CNN has released a statement trying to distance their reports from BuzzFeed’s decision to publish unverifiable memos about president-elect Donald Trump.
Midday Tuesday, CNN tweeted a full statement from their Twitter account saying,
CNN’s decision to publish carefully sourced reporting about the operations of our government is vastly different than BuzzFeed’s decision to publish unsubstantiated memos. The Trump team knows this. They are using BuzzFeed’s decision to deflect from CNN’s reporting, which has been matched by the other major news organisations.
The statement continues,
We are fully confident in our reporting. It represents the core of what the First Amendment protects, informing the people of the inner workings of their government; in this case, briefing materials prepared for President Obama and President-elect Trump last week. We made it clear that we were not publishing any of the details of the 35-page document because we have not corroborated the report’s allegations.
The statement then poses a direct challenge to the transition team of President-elect Trump,
Given that members of the Trump transition team have so vocally criticized our reporting, we encourage them to identify, specifically, what they believe to be inaccurate.
CNN’s report is here. Buzzfeed’s report is here.
Update: Buzzfeed editors are trying to avoid a public argument with CNN over their decision to publish the unverified documents.
The full comment from CNN can be read below:
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart Tech covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan_ or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com