? It's not pretend. They -- they killed people, they -- they harmed the Capitol, they put legislators under threat. And so, part of that press conference was this is no longer some -- some pretend revolution.
You will be put in jail. And I think that's really important because the goal now is to minimize the threat of what Trump is inciting. We'll get to unity at -- at some stage in this nation, but we're in the middle of a -- of a tactical operation now and we have to think of it that way. And that's why -- here's the irony. Just, you know, the -- the fact that the acting Attorney General put a video on YouTube just as YouTube was taking down Trump, right? They -- they put -- they took him down for the last -- in the last 24 hours. I mean, the irony is -- is rich so to speak.
CAMEROTA: I mean, I don't know why we had to wait six days for that press conference.
KAYYEM: Yeah.
CAMEROTA: I was comforted to hear it, for sure. I want to encourage them to have more public statements. But that was long overdue after we all saw the video of all of this marauding mob walking away --
KAYYEM: Right.
CAMEROTA: -- and mass arrests not happening. And so --
KAYYEM: Right. Yeah.
CAMEROTA: Quickly, Juliette.
KAYYEM: Oh, no. So one -- I will say one of the things -- and this is -- this gets to Alex's pre-tape right before I came on. He said we still don't know. Like, were -- you know, were cops just trying to lower the risk so they put the MAGA hats on because they -- they didn't want to be harmed?
One of the things that I wonder, and this is why we need an accounting, is did they not make arrests on Wednesday because they were worried that the arrests that day would incite more violence. And so they said well, we have the pictures -- we're going to go out. But the silence of the FBI and DOJ has been shocking. And I think -- and I'm not going to complain that they went out yesterday --
CAMEROTA: Yeah.
KAYYEM: I think it was good --
CAMEROTA: Yeah.
KAYYEM: -- but we need more accounting.