Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

‘So Frustrating’: Ex-CNN Analyst Irritated By ‘Reaction Among The Right’ To His Apology About Weak Biden Coverage

Screenshot/YouTube/Chris Cillizza

Former CNN political analyst Chris Cillizza on Friday voiced frustration about the right-wing response to his apology for not scrutinizing President Joe Biden’s mental and physical health sooner.

Cillizza, on his YouTube channel Thursday, confessed that he was wrong to disregard worries about Biden during his tenure at CNN until late 2022. During a Friday livestream on his channel, he defended himself, suggesting the backlash against him was unjustified as his only motivation for the apology was honesty and transparency to his audience.

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“What’s so frustrating to me, just about the Biden thing: I’m just trying to be as honest as I can and as transparent as I can … We, I and we in the media did ask questions. I was, particularly on here and on my Substack after I left CNN in 2022, pretty skeptical that Joe Biden was up to the job, but I should have done more,” Cilliza said. “And it’s amazing to me that the reaction among the right is like, ‘You’re lying, you’re just doing this to cover your ass.’ Like, how? What? What? How? I don’t even understand how that would work.”

“I just try to be as honest as I can with you all … But you can’t really control how people react to it. I felt like, having read that Wall Street Journal story, having read the [New York] Times story and having spent a lot of time thinking about it and reading all the reporting after the June 27th debate, I wish I had pushed harder,” he added. “I think I did push. I think we in the media did push, but I wish I had pushed harder. The hard thing is, you know, you do that and then people question your motives. It’s like no, man, I’m just trying to be honest.”

Cillizza asserted in his Thursday video that recent stories published by the NYT and the WSJ regarding Biden’s “decline” are what prompted him to express remorse for his CNN coverage about Biden.

White House aides characterized the president as weary, frail and moody to the NYT. Dozens of those close to Biden’s operations told the WSJ how aides insulated Biden and managed his duties amid growing worries about his capabilities.

Cillizza published an analysis for CNN in August 2021, criticizing Republicans for spreading a narrative that Biden was in a diminished state.

“This is the sort of gross, lowest-common-denominator politics that drive people away from public life,” he wrote. “If Republicans have some sort of proof that Biden is declining, they should bring it forward. If they don’t, they should stop doing what they’re doing. Immediately.”